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