Vhils’ practice has long been engaged with the urban context, and his works resonate with and reverberates the human experience of living in a contemporary megalopolis. Following the critically acclaimed institutional exhibitions of Vhils in 2016 in Hong Kong and 2017 in Macau, Remains will be the artist’s first gallery exhibition in Hong Kong, weaving a poetic tale of the city through the lens of his recognizable artistic lexicon.

As he develops his first commercial body of work for Hong Kong, Vhils has taken this opportunity to reflect upon his past two-years living in the city. The time he has spent in Asia has had a significant impact on his own identity and, by extension, his work. Remains will share the stories of urbanites who breathe vitality into the densely populated urban epicenter. Coming together to present a collection of interlocking narratives, amassed through interviews, personal relationships, and public interactions over the past two years, Remains represents a multilayered view of the Hong Kong experience. Based on a variety of source material, from advertisements collected in Hong Kong streets to photographs of the urban landscape, the new series – including carved wooden doors, acid-etched metal plates, styrofoam dioramas, and hand-carved billboards – intentionally dilutes the readability of each individual portrayed, a reflection on how identity is both formed and affected by the city's visual discourse.

This exhibition can be seen as a direct continuation of the work Vhils has been developing over the last two years, and showcases the artist’s diverse and mature techniques both working on the streets as well as within the confines of a white cube space. Remains at Over The Influence embodies the core concepts important to the artist, exploring symbolic reflections on identity, urban life, and the passage of time, bringing with him the relationship of interdependence between people and the environment wherever his unique artistic language travels.