High Life

HIGH LIFE #10 Jul 2017 33 Continuously transcending the boundaries of artistic expression, Vhils has been trying to develop his personal aesthetics in a plurality of different media – from stencil paintings to wall carvings, billboards to screen prints, pyrotechnic explosions to neon. “The works are different, but the concept is similar to breaking the walls – to destroy the surfaces to create the images. That’s the concept across all the works that I do,” Vhils says. “Creation is always from something destroyed. When you write on a piece of white paper with black pen, you have destroyed it. The paper also destroyed the tree amd the tree destroyed the soil, so creation is always to destroy something that was there before. For me it is part of the process.” The exhibition features works by the artist using local elements, including new billboards made from Macau street posters, sound tracks mixed with noises of drilling roads as well as a slow-motion video capturing Macau’s streets, offering the audience an immersive viewing experience. The video, as per Vhils’ introduction, is a tribute to the film industry of Macau and Hong Kong.