265 One Incense stick

Paul Wong
One Incense stick (2024)
Corn clay, white clay, painted wooden sticks
W20 x D18 x H71cm
$5000

Artist statement

My name is Paul Wong, and I am currently a second-year student in the Higher Diploma program at Hong Kong Art School, specializing in sculpture.

My work often utilizes ready-made and found objects as a medium, employing deconstruction, reassembly, and experimental methods.Recently, I have been exploring a material called corn clay, made from natural corn starch and edible color materials, as a creative medium, while also investigating its potential when integrated with ready-made and found objects.

The works I plan to exhibit in COLLECT HONG KONG 2025 are about incense sticks, which refer to the story about the origin of the name Hong Kong(香港).

The name of Hong Kong originates from various legends, one of which is that it was once a thriving port for the transport of fragrant goods, including incense sticks(香枝), in history.

In traditional Chinese customs, it is common to offer three sticks of incense as the basic number in rituals for blessings and honouring ancestors. In Taoist teachings, the first stick of incense represents heaven(天), praying for divine protection; the second stick represents earth(地) , praying for favorable weather and abundant harvests; the third stick represents man(人), praying for the ancestors' blessings. According to Buddhist scriptures, the three sticks of incense represent Discipline(戒), meditation(定), and wisdom(慧).

Regardless of the phrasing, although they are a trinity, each has its own reference.