Hong Kong, September 11 – October 22, 2015, http://www.simonleegallery.com
Quickly scanning through the images on the gallery’s website, Hugh Scott-Douglas work seems to cover a whole range of approaches and media, centered on reflecting of the world of capitalist production and consumption relations, both in terms of images and products. Sample images included and exhibit of empty film storage sleeves, or prints of scanned objects onto already printed news print or other materials such as wood or aluminum.
Looking at the Simon Lee Hong Kong exhibition as it was, the only thing present were four large monochrome prints on white dibond backed with a wooden panel (and a couple of smaller ones in the office behind the corner). The prints consisted of repetitively tiled motives of what appeared to be elements of a clock’s internal parts. As such, the work seemed to build on previous Scott-Douglas’s works, repeating a similar process at a larger scale. In itself, the panels looked sterile and silent, which resonated well with the white wall stainless steel frame glass door design of the gallery, but created a rather cold and unfriendly feel towards the visitor. It made sense in the context of Scott-Douglas’ other work, presenting a sort of sterility or impotence of corporate-capitalist ideology, but it was difficult to relate to the work at first sight without other clues. The showroom-aspect of the gallery dominated the impression, a bit like entering a huge fridge and wondering among the pieces of cake for sale.
