What is Hong Kong afraid of? Although all cities possess their own local anxieties, perhaps none are as vivid and consuming as those of Hong Kong. From the fading superstitions of old to the latest urban legends, Adrian Wong reflects on Hong Kong’s landscape of fear in this series of new works. Using sculpture, installation, painting and video, Wong deconstructs phobias about the supernatural, luck, public health and personal safety with humor and horror always hand in hand. His irreverent, inside-out approach is clear even in the title Tuhng Gwai Waan (Play With Ghosts), a mirrored installation in which viewers are supplied with instructions and implements used to try and make ghosts appear. More minimally, an enormous, white and wooden “4” lays across the space at an unsettling angle and plays on the unlucky association of the words “sei” (4) and “seih” (death) in Cantonese. Even those who don’t believe in superstition may be uncomfortable watching the video Gung Hei Fat Choi, in which Wong observes the first day of the Lunar New Year by breaking every traditional rule for good luck (washing his hair, using a knife, etc.).Nearby, a baroque fountain constructed of chipped “daaih paai dong” dishes that pumps tea instead of water becomes a celebration of vernacular aesthetics and the intangible heritage of the “bowl-washing” ritual. At the same time too, the work evokes anxieties about hygiene and public health. Self-portraits of Wong sharing a romantic moment with a live chicken and some oversized pop art splatters made up of simulated bird droppings invert these same headline concerns. Finally, the video Haak Sei Wuih Tuhng Mau Jai reveals the “softer side” of the criminal underworld. In it, four tattooed gang members participate in a ballet-like battle over a kitten.As one of the few Chinese-American artists living and working in Hong Kong, Wong is in the unique position of relearning what is already “known.” He constantly negotiates the ancestral, idealized Cantonese past through incorporation of the breakneck Hong Kong present. The artist simultaneously re-examines his own Cantonese heritage and addresses local content from an outsider’s perspective—he is more interested in the frisson-filled gap between childhood “play” and the work of culture than identity politics. With his signature blend of mischief, elegant craftsmanship and odd-angle view of the world, Adrian Wong makes his “A Fear is This” a truly exciting debut.