The launch ceremony for an exhibition by Macao artist Mr Lai Sio Kit, at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex, was held there on February 11 (Friday), at 6.30pm. The show has been organised by the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, under the “Lusophone Polychromes” exhibition series, part of the 13th Cultural Week of China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. The Macao artist attended the launch ceremony in person.

Attendees at the ceremony included: Deputy Secretaries-General of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, Mr Paulo Jorge do Espírito Santo and Mr Casimiro de Jesus Pinto; Consul-General of Angola in the Macao SAR, Mr Eduardo Velasco Galiano; Consul-General of Mozambique in the Macao SAR, Mr Rafael Custódio Marques; Consul-General of Portugal for Macao and Hong Kong, Mr Paulo Cunha Alves; Head of the Division of Culture and Sport of the Department of Publicity and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR, Ms Bai Bing; Editor-in-Chief of Macao Daily newspaper, Mr Lok Po; President of the Macau Artist Society, Mr Lok Hei; and President of the Macanese Association, Mr Miguel de Senna Fernandes.

In a speech during the ceremony, Mr de Jesus Pinto thanked respectively: all the countries’ representatives at Forum Macao; relevant associations and other organisations in Macao of the various Portuguese-speaking Countries; and in particular all participating artists; for contributing to what he said was a remarkable cultural programme. The initiative helped promote communication between the centuries-old cultures of, respectively, China, and Portuguese-speaking Countries, via Macao’s platform role.

Mr de Jesus Pinto said that the exhibition by artist Mr Lai invited visitors – in a refreshing way – to explore the deepest aspects of Macao’s universal appeal. As an expression of art related to the Earth, Mr Lai’s work employs monochromes, but ones that nonetheless suggest luminosity depicting lively waterfalls. In Mr Lai’s paintings, the public was invited to return to the most primary and pristine elements, from which the genesis of ‘Being’, ‘Thinking’ and ‘Doing’ stemmed, he added.

Artist Mr Lai thanked the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao for the invitation to take part in the “Lusophone Polychromes” exhibition series. The texture of water in movement was something he tried to depict in his paintings resorting only to black and white. He hoped that people visiting the exhibition would be able to gain from his work a sense of running water, and that this would bring them a sense of quietness and serenity. 

Mr Lai is a member of the China Artists Association, Vice-President of the Macau Fine Arts Association, Director of the Macau Artists Association, and President of the Macau Youth Art Association. His work has been exhibited several times in China, including in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as abroad, namely in Portugal, the United States, South Korea and Singapore. He has held 19 solo exhibitions.

The work displayed in this exhibition is purely monochromatic, dispensing with the use of coloured pigments, and with preference given instead to the diverse tones available from black and white. The artist returns to the most extreme, almost wild, natural landscapes, as a way of revisiting the stillness of ‘Being’, through shadow and light. It is painting involving scenic representation: apparently engraved in immobility, but with circulating and recurrent thoughts to it.

Exhibition period: From February 11 to 27, Tuesdays to Sundays, 11am to 7pm: closed on Monday. Free admission.

Venue: China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex Exhibition Gallery (Avenida Dr Sun Yat Sen, Macao peninsula).

The Macanese Association is holding three workshops in tandem with the exhibition. Artists will teach some art crafts, including crochet techniques and “Batê Saia” paper-cutting art. The goal is to let participants experience the unique traditional culture of Macao. 

All are welcome to enjoy the art exhibition. 

Visitors must comply with relevant public health guidelines, including the need to wear a protective face mask, to undergo a body-temperature check, and to present a valid “Macao Health Code”. To learn more about the 13th Cultural Week of China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, please visit the website https://semanacultural.forumchinaplp.org.mo/.