Steph Huang: Property for Sale
Presented by Hong Foundation, Taiwan
Exhibition Period: 14 September to 5 October 2024
The cost of a cappuccino allows you to cosy up in a coffee shop for an afternoon, whereas a lease or a deed provides a lifetime of stability. Is the allocation of space for our physical presence on this planet tied to a cost?
It appears that we feel the need to claim a part of the world to validate our existence. Is this restlessness a result of capitalism? Is it a lingering crisis of confidence or a manifestation of the challenges faced by an increasing population on limited land?
In a somewhat affected manner, we often recite the eye-catching and hard-to-ignore large-scale real estate advertisements in Taiwan: rare, semi-luxurious three-bedroom scenic apartments, condominiums, townhouses and mansions. These advertisements have evolved from the early practice of borrowing city and country names from Europe, America, and Japan to utilizing unfading and opulent terms such as "Prosperous," "Prestigious," "Delightful," "Luxurious," "Comfortable," "Regal," "Exquisite," "Fragrant," and "Virtuous."The New York Times contains coverage of billion-dollar mansions for sale, alongside the government's challenges over the shortage of social housing. The longing of ordinary citizens for shelter, belonging, and a sense of place seem rarely addressed.The works draw on early Taiwanese cement tiles, declining mouth-blown glass skills, peculiar advertisements and traditional Washitsu sliding doors to portray people's habitats, aspirations, solitude, and loneliness.
Steph Huang (b.1990, Taiwan) lives and works in London. She received her MA in Sculpture from Royal College of Art in 2021. Recent solo exhibitions include There Is Nothing Old Under The Sun, Standpoint London, UK, 2024; The Water that Bears the Boat, E-WERK Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 2024; I will see you when the week ends, Public Gallery, London, UK, 2023; Taipei Art Awards, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, 2022; Deep Shallow, Volt, Eastbourne, UK, 2022; A Great Increase In Business Is On Its Way, Goldsmiths CCA, London, UK, 2022. In 2023, Huang was awarded the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award and was a recipient of The Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award. In 2022, Huang was awarded the Grand Prize at the Taipei Art Awards.
Learn more --
https://hongfoundation.org.tw/events/16
