The Opening of "Work of Macao Hands"

Work of Macao Hands: Watercolours by Carol Archer
澳門手作 : 區勵志畫展

“Work of Macao Hands: Watercolours by Carol Archer” opened at the Library Gallery at the University of Macau on Friday November 10. The paintings in the exhibition explore the rapidly changing city of Macao. These days construction is around every corner in Macao, and it is featured in some of the paintings in “Work of Macao Hands”. Although bamboo, tarpaulins and site-fences are represented, these pictures are not about the magnitude of construction sites or the looming presence of the structures and machinery that they contain. Instead, they focus on human-scale details such as hand-knotted bamboo scaffolding or the twisted rusty wire that secures a dusty blue tarp to a metal site-fence. The watercolour paintings in this exhibition also highlight the work of Macao hands that can be seen even in the “finished” urban landscape. Some paintings feature the electrical wires, pipes and wafting pieces of plastic that appear on the street frontages of some Macao houses. The ropes and hooks used to suspend produce, and the makeshift red lamps that light up market stalls, have been pictured in several works. The paintings in this exhibition are reminders that it is hands that continue to make Macao what it is today.

Also on exhibition from November 10 in the Library Gallery of the University of Macao is “Footstep: an installation by Carol Archer and Even Mak” (步足；足印 混合媒體裝置展覽 ：區勵志及麥綺雲). In this collaborative work Hong Kong ceramicist, Even Mak, and Carol Archer combine paint on paper with glazed terracotta elements to suggest the sensations of the moving feet as they contact the ground. The work was inspired by an interest in the physical effects of training regimes such as ballet.

Work of Macao Hands

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #8, 2006,

watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm, Collection of the artist.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #5, 2006, watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #6, 2006,

watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm,

Collection of Kit Kelen

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #16, 2006, watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm

Collection of Adam Lampton

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #2, 2006,
watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm, Collection of Barbara MacGregor.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #1, 2006,
watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #15, 2006, watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm,

Collection of Lyn Stoker.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #11, 2006,

watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #11, 2006,

watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #6, 2006,

watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm,

Collection of Mette Hjort.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #4, 2006,
watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm.

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #7 , 2006, watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm,

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #13 , 2006,

watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm

Collection of Keith and Becky Pharis

Carol Archer, Work of Macao Hands #10, 2006,
watercolour on paper, 59 x 42 cm.

Collection of Mette Hjort and Paisley Livingston

Knot works

New Territories

Sleep to dream/Shui yi meng

Tai Mo Shan/ Big Hat Mountain

Skin to Work series

Skin to Work series, 1998, latex and mixed media on board, 40 x 40 cm

(Collection of Artbank, Australia)

Skin to Work series, 1998, latex and mixed media on board, 40 x 40cm
(Collection of Artbank, Australia)

Skin to Work series, 1996, mixed media on foamboard, approx. 30 x 30 cm

Skin to Work series, 1996, mixed media on foamboard, approx. 40 x 40 cm

Dermagraph, 1996, mixed media on foamboard,
100 x 100 cm (Collection of Neela Griffith)

Skin to Work series

Skin to Work series, 1998 (Maling Gallery, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney),

mixed media on board, approx 40 x 40 cm.

Work on left: collection of Johanna Trianor.

Works on right: collection of ArtBank Australia.

Skin to Work series, 1998, mixed media on board, approx 40 x 40 cm.

Collection of ArtBank Australia.

Skin to Work series, 1998, fabric, latex and paper on board,
approx 40 x 40 cm.

The Hide of Her, 1998, latex, paper , drawing media,
approx. 100 x 100cm.

Early works

Sites Between (detail), 1989 (Collection of unidentified ANU English Professor)

Sites Between, 1989, mixed media on 13 plywood panels

(Collections of Sarah St Vincent Welsh, Anne Pickering,

an unidentified ANU English Professor)

Eggshell series, c.1988, oil on canvas, approx 80cm x 100cm