Between Materiality and Abstraction: Stripping Away the "Good Boy" Label
[Ming Pao]Every Good Boy Does Fine—a mnemonic used by musical novices to memorize the notes on the treble clef (E, G, B, D, F)—simultaneously carries a subtle undercurrent of authority. Does this impulse stem from innate human nature, or is it an illusion sculpted by societal norms?
In his series Long Still Lifes (2023–2024), artist Buck Ellison presents Untitled (Fall), a work featuring sliced melons, transfer-printed porcelain plates, Florentine-style greeting cards, spilled tea, and an image of boys at an Eton College celebration. The students, participating in a rowing regatta while donning boater hats, wear a signature emblem of Eton’s tradition in grooming the ruling class.
Conversely, artist Kayode Ojo’s series His Dark Materials—comprising works such as Overdressed, Dressed, Undressed, and ¥90000—divests objects of their utilitarian functions to reveal their purest forms once disassembled. Here, a deconstructed camera becomes the subject of the photograph itself, while a music stand metamorphoses into a slender, elongated "body." Navigating between physical materiality and abstract concepts, Ojo’s practice directly confronts the notion of "reality" embedded within social constraints.
