Lam Tung Pang: The Unopened Books
June 12 - September 1, 2023 | Arion Press, San Francisco, U.S.A.
At Arion Press’s Presidio workshop, where each book is crafted by hand, the selection of works in this pop-up exhibition range from drawings, prints to video and found objects, and reflect the artist’s experiences during the social turbulence in Hong Kong during 2019, followed by the covid-19 pandemic.
“I could only read and make some simple drawings in that difficult time”
Across the various works, Lam takes the form of the book as a metaphor on how one reads the ‘un-opened’, or hidden part of oneself while experiencing drastic social change. As he navigates this period of introspection, figures appear within his signature landscapes, as if Lam is observing his own psyches up close.
The exhibition celebrates Arion’s limited edition multiple, an inaugural collaboration with the Asian Art Museum and a novel interpretation of Lam’s monumental Past Continuous Tense. The book itself is an accordion-fold volume, where an excerpt of the eponymous work is paired with a specially commissioned poem by Pulitzer Prize winning writer, Forrest Gander.
