About
Chan Wai Lap is an artist based in Hong Kong. He received his Bachelor of Art (Hons) in Visual Communication from Birmingham City University in 2011. Drawing on his past experience and affection for collectibles, he criticises absurdities and happenings in everyday life through his creative practice. Illustrated using simple materials, his work portray serious issues with a sense of humour, exploring the connection between audience, everyday objects, and experience.
In his early creative practice, his works are inspired by his continual fascination with his memories of high school life, and looking at memory as a social construct, classism in the education system, contemporary value system, and a lost sense of self-identity, all relevant and timely to a generation that grew up in post-colonial Hong Kong.
After a series of creations criticising on his past experience, his current practises are much focusing on his inner self in the moment. With his interest in swimming, he tried to integrate the action of swimming into his creative practice. He first started to document a public swimming pool that he swims a lot since his childhood by counting the tiles of different pools and reconstructing them on papers, which the spaces of swimming pool created a way for the artist to consolidate his thoughts and to continue his creations.
He had been taking place in artist in residency programmes including Tai Kwun Contemporary, Turkey and New York City. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in various art institutions, including Let’s Try Catching Steam with Bare Hands (Gallery Exit, 2021), The Lonesome Changing Room (Hong Kong Art Central; Contemporary by Angela Li, 2021), I Will Always Be On Your Side (Tai Kwun Contemporary, 2020), I Cannot Wait For Three Months (halka sanat projesi, Istanbul, 2019), I say Marco, you say Polo (Fringe Club, Hong Kong, 2019; School of Visual Arts, New York, 2018), The Bacteriology Drawing Lab (Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences, Hong Kong, 2019), Everything’s Alright (K11 chi art space, Hong Kong, 2016) and Yesterday’s (Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, 2013). He has awarded the Finalist of The 2022 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Finalist of 2021 Art Sanya Huayu Youth Award, Professor Mayching Kao Arts Development Fund, Project Grant (Emerging Artists Scheme) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and received The Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) of Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2019.
In his early creative practice, his works are inspired by his continual fascination with his memories of high school life, and looking at memory as a social construct, classism in the education system, contemporary value system, and a lost sense of self-identity, all relevant and timely to a generation that grew up in post-colonial Hong Kong.
After a series of creations criticising on his past experience, his current practises are much focusing on his inner self in the moment. With his interest in swimming, he tried to integrate the action of swimming into his creative practice. He first started to document a public swimming pool that he swims a lot since his childhood by counting the tiles of different pools and reconstructing them on papers, which the spaces of swimming pool created a way for the artist to consolidate his thoughts and to continue his creations.
He had been taking place in artist in residency programmes including Tai Kwun Contemporary, Turkey and New York City. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in various art institutions, including Let’s Try Catching Steam with Bare Hands (Gallery Exit, 2021), The Lonesome Changing Room (Hong Kong Art Central; Contemporary by Angela Li, 2021), I Will Always Be On Your Side (Tai Kwun Contemporary, 2020), I Cannot Wait For Three Months (halka sanat projesi, Istanbul, 2019), I say Marco, you say Polo (Fringe Club, Hong Kong, 2019; School of Visual Arts, New York, 2018), The Bacteriology Drawing Lab (Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences, Hong Kong, 2019), Everything’s Alright (K11 chi art space, Hong Kong, 2016) and Yesterday’s (Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, 2013). He has awarded the Finalist of The 2022 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Finalist of 2021 Art Sanya Huayu Youth Award, Professor Mayching Kao Arts Development Fund, Project Grant (Emerging Artists Scheme) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and received The Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) of Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2019.