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| A bronze sculpture of Wu Guanzhong by Wu Weishan (2019) |
On my day off earlier this week I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Last year the museum finally finished a massive renovation that took over four years and HK$930 million. The refurbishment included adding 3,000 square metres of space, though in general the layout of the museum is the same.
Some exhibitions were fascinating, others I admit to going through quickly. These were some highlights for me.
I started from the top floor down, and there are beautiful drawings and paintings of Hong Kong from decades ago by Kong Kai-ming, who is now in his late 80s. Mostly self-taught in drawing and painting using pencil, fountain pen, watercolours and oil, he has captured scenes of the city, some of them long gone now.
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| Tonnochy Road, Wan Chai by Kong |
These include the ramshackle huts that people lived in in Shek Kip Mei, the old Kowloon-Canton Railway Station by the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui, and old apartment buildings in Wan Chai.
While the sketches illustrate his passion to capture what is in front of him, Kong is not sentimental.
"Everything has its own lifespan and when it comes to an end, it's time to say goodbye. It's the same with old buildings; when they are no longer suitable for preservation, it is time to let them go," he said in an interview in 2018.
The accomplished artist has also taught at the Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts, First Institute of Art and Design, School of Continuing Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Continuing Education at Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Correctional Services Department, not to mention publishing over 40 art books.
On the same floor is an interesting contemporary work by Koon Wai-bong called Crisp air in a bamboo grove. He creates a "bamboo forest" with long strips of silk hanging from the ceiling and on them are bamboo trees painted in a traditional Chinese style in green ink.
There is a slight wind in the room that moves the strips and the atmosphere is enhanced with birds chirping in the background.
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| Bamboo trees painted on silk by Koon Wai-bong |
One floor down in the hallway is Rosanna Li Wei-han's ceramic figurines that are set in everyday Hong Kong scenes. Her figures are chubby and the faces full of expression, while the miniature settings are recreated in detail. When they are looked at with Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island in the background, it really makes these mini dioramas come to life.
Also on the same floor is Kwok Mang-ho, otherwise known as Frog King, an eccentric artist who dresses up in mostly black and red outfits with frog motifs and funny glasses. Quite the character. In the museum he has his own corner, and even a small studio space; if you're lucky you might see him there.
His work is colourful (in Chinese ink and a splash of red) and funny too. A strange character for sure.
On the first floor is contemporary Chinese artist Xu Bing's seminal work, A book from the sky, that took him four years to complete.
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| Winslow Street scene by Rosanna Li |
It takes up an entire room, with three long sheets of paper hung from the ceiling, along with several giant sheets on opposite walls, and then on the floor dozens of traditional Chinese calligraphy books opened at certain pages, others are closed.
What is most ironic about this is that Xu made up some 4,000 Chinese characters that are printed on all this paper all over the room. He managed to persuade printers to not only make the over 4,000 characters, but print them too.
Is Xu a genius for creating a roomful of gibberish? Or is the museum a fool for purchasing such a piece of "art" that either pays homage or satirizes the Chinese literary tradition, where scholars were highly regarded.
Seems like viewers could have numerous interpretations and opinions about this piece.
The exhibition I enjoyed the most was of Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong, celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth. He died 10 years ago, and since then his pieces have fetched astronomical prices at auction, but thankfully he gifted many of his works to museums, including the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
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| Xu's work features over 4,000 made-up characters |
Wu was born in 1919 but while he was studying art at the National Arts Academy of Hangzhou, the Sino-Japanese War broke out and he left Hangzhou, continuing his studies while moving with the academy to places like Jiangxi, Hunan and Sichuan provinces.
In 1947 he won a national scholarship from the government to study in France; his exam paper -- a copy of it in the museum -- was rated so highly because he demonstrated his knowledge of art and the history of art so well.
During his three years in Paris, Wu was drawn to the works of Camille Pissaro, Paul Cezanne and in particular was touched by Vincent van Gogh's work. Wu was impressed by van Gogh's decision of not staying in dazzling Paris, but instead the countryside that inspired his art.
The Dutch painter's life inspired Wu to return to China in 1950, but he found he and his work did not match the revolutionary style of portraying heroic workers, farmers and soldiers.
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| Wu's The Malan Village in pen and ink |
When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Wu destroyed many of his oil paintings, worried the Red Guards would find them. He was later denounced as a "bourgeois formalist" and banned from painting for seven years. Then Wu was sent down to the countryside, away from his wife and family.
Later in the 1970s he was finally allowed to paint -- once a week. He used that precious time to paint on cardboard and he used a basket as his easel, which was typically for collecting animal dung. Like van Gogh, he painted rural scenes.
He eventually developed his definitive style, moving from realism to beautiful line drawings in ink, meticulously drawn, that later became more and more abstract to dots on the paper.
One particular painting was very interesting, called Leaving youth behind (2009). It's an ink brush painting of lotus leaves and stems that are limp and dying.
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| Leaving youth behind reflects Wu himself |
Wu once said: "Lotus is a popular subject matter in traditional Chinese painting, but those conventional lotus paintings cannot move me emotionally. The interlaced leaves of all sizes in the lotus pond is an intricate maze of straight and curved lines. Even their shadows are engulfed in the leaves, it is difficult to tell whether the leaves are above or under the water. I seem to be an insect under the leaf, being lost in this labyrinth of flowers and leaves."
For this particular painting, Wu recalled while the Gang of Four was in power, he went to Beihai Park in Beijing during the winter and the lake was frozen, but the withered lotus leaves and stalks were not cleared away.
"High and low they stood, their bodies all black and bruised, like a bunch of mummies standing. Qi Baishi has drawn many paintings of withered lotus, but never was there this powerful touch of tragedy. They reminded me of Rodin's The Burghers of Calais. I was driven by a strong urge to draw these frozen lotus carcasses... I even thought for a time that the frozen lotus carcasses were in fact a reflection of me."
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| The Great Wall has dynamic brushstrokes |
His painting The Great Wall (1988) is so dynamic, showing the Great Wall winding its way over mountains and hills like snakes. One can't help but be drawn into the painting and feel the energy of his brushstrokes.
Hong Kong is very lucky to have many of Wu's works for everyone to see and appreciate his life and passion for art.
