Jimmy Lam's first solo exhibition, "R"
Street artist, designer and break-dancer Jimmy Lam (a.k.a. “Rice”) tells Jojo Choi about empowering animals by giving them rifles in his first solo exhibition, entitled “R.”
HK Magazine: Why are you organizing this exhibition?
Jimmy Lam: I was researching various animals for another design and saw pictures on a website of an overseas hunting group. They kill animals for sport, hang the heads at home as decorations and dump the bodies. It’s really frightening.
HK: So why do you create these sculptures that resemble the trophies you despise?
JL: It is totally ironic and I want to stress that. The beauty of animals is best manifested when they are alive, not when they’re dead and when all that remains are their heads. My favorite piece is the one of the deer with a pair of rifles in place of its horns. I hope this can serve as a warning by frightening people with the possibility of animals hunting humans in return.
HK: Tell me some more about the themes.
JL: There are five themes: “past,” “present,” “future,” “fantasy” and “cause and effect.” The saber-toothed tiger denotes the past, while the rhino—whose populations are decreasing everyday—represents the present. I created the bust of the woman to symbolize fertility and remind us that we hold the future in our hands. Meanwhile the unicorn represents the “fantasy” element and the deer represents “cause and effect.”
HK: Why did you choose to do 3D artwork?
JL: The attitude towards 3D artwork is more mature overseas, whereas it’s still developing locally. Hong Kong is where East meets West, but we haven’t embraced this in terms of artistic development. Most people still prefer art on a 2D platform. Since I was young I’ve been creating 3D stuff with paper and clay. I’ve also created an actual sized rhino with iron wire. Ordinary plastic foam can be good material too.
