Zen Moment with Lui Shou-kwan

Lui's Zen Painting (1971) with lively strokes

 

After looking at the disturbing art work at the Surrealism exhibit as documented in my previous post, my friend and I were relieved to see the perfect counterpoint on the same floor -- "When Form Matters: Following the Path of Lui Shou-kwan to Zen Painting".

Lui (1919-1975) was born in Guangzhou, and his father Lui Canming was also a painter. Lui junior studied economics at Guangzhou University then moved to Hong Kong in 1948. His day job was an inspector for the Hongkong and Yaumatei Ferry Company until 1966.

Lui could paint traditional Chinese paintings

But Lui was very involved in art and could paint traditional style paintings as evident in a few works shown in the exhibition (After Ni Zan's Riverside pavilion by mountains is an example), but he was also keen to experiment with ink and composition, which resulted in him being a leading figure in the New Ink Art Movement in Hong Kong.

This resulted in his Zen painting series, creating a new style of painting that was refreshing, minimalist, and encapsulated aesthetics of East and West through modulating his brush and ink.

And his Zen paintings really are fantastic works of abstraction created with powerful brushstrokes that are deliberate with texture and depth. They are minimalist in composition, but bring up many possibilities of the meanings behind them.

Tablet shows how Shek O, Hong Kong was painted

However, I do prefer his not so abstract paintings of Hong Kong. There's a horizontal landscape painting called Shek O, Hong Kong (1964), depicting the district as a quaint small village by the water that looks frothy and white in contrast to the dark hills in the background. 

Lui also painted scenes of places like Rennie's Mill, Kowloon typhoon shelter, and Kellet Island. These works show life a generation ago that seems nostalgic and slow, and feature lots of water that surrounds Hong Kong.

I also enjoyed looking at Cliffs of Ali Shan, Taiwan (1971), an ink painting that almost looks like a black and white photograph. Does the far right show a waterfall? Or where the cliff disappears into the water? It's hard to tell, but Lui seems to paint it as a beautiful idyllic place to take in the scenery.

Cliffs of Ali Shan, Taiwan painted in 1971

One irritating thing about the exhibition is its use of technology to make the art seem cool when it already is cool. 

In some of the works, visitors are invited to use a special tablet to scan the painting and it will automatically pretend to paint the work for you. How is this interesting or make the work more comprehensible?

At the end of the exhibition, visitors are invited to scan a QR code for Lui's abstract butterfly to fly around on the smartphone screen. How does this enhance the viewer's visit to the show? Not at all except it is a sad gimmick. Lui did not paint the work to have more than one butterfly flying around!

The museum seems to rely too much on computer animation to make the shows more interesting when it should be up to the curators and how they present the works to make it worthwhile to see the shows. Children's attention spans may be short, but animating paintings is not going to inspire them.

Computer animation is an unwelcome gimmick

When Form Matters: Following the Path of Lui Shou-kwan to Zen Painting

Until April 10

Hong Kong Museum of Art

10 Salisbury Road

Tsim Sha Tsui

 

 

 

Zhang Daqian's Masterful Style

On Route Switzerland-Austria, 1965

 

This afternoon I managed to catch the last day of a special exhibition of Chinese painter Zhang Daqian's work at Sotheby's Hong Kong. This year marks the 120th anniversary of the artist's birthday.

Dunhuang painting, 1942

Entitled "Zhang Daqian: The Master", the show features nearly 60 works from the artist's family and prominent private collections, many of these pieces either rarely or never before seen in public. Many of them are works that he gave to his daughter, Chang Hsueh-liang.

When I arrived at Sotheby's in One Pacific Place in Admiralty around 3pm, the place was already packed with people of various ages, eager to examine the artist's paintings and calligraphy. Strangely not all the works were captioned in English which were otherwise very helpful for me to further understand the paintings.

Nevertheless the pieces show an array of Zhang's styles that ranged from intricate line drawings to his famous splash ink paintings that verge on abstraction. He definitely pushed Chinese painting forward, still keeping with traditional philosophy, but very contemporary at the same time.

Zhang was born in 1899 in Neijiang, Sichuan province and learned traditional Chinese painting from several teachers, including his mother. He copied the works of ancient masters, refining his skills in painting landscapes, birds and flowers, and figures.

In the early 1940s he went to Dunhuang, Gansu province for three years, copying the Buddhist grotto paintings that deeply inspired him to learn more about art from the Tang dynasty. His observations of Tang-dynasty figures were later integral to developing his style.

The lotus is a favourite subject for Zhang, this painted in 1973

However, because of the impending revolution in China, Zhang left China in 1949 and went to live in places like Argentina, Brazil, California, and Taiwan. He became exposed to modern Western art developments, like the Abstract Expressionists, and even met Pablo Picasso. It was then that he began developing the splash ink style and using vivid mineral colours.

The exhibition has Zhang's line paintings from when he was in Dunhuang. There's a dynamic painting of a girl dancing with ribbons and it comes alive with elegance and grace. Another shows a woman presenting an offering in a flowing robe.

A particularly impressive painting is called Spring Clouds Amid Autumn Landscape done in 1948. He gave this painting to a friend of his (he had many friends he gifted with art) who turned 50 years old, and this particular painting is so detailed it's mind-boggling to think he painted every single pine needle on the trees and every wave in the sea. Not only does it show his attention to detail, but also his ability to paint so finely.

And of course Zhang is well known for his lotus paintings using the splash-ink style. The leaves are lively from his large brushstrokes, and yet anchored by the deliberate lotus flower stems that are detailed with dots on them. It's more about the leaves than the flowers themselves.

A screen of a landscape painting for Zhang's daughter

There is a screen that he gifted to his daughter Chang when she was getting married. It features an abstract landscape that spreads across several panels. Chang wrote that her father seemed sad about her leaving home soon and it took him a long time to finish the screen, as if hoping that if he didn't finish it, she wouldn't leave. But eventually he did finish it and her brother brought it over for her wedding.

The landscape paintings -- of places outside of China are very interesting because they are painted in a Chinese ink brush style, though viewers are encouraged to use their imagination. One called On Route Switzerland-Austria looks more like a Chinese landscape, but it has a brilliant colouring from the blue-green palette, evoking greenery, but also there is contrast from a waterfall in the distance that creates a giant mist further down, or are they clouds? that create a backdrop for the chalets on the mountains.

A woman Zhang painted that's printed on the foam of a coffee

What a treat to see all these paintings. I also got a cup of (cold) coffee -- with one of Zhang's paintings printed on the foam! A few of us took pictures of each other's coffee cups. One woman didn't want to drink her coffee to ruin her print-out of a woman's face. Eventually she did drink it...

Zhang Daqian's Dunhuang Years

Mother and Daughter donors of five dynasties (1941-43)

A colleague told me about an exhibition of Chinese artist Zhang Daqian's work in Macau -- and by the way it would end on Sunday -- and so I made an effort this morning to check it out.

When I got to Shun Tak Ferry Terminal just after 10am, it was a zoo, with long queues for the Jetfoil. My only hope was to get tickets from a subcontracted ticket office and after quickly going through Immigration, I was able to get on the 10.30am ferry. Phew!

Yaksha Demons of Northern Wai Dynasty (1941-43)

After I arrived I took the MGM shuttle bus to the hotel, where I then walked a few blocks to the Macao Museum of Art.

The exhibition was located on the fourth floor and free admission too!

Some 100 works were borrowed from the Sichuan Museum, with a particular focus on his drawings during and after his visits to the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu province.

He spent almost three years there, from 1941 to 1944, reproducing 309 cave paintings that feature Buddhist figures. Experts believe that his style of painting, particularly figurative changed significantly, making his visit to Dunhuang an important milestone in his career.

The Mogao Caves are known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes, made up of 492 temples located along the silk road. The caves have the best example of Buddhist art that spans 1,000 years.

Detail of Manjushri Boddhisttva (1941-43)

When he exhibited his work in 1944 in Chengdu and Chongqing, many of the viewers had never seen this kind of art before, as it wasn't even mentioned in the bible of Chinese painting, Painting Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden of the Qing dynasty.

Afterwards Zhang became interested in doing more research on the history of Chinese painting, looking at works from the Six Dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The preface of the exhibition explains he learned painting from his mother, and that Zhang once said copying others is the first step to learning how to paint. He admired Shi Tao's paintings and they were copied so well that it was hard to tell the duplicate from the original.

Zhang is considered one of the grand masters in Chinese art because he excelled in painting works from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and could paint in various styles: gongli (meticulous brushwork), xieyi (freehand brushwork), ink wash painting, blue and green landscapes, and jinbi (landscapes with gold outlines).

He believed learning painting is 70 percent hard work and 30 percent in born gifts and abilities.

Detail of Su Shi in bamboo hat and clogs (1947)

The collection of paintings shown at the museum range from sketches to unfinished and finished paintings painted before, during or after his visit to Dunhuang. Some of the sketches are so detailed, it's hard to imagine they are just line drawings and have yet to be filled in. He made those drawings when he was in the caves, copying them. There are some on paper, others on silk.

Others have the figures drawn and painted in, and the only thing missing are the eyes, or the figures are drawn out in thick brushstrokes and sadly won't be finished at all.

One can see the progression he makes after having drawn over 300 works at Dunhuang and then seeing his subsequent paintings -- the figures seem more confident and allow the brush to freely express itself instead of being tightly controlled.

Also in the exhibition are other paintings around the same time or before, some of women looking wistfully outside the window or holding a plum blossom branch looking very elegant and serene.

As if excelling in painting wasn't enough, Zhang also carved his own seals, two of which are presented in this show. He apparently made many friends who were seal carvers, and they gave him seals as a sign of their alliance, and some of those are shown in the exhibition.

For me, it was an eyeopener to see what Zhang had done in the early 1940s, before he became known for his ink splash paintings, and to see that he had such a keen interest in Buddhist art.

It also helps me better appreciate the Mogao cave paintings -- as I will see some of them in person very soon...

The Art of Zhang Daqian

Macao Museum of Art

Avenue Xian Xing Hai

Macau

www.mam.gov.mo

Picture of the Day: Rainy and Foggy Hong Kong

Watching the clouds go by over Hong Kong Island

Today was a drizzling day that wasn't too fun to be out and about. It meant having to be armed with an umbrella and battling out with others to get around them or try to avoid being poked in the eye.

In the afternoon had an appointment up at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, and practically every time I go up to the 102nd floor, the weather isn't very good.

Over on Kowloon side there's a thick layer of cloud!

Today was no exception, but it was pretty cool to see thick clouds covering the city, almost like a Chinese painting!