Ben Quilty’s solo “Straight White Male” at Pearl Lam Galleries was the highlight of a day spent gallery hopping in Hong Kong. The canvases are a mixture of portrait and landscapes, but what sets them apart and what appealed to me was the muscular application of paint and the fashion with which it is applied and manipulated. The work has a freedom and coiled psychosis that is both beautiful and nightmarish. Many of the works use a technique that borrows from mono printing where the canvas is literally printed with the mirror image of it’s other half. By folding the canvas in two and printing it, Quilty references and exploits the ink blot tests created by Rorschach in the 19th century. The works are both test and test subject, blurring the line for the viewer between what is perceived and what is experienced.

http://www.pearllam.com/city/hong-kong/