CC Kua. I see, I see

About

Many of the paintings in the show, and indeed in CC’s practice more generally, are characterised by this same drollness. They are jokes that aren’t particularly funny, whimsies that aren’t particularly whimsical, and nostalgia for memories that aren’t particularly fond. In the present exhibition, a new set of works, spanning three years (2022–2025) and multiple mediums, offer a variety of new “jokes” and propositions for the viewer’s amusement. A welcoming section of light paintings on canvas offer a good-natured yet languid opening to the show, like a collection of guests idling post-lunch and making torpid jokes and chit-chat in the mid-afternoon heat. A series of paintings promise “something nice” in naive handwriting (like a child gripping a pencil with their fist), but most of the painting is obscured beneath a white wash, with the only colour being the textual promise of something “nice”. Meanwhile, another pair of twins, the ‘Chinese Duck’ and ‘Ang Mo Duck’, consist of two painted icons that each symbolise the concept of “ducks” in Chinese and Western culture, respectively: one, a drawn and halved, spread-eagled duck covered in brown glaze, representing an advertisement for roast duck; and the other, the silhouette of the classic yellow duck that adorns bathtubs the world over. Yes, ha-ha.