No definite positions are taken at Phillip Lai’s ‘In The Half Life’. While the objects on display seem familiar – a stack of dirt-smeared wash basins, hollowed-out cylinders, light bulbs fastened to the bottom of a shelf – all of them appear stuck between functions, as if on the cusp of transfiguration, but not quite. A poetic touch is juxtaposed with a sense of the absurd; viewers straining for meaning will find themselves at a dead end. Rather than force the works to give themselves up to be read, Lai creates room for a heightened sense of awareness of the way we define ourselves in relation to our surroundings. Ironically, this state of unease and inbetweenness strikes a chord in our anxious times.
- Christie Lee