Mak Ying Tung 2 - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale Hong Kong Thursday, July 9, 2020 | Phillips
  • Description

    Phillips x Design Trust Charity Auction
    Phillips is delighted to offer a special curated selection from lots 217-230 with Design Trust, an initiative of the Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design, as part of the 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Hong Kong Day Sale.

    富藝斯香港 x 信言設計大使慈善拍賣會
    富藝斯香港很高興與信言設計大使攜手為7月舉行的二十世紀及當代藝術品拍賣帶來一系列精選作品(拍品217-230)。

  • Provenance

    Donated directly by de Sarthe Gallery and the artist

  • Exhibited

    Hong Kong, de Sarthe Gallery, Home Sweet Home, 23 November 2019 - 11 January 2020

  • Catalogue Essay

    Mak Ying Tung 2's series Home Sweet Home (2019-2020) are triptychs on canvas that make use of the popular life simulation videogame “The Sims” and are each painted by three separate painters on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao. Lacking in specific objectives, “The Sims” is one of the best selling video games of all time, with over 200 million copies sold worldwide. It allows players to live a simulated life through a customised avatar and design their home however they please. For many it is a form of escapism used to craft an alternate reality. Through “The Sims” Mak 2 constructs dream-like home environments that speak to life in Hong Kong. She uses bizarre and nonsensical elements, which the game renders perfect and immaculate nonetheless, to explore both idyllic and traumatic aspects of life in the tumultuous city. She takes screen-captures of these environments and then divides the resultant image into thirds. She has each third painted by a different painter on Taobao who is given the least amount of instruction possible. Owing to interpretive inconsistencies, different skill levels, and varied materials, the final appearance of each triptych is unpredictable. Through fracturing the process of production and allowing external factors to intervene in the actualisation of her understanding of home, Mak 2’s “Home Sweet Home” series not only elucidates the inevitable disparity between fantasy and reality, its also crafts a comment on authorship, “copy-cat” culture, and narratives of home.

Kindly donated by de Sarthe Gallery and Mak Ying Tung 2 in support of DESIGN TRUST CHARITY AUCTION

218

Home Sweet Home: Rosy Drone

2019
acrylic on canvas, triptych
each 66.6 x 150 cm. (26 1/4 x 59 in.)
total 200 x 150 cm. (78 3/4 x 59 in.)

Painted in 2019, this work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the artist.

Estimate
HK$80,000 - 120,000 
€8,700-13,100
$10,300-15,400

Sold for HK$137,500

Contact Specialist
Danielle So
Associate Specialist, Head of Day Sale

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale

Hong Kong Auction 9 July 2020