Hong Kong art spotlight the heartbeat of the city in minute details and mediums
Non-Place and The Place show Hong Kong art with deep self-reflection
The Place XVI, Tang Ying-Chi
Hong Kong art Non-Place and The Place
In their joint exhibition, Non-Place and The Place, two creators of Hong Kong art capture the heartbeat of the city in their own mediums, exploring Hong Kong away from crowds, in a liminal space that allows for true and deep self-reflection.
The Finale, Ko Chi-Keung
Big cities have an undeniable charm about them, a modern magic that draws in people longing to absorb some of that metropolitan magnificence. Many talk about the “pulse” of a city, its soul, as if these places are as alive as you or me.
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In a way, they’re not wrong. A complicated tapestry of culture, landscape, architecture, and society weaves itself into an otherworldly being that is a city’s spirit.
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The best way to get in touch with this ethereal spirit is to find a moment alone. Difficult, yes. Impossible, some may say. Artists Tang Ying-Chi and Ko Chi-Keung would disagree.
The Place, Tang Ying-Chi
Prolific in the local arts scene, Tang Ying-Chi’s impressive career includes academic and artistic pursuits.
Armed with a BFA from Goldsmiths College of the University of London, along with a DFA and MFA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, Tang is a multitalented figure, enjoying life as an artist, educator, curator and writer.
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The exhibition opens with selections from Tang’s series, “The Place”. Incredibly familiar with the transient nature of Hong Kong living and the regular migration in and out of the city, she captures the ever present beauty of this special place, even in times of radical change.
The Place series, Tang Ying-Chi
Inspired by traditional Chinese paintings, Tang’s work recontextualises classic landscape scenes with bold colours inspired by Mark Rothko and abstract shapes, forming mountains, bridges and buildings, paired with layered abstract shapes that form the scenery — a departure from the precise strokes in Chinese landscape paintings.
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The stylistic fusion of western and eastern techniques further add to the otherworldly feel of Tang’s work. Her compositions, bold and precise in execution, give clear understanding to viewers of their visual intentions.
Tang Ying-Chi “The Place” series of colourful landscapes
More than that, the frenetic motion of her brushstrokes, eternally captured as if still in motion, gives the sense of a strong breeze rushing past the mountaintops, choppy seas rolling under the afternoon sky, a bridge blaring with the bustle of a city on the move.
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At first glance, Tang’s landscape imagery might seem simplistic. Look again. Primarily making use of red, yellow, blue, black and white, the “pure colours” of traditional Chinese illustrations reflect the five elements of fire, earth, wood, metal and water respectively.
The Place series detail, Tang Ying-Chi
When mixed together, these elements form variegated shades and are able to depict everything that is created on earth by the elements the colours represent.
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The use of this specific palette draws our reality into the fantastic scenes that Tang develops, allowing us to draw comparisons between the mythic nature of “The Place” and the beauty in our own world.
The jewelled tones of the blue-green sea conjure up memories of bumpy ferry rides and sun-soaked junk boat trips.
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Mountains illuminated in impossible reds and turquoise bring phantom aches to the calves, memories of tiring but rewarding hikes jolting in the body.
A stunning modern depiction of the greener parts of Hong Kong
The beauty of art is its ability to conjure swelling emotions, to elicit a reaction. How often do we stop and marvel at the beauty of this world without first being shown how to look?
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That is the true mastery of Tang’s work, reconstructing natural grace in a stunning blend of styles to create a truly modern depiction of the greener parts of Hong Kong.
Photos by Ko Chi-Keung
Past the surreal scenery, colour fades away, and all that’s left is black, white and grey. A bold contrast in tone, Ko Chi-Keung’s photography finds the fantasy in the everyday.
While Tang’s oil paintings explore natural landscapes, Ko delves into empty man-made spaces. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Ko studied photography at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada.
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Like Tang, Ko was an active presence in Hong Kong’s 1980s and 1990s art scene, capturing the city in its many transformations. Not only is Ko a founding member of the Hong Kong Institute of Professional Photographers; he is also a founding member and former chairman of the Hong Kong International Photo Festival.
In his series “Non-Place”, Ko dives into a popular style called “nostalgic photography”. With governments and property developers making agreements on contracts that hold expiry dates, the spiritual can vanish if the physical is forced to change or disappear altogether.
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Nostalgic photography is true to its name – capturing a memory, forever frozen in time, tinged with melancholy even before the moment has passed. Photography, in Ko’s eyes, is a form of storytelling that, when done well, leaves a profound impression on its viewers.
Bereft of people, these locations take on a new air. The laws of existence vanish in these dreamy photographs. It’s as if Ko’s world is a sidestep from our own, a state of limbo that we cannot access.
Ko Chi-Keung photos
Ko’s first collection of images focuses on water in its various forms, from a barren marsh, iridescent glow of lamplight on rain-soaked ground, a lone swimmer plunging into the fathomless depths of the harbour, and what feels like the world’s last ferry in an otherwise empty horizon.
The magnetism of these scenes, captured by a stunning composition of light playing against each other, feel like a dream world. Even the lone swimmer takes on an ethereal grace as his body smoothly arches into a dive.
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Ko’s next set of photographs revolves around the broad, expanding sky. Light filters out from the clouds in every image, threatening to break the sky apart and bring the world down with it. This terrifying beauty amplifies the peculiar nature of the material world.
Shrouded in darkness, the few details stick to the brain – a rolling mountain, the white cross of Jesus Christ, a lone fly on a window dripping with condensation, and a neat line of people crossing a bridge.
How can any of this exist in the same realm as that wonderful light? What is the point of our lives down below? Ko doesn’t try to satisfy us with answers. Part of the magic lies in the unknowing.
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Finishing off the exhibition, photo prints the size of doors are hung on the wall in a disorienting triptych.
Ko Chi-Keung “Non-Place” series of nostalgic photography
To start with, a modern building stands in the background, fronted by a construction zone on pause. A glittering pool of water lies in the foreground of this chaotic space. This photograph is perfectly titled “Portal”.
Portal, Ko Chi-Keung
The second image delves into natural imagery, a fiery figure front and centre on a grassy downhill slope. Who is this “Goddess” that the portrait is named after? Is the fire consuming her or is she flame incarnate? We can only gaze in wonder as we contemplate.
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Closing off the exhibition, the final picture in the triptych, “The Gem”, captures the corner building of a low-rise residential complex, the type that is prolific in the Kowloon area. Viewers aren’t told why this is a treasure, so we are left to our own opinions.
Goddess, Ko Chi-Keung
Perhaps it’s a gem because such low residential complexes, hugely prolific on Kowloon side, are fleeting presences on Hong Kong Island as modernity gives way to high-rise complexes.
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While cultural identity is shaped by society as a whole, the individual experience is unique and personal.
The Gem, Ko Chi-Keung
Showing new sides of Hong Kong art, Tang and Ko invite viewers to see the city with new eyes and treasure the times that have passed as well as the times in which we are living, precious and fleeting as everything is.
Text & Photos Victoria Mae Martyn and courtesy of Lumenvisum
