Sands Gallery

Sands China makes its debut at Art March Hong Kong, joining this year’s edition of Art Central. Through Sands Gallery, the presentation brings together works by three contemporary Macao artists Lei Ieng Wai, Leong Chi Mou, and Dor Lio Hak Man, spotlighting a new wave of creative talent from the city on an international stage.

The Sands Gallery booth also incorporates aesthetic elements of Macao’s century-old firecracker industry, enabling international audiences to trace the city’s cultural development from vernacular craftsmanship to contemporary art expression, while experiencing the city’s rich art and culture landscape shaped by its East–West cultural fusion.

Lei Ieng Wai

Lei Ieng Wai acquires creative inspirations from the tension of light and shadow in everyday life. He draws on scientific theory as the foundation of aesthetics, transforming artificial spectra, proportional values, and geometric structures into repetitive and precise blocks of color and surfaces of light, exploring urban changes and the lives of city dwellers.

Image: Lei Ieng Wai. Courtesy of the artist.

Leong Chi Mou

Leong Chi Mou’s works span across painting and installation. His practice interrogates shifting notions of value and the cultural interfaces that shape identity, informed by personal migration histories and Macao’s post-colonial context. Through these inquiries, Leong’s works examine the conditions of cultural survival and the intricate entanglements between artistic essence and value systems.

Image: Leong Chi Mou. Courtesy of the artist.

Dor Lio Hak Man

Dor Lio Hak Man channels influences from Japanese manga and Western painting into a practice grounded in everyday observation. His work records daily encounters, emotional impressions, and imaginative associations with a relaxed sensibility. He shapes a refined, philosophically attuned visual language that bridges interior experience with an outward-facing openness.

Image: Dor Lio Hak Man. Courtesy of the artist.

Talks Programme

Aesthetics in a Square-Inch: A Century of Visual Culture Change Through Macao's Firecracker Packaging

Sunday 29 March, 3:30 pm

Presented by Sands Gallery

Speakers: Professor Ung Vai Meng (Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Arts at the Macau University of Science and Technology)

Conducted in Cantonese

This seminar will be delivered by Ung Vai Meng, distinguished Professor of the Faculty of Humanities and Arts at the Macau University of Science and Technology and a renowned artist in Macao. With his profound artistic accomplishments and historical insight, he will guide the audience through the century-long history of Macao’s firecracker industry. Beginning with precious collections from the art archives in Macao, the seminar will trace the development of the firecracker trade and focus on the rich aesthetic universe emanating from the square-inch packaging paper. He will analyze how printing techniques embody the craftsmanship of their times, explore the folk symbolism and aesthetic trends behind the exquisite graphics, and examine how the packaging design responded to cross-cultural market demands. These seemingly modest firecracker packages are, in fact, unique artistic vessels reflecting Macao’s socio-economic landscape, cultural integration, and nostalgia.

Image: Professor Ung Vai Meng. Courtesy of the speaker.

About Sands Gallery

Located at the Grand Suites at Four Seasons in Macao, Sands Gallery has served as a platform facilitating the exchange of ideas and works between Macao and the international art scene since its inception in 2022. It brings together distinguished works from both Chinese and international esteemed artists, while providing Macao artists with a platform to present their artworks to international audiences. To date, the gallery has curated 12 diverse exhibitions, earning recognition from international and industry realms. Leveraging art as the bridge, Sands Gallery continuously contributes to the city’s diversified development and enriches the future potential of its artistic landscape.