In 2001, Tim won the Oscar award for the Best Art Direction because of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, becoming the first Chinese to receive such an accolade. Apart from being an art director, Tim is a renowned visual artist and costume designer.
The exhibition ( http://www.hkdi.edu.hk/en/hkdi_gallery/gallery.php?product_id=116 ) is taking place in the HKDI Gallery at Hong Kong Design Institute which itself is a fascinating architecture reminiscent of the mutant version of the Arch of Triumph in the district of Tseung Kwan O.
This is Timās first solo exhibition in Hong Kong featuring his (1) original beautiful costumes and (2) thought-provoking art installations. Standing above the rest is a pale, white, pretty, slim and peculiar mannequin āLiliā created by Tim. Side by side with Tim, Lili travelled to streets, cafes, bridges and trams of the different parts of the world. She weeps. She wears dark glasses and enjoys a variety of wigs and costumes. Tim said, āShe occupies a psychological space into which one can project from the deeper recesses of oneās own memory. She is a mirror, cypher, device, inhabitant on the borderline with another dimension.ā
Devotion to a humanlike object may rest upon 3 abstruse psychologies. It can be simply āDollismā in that the infatuation is like a girl loving Barbie or a boy loving Dragon Ball. The fondness may fleet and vanish. The second kind may be āFetishismā, a deeper excitement with a doll as if the object were of supernatural and irresistible charm. Or, the figure is one of āMusesā, holily worshipped as a sacred deity of the myths.
Tim elaborated tenaciously on who is Lili but did not explain why and how Lili relates to him personally. The greatness of art is perhaps āmaking your unknown knownā to the others as said by the painter Georgia OāKeeffeāand of course what is known is still mystic when the revelation is obscure and concealed.