To celebrate Art Basel Hong Kong ART LEXÏNG presents the series ‘La Habana in Waiting’ which New York based photographer Quentin Shih created in cooperation with Christian Louboutin. The photographs are on display at the Christian Louboutin Boutique from 15 – 19 May, as well as at neighbouring Anita Chan Lai-Ling Gallery in Hong Kong.
The theatrical, mainly large format works by Quentin Shih feature elaborate compositions and complex post-production. They often present provocative juxtapositions, snapshots of moments of almost turbulent tranquillity. In "La Habana in Waiting" his camera explores the melancholia of Cuban citizens.
The press release states: "La Habana in Waiting is an exploration of the polarities between expressive individuals struggling for identity within a Communist regime. The photographer, himself, hails from a similarly body in China; drawing parallels between both experiences living in a creatively constricted environment is essential for Shih. Through the process of envisioning and creating these photographs, Shih is asking himself – and viewers – a series of questions about the nature of representation, and how our imagination influences that representation. “Is the Cuba of propaganda photographs more authentic?” he says. “Or are the waiting and restless teens who grew up after the revolution more representative of reality? Both of these exist in my experience.”
His silent stages are populated by actors with no scripts, no direction: they exist in a kind of temporal limbo, captured in a film still. Specific to Shih's work is an aesthetic presentation that does not actively disturb or alter the physical appearance of the subjects, as is widely seen in conventional forms of contemporary Chinese painting.
“I greeted and shook hands with each sitter but I was more interested in the process. We were both inquisitive of the other, wondering what exactly we were doing together.” Shih writes so on his tourist identity in Cuba.
What can photography really achieve? "I photographed some young people in Havana, placing them in the streets at night or in studios with colored backdrops. I greeted and shook hands with each sitter but I was more interested in the process. We were both inquisitive of the other, wondering what exactly we were doing together. Were they acting in front of my camera? Or was I directing them to achieve the image that I wanted? A camera can serve a documentary purpose but it can also embellish and create. It is not my place to judge which is its most fundamental purpose. Perhaps ultimately, all the images in this series can only represent what Cuba is like in my mind. Yet even if it is completely disconnected from ‘reality’, I used my camera to achieve, or to testify to the ‘reality’ I envisioned. Maybe this is where my real enjoyment as a photographer lies."
Quentin Shih (Shi Xiaofan) was born in Tianjin in 1975. He graduated from Southeast University in Nanjing in 1998 and participated in the year-long School of Visual Arts' (SVA) PhotoGlobal residency program in 2009. Shih rose to international prominence in 2008 with his celebrated series Stranger In A Glass Box, collaborating with French haute couturier Dior. Shih was the winner in the Fine Arts category of the 2009 Hasselblad Masters Award and was named 2007 Photographer of the Year by Esquire Magazine (China).
Anita Chan Lai-Ling Gallery / Fringe Club, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central HK / ART LEXÏNG www.artlexing.com
