Painting Yankwai Wong
19 November 2008 to 13 January 2009
The
University Museum and Art Gallery of The University
of Hong Kong is delighted to present an exhibition
of recent works by the local artist Yankwai Wong (Wong
Yan-kwai). Trained at the Ecole Nationale Superiere
de Beaux Arts in Paris in the 1970s, Wong has become
one of the most enigmatic and distinctive artists
of his generation, since returning to Hong Kong in
1979. Wong is also known as an illustrator, photographer
and screenplay writer, and is highly sought after
as an art director and set designer in Hong Kong cinema.
He also works extensively with contemporary dance
and theatre projects. This exhibition comes seventeen
years after his first exhibition at the University
Museum in 1991, then known as the Fung Ping Shan Museum.
Wong's
paintings have remained consistently unique over the
years, defying any attempt at categorisation. He has
adhered to the techniques of painting and drawing,
considering these the ultimate means of expression,
and an artist's greatest challenge. Wong's large canvases
depict an interior landscape rich in forms and shapes
that at first appear to be recognizable but that ultimately
defy definition. Within each painting, Wong works
to achieve equilibrium in the composition, often returning
to a painting time after time to make further additions.
The seemingly random complexity of his paintings and
drawings suggest a wandering, shifting depth that
is at first unsettling. Wong's works are, however,
ultimately joyful in character as the artist's palette
of strong primary and complementary colours vie for
attention across the surface of the painting, triggering
a cacophony of contradictory emotional responses.
This
exhibition will feature primarily a selection of recent
paintings, as well as some of his drawings, postal
artworks and illustrations. Unlike his larger abstract
works, these represent more directly the artist's
engagement with others, and with his world. On loan
for the first time will be a unique work that is shown
as personal tribute to a friend.
