kind of — gallery will open its doors again on Wednesday March 6 at yet another location. The new spot is 70 Oxford Street, aka: He Made x She Made Gallery. The kind of — guys are sort of doing a six-week residency at the HMSM spot, which, by chance, is right next door to where kind of — started in the first place.
To kick off the new year (finally) one of the founders/owners and the man behind all the design work – Wing Lau – will have his first solo show. If you know kind of — you would recognise the very minimal and clean aesthetic in their branding. Some of the posters have won Wing an AGDA and have also been exhibited in the Moscow Global Biennale of Graphic Design.
His show is called “altitude / attitude” and opens Wednesday March 6 at 6.00 pm at 70 Oxford Street.
Check what he has to say about Taiwanese woman and weird mountain people:
kind of — gallery: Hey bro, long time! How was Hong Kong/Taiwan?
Wing: Yup, we are yet to meet up, long time it is! Taiwan was awesome – best decision I have made. Hong Kong was awesome too. Simply seeing my family is the best thing to do.
kind of —: You had some problems in Taiwan though right? Couldn’t finish the mission?
Wing: Yeah, got the Taiwanese flu, pretty full on. Haven’t recovered since but hey, I checked out some museums and galleries over there when I wasn’t riding. I was able to relax and chill too, works out well either way. I will definitely go back and finish the ride that’s for sure!
kind of —: I was super jealous when you left.
Wing: You have more important things to do, while I am not as needed that’s why I can just go away.
kind of —: Ha ha, you’re important too man! Were their galleries as good as ours?
Wing: Those that I have visited are okay, however the local artists are pretty good! Interesting concepts are everywhere great works too. Museums are always pretty good but when I was there photography was dominating the museums!
kind of —: Really? Photography? that’s pretty tight. What’s your show about again?
Wing: It’s partly about altitude (my recent cycling experience in Sydney, Taiwan as well as Hong Kong) partly about attitude. It’s a very personal body of work I must admit, ideological.
kind of —: Woah that’s deep, I like it. Actually, the whole world was digging the Higher Ground group show poster. That’s kind of — where it came from?
Wing: It was pure coincidence really. For those who don’t know, kind of — gallery hosted an exhibition called Higher Ground, showing works by every single artist from the Higher Ground Studio (Beastman, BENNETT, Ears, Numskull etc…). I was then also planning my trip… you know, looking at maps and digging out routes and stuff. Those terrain maps are just amazing, topographical stuff. Well, that kind of — all started together, and then now a slightly bigger series of work no longer in the poster format.
kind of —: I can put links up of the Higher Ground show, it’ll be sweet.
Wing: By the way, how are you?
kind of —: I’m good bro, thanks for asking. Just packing up my life to move in with the Missus and start a new life, more or less.
Wing: Sounds good, when are you moving? By the way, the show is also a fund raising thing.
kind of —: Monday I move out, I’ll be a bit of a freelance kind of — couch surfer guy for a bit though.
Wing: Why is that?
kind of —: So I can save some money, and we don’t actually have a place to live just yet. Enough about me mate, this is your interview! I didn’t know it was a fund raiser, what are we raising funds for?
Wing: You know in October this year I am riding the ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer’ thing? Profits will got to that to mess with that thing call ‘cancer’.
kind of —: Nope but that’s pretty awesome! I’m down for that. When is the poster for your show going to be finished?
Wing: Soon!
kind of —: Ha ha, we’re running out of time!
Wing: Mate you know how much work I have smashing out right now… (This doesn’t go into the interview!).
kind of —: It’s all going in! I’m just teasing.
Wing: Whatever, back to the exhibition
kind of —: Back on track!
Wing: Yeah, so the whole thing is pretty much related to cycling or the attitude towards this particular activity. Whether you look at it as a sport, a sort of entertainment, a lifestyle… however you want to call it! And that is an event which raises funds via riding a bike.
kind of —: That’s a super good thing to do man. You know I’m down for cycling. You’re pretty good at the conceptual type stuff, all our posters have been pretty killer (and confusing for me most of the time) but you’ve always got a reason for this thing there or that thing over there.
Wing: It could be confusing for me too but I am lucky enough to be able to find my way out after all. I think that is a process called ‘design thinking’ or ‘concept development’ ha ha. Now I am a bit worried that most people who happen to walk into the ‘altitude / attitude’ exhibition will be lost.
kind of —: Nah man, they are still pretty pictures in the most layman of terms!
Wing: Then again, without me being completely lost riding in a part of Taiwan that I have never been to on my own, this series of works wouldn’t be here. That’s what I do for a living, make pretty things!
kind of —: There you go! Design thinking! You’re a designer by trade? And a teacher!
Wing: It’s pretty scary, but enjoyable at the same time. I mean, lost in nature… Seriously, I was riding in Taiwan and I didn’t see a person around for most of the day, but I met the most beautiful woman in the world… Mother Nature ha ha. Didn’t you see my recent instagram post? Eames says it all; ‘It’s not a job title, it’s a way of seeing.’ I thought you liked it?
kind of —: Yeah, I saw that and I liked it. That Mother Nature is one hot lady – gaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Ha ha ha! What are the actual ladies like in Taiwan?
Wing: People are real friendly in Taiwan. Like for instance, I was driven to a train station by a shop owner who has a store next to the hotel I was staying. It took like 20 mins one way and he asked for nothing. He simply asked me to go visit the city again when I am next in Taiwan.
kind of —: Amazing!
Wing: But ladies? I can’t recall… I didn’t meet many people (please refer to the conversation above) at least not in the mountains where I was cycling.
kind of —: No weird mountain people?
Wing: Yeah nah, no one. And I guess that is why all these works are pretty personal too. If you ain’t there breathing real hard and pedalling you won’t know it. But don’t worry, I have managed to make them look pretty ha ha.
kind of — I’ve got a guest questions:
Meilyn (our intern – more or less) wants to know which plant eater (I’m guessing an animal) would you be and why?
Wing: What kind of question is that?
kind of —: I don’t know! She just asked it!
Wing: I might be the kind that lives high up the ALTITUDE with a bit of ATTITUDE… I guess it’s the kind that is yet to be discovered.
kind of —: Ha ha ha, good answer! You want to add anything else about your show??
Wing: Do you want to know anything else?
kind of —: Ummmmm. Let me think… When are you going to do a big show of our posters?
Wing: We have been considering / talking about this haven’t we?
kind of — Yeah we have.
Wing: Perhaps sometime this year also? I want it to be a well curated one, a poster exhibition. The context sounds very interesting already. It’s a tricky one, could take a while too, who knows?
kind of —: Yeah, it would be nice to close out the year on a poster retrospective or something. I got nothing else bro, you got any last words??
Wing: There are actually two quotes I wanted to share… you know I love collecting quotes
kind of —: Ha ha, bring them on!
Wing: Ooh and there is a very brief conversation I had with my dad when I was in Hong Kong too… The first quote I came across at the beginning when I just started to plan my Taiwan cycling trip, it’s by Yvon Chouinard. “How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.” That I thought was pretty spot on then. After that, when I was in the airport ready to fly to Taiwan / Hong Kong I saw another one by Master Yoda ha ha!
kind of —: Hell yeah! Star Wars!
Wing: “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
kind of —: YES! So good.
Wing: Then comes the wise words from my dad just a couple days before I am about to come back to Sydney. He said this when I was driving us home… He said he read something which he thinks I would like to hear; I said “Bring it on!” He then said, “Do you know what makes up a 100% of your life?”
kind of —: ????
Wing: “If we allocate 1-26% to the alphabet A-Z there is a word that makes up 100% Its not money, not power, not luck. You know, the general stuff… Then he spelt it out: A T T I T U D E is 100%.
kind of —: So you give each letter a percentage value eg: A is 1% and Z is 26%? Then A T T I T U D E = 100%?
Wing: Yes, that’s the theory.
kind of —: Ha ha ha, that’s awesome!
Wing: Up until today he still doesn’t know that I am going to have an exhibition, but what he really doesn’t know is that he has already named it for me.
kind of —: Good old Dad! Let’s finish on that note, I need to keep packing.
Wing: Thanks for this, see you soon hey!
kind of —: No worries bro, I’m looking forward to out new space and your show!
Wing: Yeah! And shout out to the peeps at HE MADE SHE MADE!