Art | Autumn Salon back, bigger than last year

The exhibition is being held at Casa Garden

Eighty-two works of art are on display this year at the Autumn Salon in different media forms  including oil painting, watercolor, drawing, sculpture, photography and printmaking. The number of artworks marks an almost 50 percent increase over last year’s exhibition.

This year’s exhibition, the eighth of its kind, is again jointly- organized by the Art for All Society (AFA) and the Macau delegation of the Orient Foundation. It opened this week and is held at Casa Garden, the headquarters of the Macau delegation of the Orient Foundation, until the end of the month.

Among the exhibiting artists this year are Cai Guo Jie, with several watercolor pieces; Leong Man Hin, whose large copper foil and mineral color artworks are prominently displayed; and Wong Hio Chit, whose oil paintings with charcoal and graphite depict distinctive and memorable buildings in Macau.

According to organizers, the Autumn Salon provides a platform for local artists to showcase their latest works. “Through this event, we hope all the local artists, especially the young generation can have more opportunities in participation, so as to have a good starting point in their roads to art,” organizers said.

One such way this is achieved is via an artists’ residency in Portugal that is awarded to an outstanding artist each year. The residency helps the artist to have their works exhibited in the European country while extending the opportunity to network in related fields outside of Macau.

The winner of the Orient Foundation Art Award this year was Luna Cheong for her eponymous statue made of elm wood. Cheong was born in 1995, and graduated from the Macau Polytechnic Institute with a BA in Visual Art. She has also held two solo exhibitions, “The valley of tears” and “Life out of focus”, respectively in 2017 and 2018.

Meanwhile, the two honorable mentions went to Ieong Mei Cheng for a video titled “Impersonate” and another one to Wong Mei Teng for the drawing, “Buffer Zone”.

Cheong will be granted the opportunity for an artist residency in Portugal for one month, including air tickets and accommodation covered by the organizers.

According to AFA, in order to be eligible for the Orient Foundation Art Award, participants must be Macau local residents and under the age of 35.

This year, the number of exhibited artwork at the Autumn Salon grew nearly 50 percent from the 58 pieces shown last year by 30 local Macau artists. The 82 final pieces were narrowed down from a total of 114 works submitted during the betting process that began in May.

The Autumn Salon exhibition is open at Casa Garden from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Mondays and public holidays.