1. Donation of Works by Wu Guanzhong 2014

This exhibition is located in the same space with The Four Gentlemen, and it was fun to turn the corner from Chinese historical and modern art to Chinese contemporary art! As noted in the exhibition title, it showcases newly donated works of Wu’s by his family to the Museum.

Wu Guanzhong, A lotus pond (Double stamp), dated 1995, horizontal scroll, ink and color on paper

I love how Wu updates the use of the traditional Chinese medium of ink and color on paper. He continues to work with varying tones of ink but renders his subjects in new abstract forms. The lotuses are mostly painted in black ink moving in different directions so it may be a little hard to identify what he’s drawing (without looking at the title first, ha!), but he gives a clear hint with his colored lotuses.

I find this so refreshing. Abstract art can be fun and interesting in its own way, but sometimes when intentional depictions of things in real life are a little too abstract, I’ll feel… surprised/confused/muddled.

The spots of color scattered across the painting might seem a little random when you see it up close, but I think it adds a sense of energy along with the strong ink brushstrokes.

Wu Guanzhong, Puzzlement, dated 1998, horizontal scroll, ink and color on paper

The first thing I thought when I saw Puzzlement was that it is Jackson Pollock-esque, he of action paintings and energetic splashes of paint all across his large canvases. It’s impressive that Wu managed to achieve that kind of effect with ink and color on paper instead of oil on canvas.

Puzzlement doesn’t seem to be made with that spirit in mind though, since the tangled lines and random spots of color are meant to represent the “bits and pieces in the painter’s anxious mind and fragmented memory,” as mentioned in the Artist’s Statement.

Wu Guanzhong, A fishing harbour, dated 1997, horizontal scroll, ink on paper

This is a favorite of mine! Again, this piece departs from the traditional look of an ink painting except that there is still a name and red seal at the bottom left of the painting. I love the detail of the splattered ink, that I’m thinking is the effect from flicking your finger over the brush. It’s done so precisely and adds a really nice touch to the painting, like it’s sunlight reflecting off the water.

Wu Guanzhong, Leaping, dated 1996, oil on canvas

This is another favorite! Honestly, when I saw it from afar, I was a little confused and unimpressed – I thought it was a white fish floating in a mass of black. But of course, it’s all about going up close to see the details. The painting shows a realistically depicted ripple of water entirely rendered in black. Instead of using the (perhaps easier) option of ink, Leaping is done with oil on canvas.

Wu masters the art of both ink and oil painting and I find it very interesting how he subverts expectations in his use of mediums in his various paintings.

Location: Chinese Fine Art Gallery (4/F)

2. Random Moments

This is a small exhibition made up of video art, and is titled as such since there is no central theme to the works. I have to say that I am not particularly interested in video art but it’s always nice to see more types of art! The exhibition space was sectioned off into different areas/rooms for each piece, most with a bench placed in front of the screenings so you can sit and watch them!

Tsui Ngai, Miranda, Shoe-stories, 2001, video and digital image, approx. 44 mins

The highlight of the exhibition for me was Tsui’s Shoe-stories which is a widescreen black-and-white video divided into three sections, each alternatively cutting to different people’s shoes.

The title pretty much says it all, and I found it fascinating how the way people sit and position their feet, their choice of shoe-wear, the pattern or print of their shoe, and their little feet-tics can actually lead us to form an impression of the person. It’s commendable how Tsui recognised this as a potential subject for documentation and presents it in a sophisticated manner.

I was including my shoe-story here – this is me interacting with art! ;)

Location: Historical Pictures Gallery (3/F)

3. Tempting Touch – the Art of Tong King-sum

This is an exhibition of Hong Kong sculptor Tong King Sum’s works made with different types of wood. When you enter the gallery, you are greeted with Unfinished Work that Tong was preparing for an exhibition for the Hong Kong Visual Arts Society, but he passed away before the sculpture could be completed. Tong had drawn various markings over it and there is a large incision on the left as well.

Tong King Sum, Unfinished Work, 2007, teak

There is also a sculptor studio set in the exhibition, but I’m not sure if it’s supposed to represent how Tong’s studio looked like or if it’s a general impression of an artist’s workshop. Anyhow, I found it interesting how there was a mix of real items, such as the saw and shoes on the ground and the cap hanging off the rack, and fake styrofoam items made to look real, like most of the tools hanging on the wall.

Location: Contemporary Hong Kong Art Gallery (2/F)

4. All Are Guests – Homecoming

All Are Guests – Homecoming features a mix of works by Hong Kong artists and here are my highlights!

Chow Chun Fai’s Reproducing ‘Hong Kong Our Home Theme Song’ is an impressive sight that spans three walls, made up of small paintings meant to represent the various facets of Hong Kong from the point of view of a “guest.” The paintings are all taken together to form a video, or you could take it that the paintings are “screenshots” of the video on the right wall. Please excuse the photo quality, the lighting was not good for taking photos!

Chow Chun Fai, Reproducing ‘Hong Kong Our Home Theme Song,’ 2014, paintings and video

Leung Mee Ping’s Out of Place is a mix of video installations shown on both sides of cloth-like screens that were assembled in a maze-like way with speakers situated above each screen. It felt surreal to me, as you walk around, you feel like you’re experiencing the city along with what you see on the screens.

Leung Mee Ping, Out of Place, 2014, video installation

Leung took these videos in the Asian cities Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Shenzhen, Tokyo and Varanasi. She focuses on the experiences of city drifters who live in these cities but have somehow been cast aside in the public mindset of what the city represents. In the video captured in the first photo above, Leung follows an old man as he walks through Hong Kong, who seems strangely unaffected by all the bustle going on around him, lost in his own world. And really, who thinks of Hong Kongers in this way?

I was standing in the middle of all that and I almost missed seeing myself in this photo again! ;)

Location: Special Exhibition Gallery (2/F)

This wraps up my weekend trip to the Hong Kong Museum of Art! Do check out the exhibitions while they’re still ongoing at:

Hong Kong Museum of Art
10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Mondays to Fridays 10:00am – 6:00pm
Saturdays, Sundays & Public Holidays 10:00am – 7:00pm
Closed on Thursdays (except public holidays)

Standard Ticket $10
Concession Ticket $5

The post Hong Kong Museum of Art | Part II appeared first on Wording Art.

As a side note, the Museum is preparing for a renovation starting this year till 2018, and now only have five ongoing exhibitions including The Four Gentlemen while their permanent collection galleries are said to be “temporarily closed.” I would love it if I could explore their collection before they close it for the next 3 years!

Chinese paintings are drawn with black ink and a little color occasionally, so the overall effect is that the paintings appear a little dark. It doesn’t help that the lighting was kept low in the exhibition, though probably to protect the paintings as well.

Wu Tiansheng (act. ca. 1850 – 1880), Plum blossom, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo, not dated, set of 4 hanging scrolls, ink on paper
吳恬勝，梅蘭菊竹，無年款，水墨紙本立軸四屏

The Four Gentlemen (四君子) refers to Plum Blossom (梅), Orchid (蘭), Chrysanthemum (菊) and Bamboo (竹). It’s an important facet of traditional Chinese culture, and something commonly known among Chinese people. This exhibition keeps it fresh by exhibiting relatively modern works by Chinese painters.

Objects in the study are often decorated with The Four Gentlemen, namely plum blossom, bamboo, orchid and chrysanthemum, because of their serene and leisurely charm that could purge the mind and purify the spirit.

Chen Jiru (陳繼儒) (1558-1639), Ming Dynasty

Plum Blossom – Unyielding Loyalty (梅 － 堅貞傲雪)

Wu Xuezao, Viewing plum blossoms in snow at night, dated 1891, hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
伍學藻，雪夜觀梅，1891 年款，水墨設色紙本立軸

Wu Xuezao’s Viewing plum blossoms in snow at night is said to be inspired by Lu You’s poetry. Lu You (1125-1210) was a Southern Song writer who was demoted from his political position due to differing ideals from the Jin dynasty rulers, and later turned to plum blossoms to assert his moral superiority.

There aren’t many Chinese paintings with people in them, given Chinese painters’ penchant for painting things of nature. At the very least, people are often drawn as part of a large setting and there is not much emphasis on how each person looks like. Since Wen’s work was in the 19th century, he probably took up the modern take on painting figures, and I really like the contrast between the lighter way the facial features and hands are drawn, and the way the robe is drawn with thin, darker, and more defined lines.

This is also in contrast to the setting with the more inky and defined plum blossoms and leaves, compared to the washed out grass, tree trunks, moon and skies.

Lu Zhenhuan, Viewing plum blossoms, dated 1925, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
盧振寰，賞梅圖，1925 年款，水墨設色絹本立軸

This is one of my favourite pieces in the exhibition with its great geometric detail and again, contrast between the sharply defined rocks and trees in the foreground and the gray wash of the mountains in the background.

While looking at the painting again, I realized that it reminds me of Ren Xiong’s Myriad Valleys with Contending Streams in The Ten Myriads album (任熊，十萬圖冊，萬壑爭流), with a similar juxtaposition of the sharp lines of the rocks and the gentle curves of the waterfall. I really like that play with line and texture, and Lu somehow manages to combine all of these elements in one painting.

Wu Changshuo, Red plum blossoms and rock, dated 1921, hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
吳昌碩，紅梅圖，1921 年款，水墨設色紙本立軸

I was happy to see some paintings by Wu Changshuo having read about his works before. He was a painter of the Shanghai School (海上畫派) in the late 19th century and is known for applying epigraphic techniques to his work and developing a new style of ink painting. I really like how the plum blossoms are drawn so simply with small little circles, like it was almost effortless.

Ju Lian, Plum blossoms, dated 1887, album of 12 leaves (selection), ink on paper
居廉，梅花冊，1887 年款，水墨紙本十二開冊 （選展）

Here are my favorite album leaves by Ju Lian. I love the delicacy of the small paintings and the way Ju utilizes empty space, especially in the middle album leaf!

Orchid – Etheral Elegance (蘭 － 脫俗清幽)

Gao Jianfu, Ink Orchids, dated 1940, hanging scroll, ink on paper
高劍父，墨蘭，1940 年款，水墨紙本立軸

Gao Jianfu is one of my favorite modern Chinese painters, though I’m a bigger fan of his brother Gao Qifeng’s (高奇峰) works! Gao Jianfu was one of the founders of the Lingnan School (嶺南畫派) which was influenced by the Japanese nihonga (日本畫) style in a bid to develop China’s own style of national painting (guohua 國畫). This was around the time of the Republic of China (1912-1949) when there was much political instability and artists painted subjects in the nihonga style to showcase the strength of the Chinese people. Nihonga, in my simple summarization, often makes use of a creamy wash and also creates a very nice atmospheric effect in paintings.

Gao Jianfu produced many paintings in this vein and I wonder if this painting had some of that political intention behind it. The nihonga style is not very evident in this work, but I like how effortless it looks and the way the orchids look bigger along the line creates a sense of movement. I also really like the detail of that one line of the leaf extending across the paper and making the white space part of the painting as well.

Ding Yanyong, Album of flowers and birds, ca. 1970s, double-sided album of 18 double leaves (selection), ink on paper
丁衍庸，水墨雜冊，約於 1970 年代，水墨紙本雙面冊頁共十八對開 （選展）

Wu Deyi, Orchids, not dated, set of 4 horizontal scrolls, ink on paper
伍德彝，蘭花，無年款，水墨紙本橫幅四幀

This is one of the four scrolls by Wu Deyi and I really like the details of the dabs of ink to form the background and the almost smudged ink in the rock. It’s really interesting to see how ink and brush can be utilized in different ways to form these varied images.

Gu Qingyao, Ink orchid, dated 1967, hanging scroll, ink on paper
顧青瑤，墨蘭，1967 年款，水墨紙本立軸

Chrysanthemum – Lofty Reclusion (菊 － 高潔浚霜)

Su Liupeng, Brewing wine from chrysanthemums, not dated, album leaf, ink and color on silk
蘇六朋，釀菊圖，無年款，水墨設色絹本冊頁

Deng Fen, Portrait of Tao Yuanming, dated 1940, hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
鄧芬，陶淵明採菊圖，1940 年款，水墨設色紙本立軸

While writing this post, I was picking my parents’ brains for help since I don’t know much of these traditional stuff having grown up in a less Chinese environment. I randomly asked, “Who’s Tao Yuanming?” and my parents went, “Ohhh, he’s really famous!” and started reciting his passages to my surprise.

Tao Yuanming was an Eastern Jin writer who initially worked for the Chinese government but eventually quit. He resolutely stuck to his principles and refused to continue having any ties to the authorities. There are many cases of literati or scholars in older dynasties who quit working in politics and moved on to live a quiet life. Tao loved chrysanthemums and they have since become a symbol representing him. Of course, he is here seen holding a small bouquet of chrysanthemum flowers.

Again, I like how naturalistic the figure is painted, with a nice contrast between his delicate facial features (and beard!) and the lines of his robe that appears very flowy.

Wu Changshuo, Teapot and chrysanthemum in the style of Chen Chun, not dated, fan, ink and color on paper
吳昌碩，仿陳淳瓦壺菊花，無年款，水墨設色紙本扇面

There were few fans exhibited, but it’s fascinating to think that artists used to paint on them and people probably fanned themselves with these. Anyhow, Wu was inspired by Chen Chun (陳淳), who I found out was a Ming Dynasty painter known for his xieyi bird and flower paintings (花鳥畫). Xieyi (寫意) is, very simply, a freehand brushwork style that captures the essence of a subject in a somewhat impressionistic manner with less attention to detail.

The wall didactic at the exhibition also mentions that the teapot “[articulates] the pleasure of chrysanthemum appreciation” and I think it refers to chrysanthemum tea, hee!

And I’m no expert on Chinese calligraphy, but I love Wu’s calligraphy.

Cui Zifan, Chrysanthemums, dated 1990, horizontal scroll, ink and color on paper
崔子範，菊黃時節，1990 年款，水墨設色紙本橫幅

It was interesting to turn the corner and see such a modern piece by Cui Zifan. It’s very different from the rest of the paintings in the exhibition, with Cui’s use of blunt brushstrokes and brighter colors.

Bamboo – Noble Humility (竹 － 虛心亮節)

Gao Jianfu, Bamboo in snow, not dated, hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
高劍父，高風亮節，無年款，水墨設色紙本立軸

As mentioned earlier, I’m a fan of Gao’s. In this painting, you can see his dramatic style of painting but I prefer Gao Qifeng’s more serene style.

Zheng Naiguang, Ducklings and bamboo, dated 1980, vertical scroll, ink and color on paper
鄭乃珖，竹鴨，1980 年款，水墨設色紙本直幅

The ducklings are so cute! And so expertly drawn with those watery dabs of ink.

Yao Gengyun, Fang Zengxian and Lu Kunfeng, Rafts along the bamboo bank, dated 1975, horizontal scroll, ink and color on paper
姚耕雲，方增先及盧坤峰，竹筏，1975 年款，水墨設色紙本橫幅

This is a very nice large painting mostly dedicated to showcasing the bamboo bank although the title seems to emphasize the rafts on the left. I’m not sure if that was actually the point but my favorite part of the painting is definitely those miniscule figures riding their rafts.

Ren Xun, Scholar resting, dated 1876, round fan, ink and color on silk
仁薰，竹園高士，1876 年款水墨設色絹本團扇

I spent quite a while staring at Ren Xun’s Scholar resting because the way it was painted looked very much like works by other 19th century artists I had previously seen in digital images and books. It’s interesting because I find that Chinese paintings look very similar in real life as when you see them in a reproduced image. It’s definitely a different experience from viewing oil paintings in real life, for example.

This wraps up my visit viewing The Four Gentlemen exhibition! I have to say that I was initially surprised by how big those hanging scrolls are although the actual paintings might not be that big.

The exhibition has been ongoing since 5th December 2014 and the ending date has not been announced as of yet. Do check it out at:

Chinese Art Gallery (4/F)
Hong Kong Museum of Art
10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Mondays to Fridays 10:00am – 6:00pm
Saturdays, Sundays & Public Holidays 10:00am – 7:00pm
Closed on Thursdays (except public holidays)

Standard Ticket $10
Concession Ticket $5

Check out the Hong Kong Museum of Art’s website here.

I will be continuing on the next part of my trip to the Museum about the other exhibitions currently on view as well. Stay tuned! ;)

The post The Four Gentlemen appeared first on Wording Art.