Pounds of Happiness

Pounds of Happiness: installation and conveyor belt

Pounds of Happiness (installation), 2009, mixed media, pound shop items, 8 x 8 x 5 feet / 2.4 x 2.4 x 1.5 m

A collection of works of modest ambitions—small moments of pleasure. The simple gestures draw visual connections, make curious recursions, and declare unwarranted exuberance.

detail: A Great Depression, neon posterboard, found poster, tape, mini flash, glue, found chimes. 23 x 30 inches / 58 x 76 cm

detail: found jar of gold bricks, found garden spinner, 21 x 13 x 3.5 inches / 53 x 33 x 9 cm

detail: found snow globe, acetate, 3 x 4 x 3 inches / 7.6 x 10 cm

Recursion, laser print, found frame, 7 x 9 x 0.5 inches / 18 x 23 x 1.5 cm

detail: socks, wood, 16 x 21.5 x 1.75 inches / 41 x 55 x 4.5 cm

detail: potted plants, found garden spinners, mirror foil paper, wood, 25 x 39 x 22 inches / 63.5 x 99 x 56 cm

detail: found LED fans, mirror foil paper, electrical components, 39 x 6.25 x 1.25 inches / 99 x 16 x 3 cm

Pounds of Happiness (installation), 2009, found paper plate, found frame, modified solar powered light, wood, paper, plastic, 58 x 65 x 2 inches / 147 x 165 x 5 cm

detail: “on” view

Pounds of Happiness (conveyor belt), 2009, paper, neon gel pens, glitter pens, wood, motor, table, 48 x 34 x 24 inches / 122 x 86 x 61 cm

A kinetic sculpture that displays a looped drawing of pound store products drawn with pound store materials.

detail

Sorted, 2009, gilt and enamel badge, 1 inch / 25 mm diameter. Edition of 50.

Inspired by British commemoratives. Suggests the coexistence of gloomy outlooks and vibrant attitudes. ‘Sorted’ is a Mancunian expression of affirmation.

What can you do, 2009, papercuts, yellow drafting film, lights; dim. var.

what can you do, 2009, site-specific intervention: papercuts, yellow drafting film, lights; dim. var.

The cynical, passive statement (“What can you do?”) cycles into an active challenge (“What can you do?”).

Pounds of Happiness highlights modest pleasures available in daily life.

While in residence at Chinese Arts Centre, I re-considered my tying pessimism with mundanity and optimism with transcendence. With Pounds of Happiness, I suggests that optimism can and should exist in the everyday. Modest ambitions—in life, and in works of art—may exhibit unexpected value.

The works are a celebration of visual pleasure and accessibility. (The Cheap and Cheerful drawings were also on view.)

Learn more about my residency findings and projects in Everyday Ambition: Forays into Optimism and Pessimism (PDF).

Caption: Christine Wong Yap, Pounds of Happiness (installation), 2009, mixed media, pound shop items, 8 x 8 x 5 feet / 2.4 x 2.4 x 1.5 m // Pounds of Happiness (conveyor belt), 2009, paper, neon gel pens, glitter pens, wood, motor, table, 48 x 34 x 24 inches / 122 x 86 x 61 cm. Produced in the Breathe Residency at Chinese Arts Centre (now known as Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art). // Sorted, 2009, gilt and enamel badge, 1 inch / 25 mm diameter. Edition of 50. // what can you do, 2009, site-specific intervention: papercuts, yellow drafting film, lights; dim. var.