Reading newspaper in English ( P.12 )

137
Samurai Armour
An Extraordinary Collection

Finding
Inner Space
A City Still
Full of Wonder

Vung Tau
A Destination to
visit in Vietnam

Claude
Monet
The Spirit
of Place

Local
Emerging
Artists
Showcased

May-June 2016 HK$40

www.culture-hongkong.com


Contents
4

May-June 2016
Editorial

The SAMURAI

Editor in Chief
Editor
Contributing
Editors

Dressed to Kill

12

Windows on the City: The School of
Paris 1900-1945
An exciting exhibition presents some of the
most influential paintings and sculptures of the
last century

18

4

Advisor
Administration
Design
Creative
Web Master

Cammy Yiu
Deborah DeGolyer
Sandi Butchkiss
Elaine Crebo
Michael Saso
Brandon Royal
Ade Wong
Dave Chung
Asia Brand
Digital Revolution

A Showcase of Young Local Talent

Contacts

Hong Kong’s emerging artists introduce viewers
to their diverse and vibrant creations in the
city’s recent art fair



Editor
Ad Placement


Subscriptions

24

Vung Tau…and how!

Website

This seaside village tucked away on the tip of a
peninsula jutting into the South China Sea is a
treasure trove for those seeking an adventure

30

Claude Monet: The Spirit of Place
Picturesque beaches and landscapes provided
inspiration for this artist’s most famous paintings

18

www.culture-hongkong.com

Contributors
Charlotte Chang
Cliff Shaffran
Elaine Crebo
Janet Pancho Gupta

Lanston Connor
Maggie Ng

Advertising

34

Aperture - Finding Inner Space

40

Motor Cars : Cars and Lifestyles in
Hong Kong in the Twentieth Century

42

All Around the World

44

Events to See and Do

Representative

Herb Moskowitz
Tel +852 9276 1011

Help us spread the word
www.facebook.com/CultureHongKong

Watch CULTURE videos on Youtube
www.youtube.com/user/CULTUREHongKong

30
Where

to

buy

www.magzter.com/HK/Asia-Brand-Media-Limited/CULTURE/Culture/

Cover Photo Credit
Nimaitachidõ tõsei gusoku (armor),
Muromachi period, ca. 1400 (helmet bowl),
mid-Edo period, 18th century (armor). Iron,
shakudõ, lacing, silver, wood, gold, brocade,
fur, bronze, brass, leather
Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel BarbierMueller Museum, Dallas

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INSIGHTFUL

Contact Cammy Yiu Office +852 3902-3261


From the

Editor
in chief

40
12
34
Windows on the City: The School of
Paris 1900-1945

Aperture - Finding Inner Space

An extraordinary and extensive collection of Samurai armour
from The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection is currently
travelling from museums in the United States to Canada and
then on to Paris. Sandi Butchkiss recently saw the exhibition at
the Denver Art Museum, and she spent hours poring over the
helmets, leg coverings, masks, shoes, stirrups, and the head and
body protections for the Samurai’s horses. She was awe-struck
at the highly detailed workmanship involved in creating a single
suit of armour as well as the exquisitely fashioned weaponry
such as the longbow, the arrows and the sheath in which to
carry them. The collection is spectacular and of impeccable
quality, incredible quantity and range. These stunning works
of art, breathtakingly intricate in design, were meant to bestow
prestige and fearsomeness in these soldiers for hire, who were
also expert horsemen, archers, swordsmen and tacticians of
war – warriors in a class of their own. Also on display are the
deadliest weapons ever invented, the elegant swords, including the katana.

Motor Cars : Cars and Lifestyles in Hong
Kong in the Twentieth Century

Elaine Crebo writes about Vung Tau, a favourite weekend getaway

for the Ho Chi Minh City folk. This village/city/seaside resort is
tucked away on the tip of a peninsula jutting into the South
China Sea and is a treasure trove of possibility that is surprisingly, not yet swarming with tourists. On this return visit to a
city she visited a few years ago, she gives it her thumbs up as a
bucket list destination when visiting Vietnam.
Hong Kong-based painter and photographer, Janet Pancho
Gupta, titled her latest exhibition “Finding Inner Space”. At the
Culture Club, she exhibited her photographs that captured daily
life in the city, using macro photography to bring back childlike curiosities and beliefs in finding magic in ordinary places.
Colourful and enigmatic, her images show that Hong Kong is
still a city full of wonders.
Enjoy.

At the recent Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong, exhibitors drew
the art-loving public and collectors alike to the promising work
of young artists, especially those who continue to work across
different niches in our local vibrant art scene. Charlotte Chang
presents some of the work of our emerging talent in her feature,
A Showcase of Young Local Talent. With their varied backgrounds
and experiences, these young artists are innovating and cutting
across both traditional and cutting-edge media.
Materials submitted for consideration to CULTURE magazine will not be returned.

CULTURE Magazine is published by
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May-June 2016

Magazine. All rights reserved. Copyright© 2016 Asia Brand Media Ltd, ISSN
1813-5919


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Mogamidõ tõsei gusoku (armor), Hõrai Kunichika (helmet) and Myõchin
Muneaki (mask), Edo period, 17th–18th century.
Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

May-June 2016

5

The
Dressed to Kill
Not just soldiers for hire, but also expert horsemen, archers, swordsmen
and tacticians of war, these fearsome warriors were in a class of their own
Text Sandi Butchkiss
Photos Cliff Shaffran and Denver Art Museum

If Bill Gates or Li Kai Shing were around back in the late 1100s
to the early 1800s, from the Kamakura era through to the Edo
periods in Japan, they each would have been shoguns or powerful warlords (appointed by the emperor to protect the land
from barbarians and warring tribes).

Courtesy Denver Art Museum

These shoguns, in turn, employed a retinue of powerful peacekeepers to do battle when necessary. These adept warriors who
were hired to be their protectors and professional bodyguards
came to be known as the samurai.

Original suits, designed for protection and flexibility, worn by
real samurai over 800 years,

CULTURE


The Samurai

I recall being very impressed a number of years ago

when I saw a couple of the elaborately constructed
fanciful suits of armour the samurai wore displayed
in the royal palace in Tokyo. But the extensive collection currently travelling from museums in the United
States to one in Canada and then on to another in
Paris, is far more spectacular for its impeccable quality, incredible quantity and range.

Eboshi kabuto (eboshi-shaped helmet)
and menpõ (half mask), late 16th century

Bamen (horse mask), late Edo period,
19th century. Leather, metal, lacquer

Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel
Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel
Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

Myõchin Ki no Munenaga, Sõmen
(full-face mask), Edo period, 1710. Iron
Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel
Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

To be able to scrutinize one of, if not the finest and
most comprehensive collections in the world, we
owe our thanks to extraordinary collectors, Anne
and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller and their eponymous

Courtesy Denver Art Museum

Kaen kabuto (flame helmet) representing hõju
no tama (the flaming jewel), early Edo period,
ca. 1630. Iron, lacquer, lacing, gold, bronze
Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller
Museum, Dallas

At the ready, with or without his armor

May-June 2016

Before photography, artists painted the battles

Surprised? Many
samurai were women

Suited up, armed
and ready for battle


7

museum in Dallas for giving us an up close and personal look
and for sharing their magnificent hoard with the rest of us.
We spent over three hours at the Denver Art Museum poring over
the extraordinary samurai exhibition. Not only were we awed by
the highly detailed workmanship involved in creating just one
single suit of armour, which is truly mind-boggling, but also by
the numbers of highly skilled artisans it required to first design
all the various accoutrements and then complete the samurai
wardrobe, each piece equally as breathtaking in its intricate

design and workmanship as the finished armour itself.
There are the helmets, the leg coverings, the masks, the shoes,
the stirrups, and even the head and body protections for their
horses.
And you can’t forget the exquisitely fashioned weaponry.
The longbow, the arrows and the sheath in which to carry
them. The various types of swords, especially their favourite
(the katana), thought to be both the most elegant and deadly
weapon ever invented.

Tachidõ tõsei gusoku (armor), late Edo period. Bagai (horse armor),
Momoyama to Edo period: 2nd half of 19th century.
Bamen (horse mask), late 16th century. Bagu (horse tack),
17th century. Iron, wood, lacquer, leather, brocade, horsehair, gold
Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

Every fearsome suit a
unique work of art

These elaborate, ornate pieces that made up the samurais’ total
needs were fabricated of some and often all of the following
ingredients: leather, copper, iron, lacquer, silk cords and threads,
bronze, feathers, fur, leather, gold, horn and horsehair – materials strong yet amazingly and remarkably flexible. But before
any of these elements were incorporated into the armour and
into the rest of the samurai’s paraphernalia, there had to be
individually and intricately designed sketches. Only then could
the fabrication into a stunning work of art begin.
Now you start to get an image of what a huge cast of talented
artisans and craftsmen were needed to be involved in this
enormous process before a samurai could mount his horse

and ride into battle.

Inspiration for George
Lucas and Darth Vader

CULTURE


The Samurai

Some designs went
a bit ‘over-the-top’

Now that’s a pair of
leggings for you!

Talented artisans hard at work designing and
creating armor

A samurai’s “at
home” stash

Who says size
doesn’t matter?

Even more fascinating to me than
seeing the actual armour and accessories once donned by these warriors
of long ago was discovering the kind
of men they were – not a bunch of
soldiers for hire, but expert horsemen,

archers, swordsmen and tacticians of
war strategy. Unlike any other group in
history, they were also highly educated
and schooled in the finer things in life,
Intimidating from
so much so, that they were admired,
every angle
respected and considered to be much
more than fearsome warriors. Ironically, the word samurai means
“to serve the nobility”. Yet they were themselves, in fact, the
nobility, named by the emperor as the official elite class.
And it’s totally understandable. For starters, this highly cultured
and well-mannered group could read and write, which in those
feudal days was a rare achievement indeed. They were patrons of
the arts, they meditated (in their spare time?) and practised Zen
Buddhism, they were adept at calligraphy, gardening, painting

May-June 2016

Horses were just as frightening...….but their saddles were
stunning works of art

Courtesy Denver Art Museum

and culinary skills, and they even studied poetry. And, as you
would expect, they were proficient in the arts of war.
Not as tall and muscular as you would suppose, most of them
(as were the rest of the male population at that time) were
rather short in stature and slight of build. Of course, with all
their padding, war regalia, armour and frightening masks, in

addition to brandishing their weapons, they became a most
awesome sight to behold.
With the aid of technological breakthroughs, scientists have
found there were many more female samurais than believed.
Often as many as one third of those in battle were women.
Known as the Onna-Bugeisha, in addition to their primary duty
of protecting their homes, they often fought bravely side by
side with their male counterparts, but with somewhat smaller
and lighter swords. A statue honouring of one of these famous
female warriors stands in Japan today.
Around the mid-1800s, a shogun by the name of Tokugawa
took over the reins of the still rather isolated country, creating


9

Yokohagidõ tõsei gusoku (armor), early to mid-Edo period,
17th century (helmet bowl),18th century (mask and armor).
Iron, leather, gold, wood, lacing, fur, hemp
Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

CULTURE


The Samurai

Sujibachi kabuto (ridged helmet), late Muromachi to mid-Edo period,
16th–mid-18th century
Photograph by Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet Photography, Geneva
©The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

Tengu tõsei gusoku (armor), late Edo period, 1854
Photograph by Brad Flowers.©The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller
Museum, Dallas

This exceptional Samurai exhibition, at Denver Art Museum, is from The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection

May-June 2016


11

a period of great peace. This was good for Japan, but not so
much for the samurai, whose protection and battle prowess
were no longer in demand.
One thing led to another – the industrial revolution played a part
as did many other technological, political and cultural changes
– and this proud and highly regarded elite class had no option
but to hang up their suits of armour and re-position themselves
as reluctant but practical farmers and businessmen.
However, and happily, the word samurai continues to signify a
most impressive and admirable group of people whose impact
on their country and countrymen will never be forgotten.
And much of the legacy of the samurai is still evident today in
the twenty-first century.
Their code of honour, known as bushido, which incorporated
courage, sincerity, honour, loyalty and self-control, similar in
many ways to that of the philosophy of the chivalrous English
knights of old, laid the foundation of Japan’s culture, still much
in evidence in 2016.

Their practice of martial arts inspired the schools of aikido, kendo
and jujitsu so popular all across the world today.
The menacing helmet and neck guard worn by Darth Vader in
the Star War films was inspired by those worn by the samurai.

Yokohagidõ tõsei gusoku (armor), Nanbokuchõ period,
1336–1392 (helmet), mid-Edo period, 18th century (suit). Iron,
shakudõ, gold and silver lacquer, lacing, leather, bronze,
wood, silk, brocade, bear fur
Photograph by Brad Flowers. ©The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

The long white skirts with the centre slits adapted by followers
of jujitsu and other martial arts, are exact copies of those worn
by the samurai centuries ago.
And the current trendy topknot hairstyle favoured by hip young
men and women of today, comes directly from the topknots
worn by these marvellous warriors beneath their helmets for
centuries.
Samurai
Armour From The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection
Denver Art Museum
Until 5 June 2016
Authors note
If this article has whetted your appetite for more about this fantastic
part of Japan’s history, please do delve further. I promise, it will be
time and energies well spent.

CULTURE

Windows on the City
The School of Paris 1900-1945

An exciting exhibition presents some of the most influential
paintings and sculptures of the last century
Text Maggie Ng / Photos courtesy of Guggenheim Bilbao

Held

at the Guggenheim Bilbao, Windows on the City is a
unique exhibition featuring over fifty masterpieces documenting
the key movements of modern art, from the city best known for
its artistic contributions to the world – Paris, France.
Showcasing works from Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Wasily
Kandinsky and Marcel Duchamp, among others, this exhibition
includes highly influential sculptures and paintings from the first
years of the twentieth century through to World War II. Paris,
which had long been a centre of the art world, was attracting
artists from around the world, creating a hotbed for fresh and
exciting visionaries to share their ideas. These artists would
come to be known collectively as the School of Paris. In reaction
to the economic, social and technological advancements, bold
new takes on art and literature were being envisioned, which
challenged pre-existing ideas of aesthetics in a radical way.

Paris…was attracting
artists from around
the world, creating a
hotbed for fresh and
exciting visionaries to

share their ideas
May-June 2016

Newspaper and Fruit Dish (Journal et compotier), Juan Gris, Oil on canvas
March 1916
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, By gift, Estate of Katherine S. Dreier, 53.1341


13

Red Eiffel Tower (La tour rouge), Robert Delaunay, Oil on canvas, 1911–12

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, 46.1036

CULTURE


Windows on the City: The School of Paris 1900-1945

Around the Circle (Autour du cercle), Vasily Kandinsky, Oil and enamel on canvas, May–August 1940
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, 49.1222 © VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016

The Soldier Drinks (Le soldat boit), Marc Chagall. Oil on canvas, 1911–12

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, 49.1211
© VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016

May-June 2016

Still Life with Gingerpot II (Stilleven met gemberpot II),

Piet Mondrian, Oil on canvas, 1911–12
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, L294.76
© 2007 Mondrian / Holtzman Trust


15

Mandolin and Guitar (Mandoline et guitare), Pablo Picasso , Oil with sand on canvas, 1924
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 53.1358 © Sucesión Pablo Picasso. VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016

The Cubist movement, led by Picasso and Braque, turned the
medium of painting on its head in the first half of the twentieth
century. Radically transforming and challenging the very notion
of representation in art, the movement is known for its “breaking down” of the subject matter into geometric shapes and
fractured forms. Some of the works on display representative
of this period include Braque’s Piano and Mandola (1909) and
Picasso’s Bottles and Glasses (1911-1912).
Robert Delaunay’s iconic and vivid Red Eiffel Tower (1911-12), part
of a series of Eiffel Tower paintings, utilises multiple viewpoints,
bold colours and a rhythmic fragmentation of form. Though
criticised at its unveiling for looking “unfinished”, this piece
exemplifies the dynamism of Paris during this era.

Violin and Palette (Violon et palette), Georges Braque
Oil on canvas, September 1, 1909

After World War I, the Surrealist movement also came to be
associated with the School of Paris. Inspired by psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud’s theories of the unconscious, Surrealist writers
and artists sought to express and articulate “hidden” or repressed

desires and ideas. Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy juxtaposed seemingly unrelated objects, while Joan Miro and Jean Arp created
their works without premeditation, in an attempt to bypass the
conscious mind.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 54.1412
© VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016

CULTURE


Windows on the City: The School of Paris 1900-1945

Le Moulin de la Galette, Pablo Picasso, Oil on canvas, autumn 1900
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Thannhauser Collection, Gift
Justin K. Thannhauser, 78.2514.34 © Sucesión Pablo Picasso. VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016

Circular Forms (Formes circulaires), Robert Delaunay, Oil on canvas, 1930

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, 49.1184

There, Motion Has Not Yet Ceased (Là ne finit pas encore le mouvement), Yves Tanguy, Oil on canvas, 1945
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Bequest, Richard S. Zeisler, 2007.47
© 2016 Estate of Yves Tanguy / VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016

May-June 2016

Nude Model in the Studio (Le modèle nu dans l’atelier),
Fernand Léger, Oil on burlap, 1912–13
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, 49.1193 © VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016

17

Nude (Nu), Amedeo Modigliani, Oil on canvas, 1917

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift, 41.535

Landscape (The Hare) (Paysage [Le lièvre]), Joan Miró, Oil on canvas, autumn 1927
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 57.1459
© 2016 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

The rise of Fascism and
the occupation of France
during World War II
unfortunately brought
an end to the School of
Paris,...
Growth (Croissance), Jean Arp
Marble, 1938

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 53.1359
© 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS)
New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

In 1934, Russian expressionist and abstract painter Vasily Kandinsky also came to live in Paris. His works from 1934 onwards,
such as Around the Circle (1940), combine his early free-form
abstraction with the inclusion of geometric shapes.
The rise of Fascism and the occupation of France during World
War II unfortunately brought an end to the School of Paris, as
the artists who took refuge and formed a community in the city

were forced to leave. However, the works produced during that
time would go on to influence generations of artists abroad.
An interesting feature of this exhibition is an educational area
that takes visitors through a “time tunnel” exploring the historical
context of the decades in which these artworks were created.
Photomurals, videos and audio material capture the spirit of
the time. Courses and events are also available for those who
want to learn more.

King of Kings (Le roi des rois), Constantin
Brancusi, Oak, ca. 1938

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 56.1449
© VEGAP, Bilbao, 2016, Photo: David Heald, © SRGF

Until 23 October 2016
Windows on the City: The School of Paris 1900-1945
Guggenheim Bilbao
CULTURE


A Showcase of
Young Local Talent
Hong Kong’s emerging artists introduce viewers to their
diverse and vibrant creations in the city’s recent art fair
Text Charlotte Chang
Images courtesy of the respective artists, galleries and the Affordable Art Fair 2016

Lost City No.45, Vaan Ip, Installation
Courtesy of the artist and the Affordable Art Fair

May-June 2016


19

Falsely Implied (I) (2014)
Ernest Chang, Digital Print On Archival Paper
Courtesy of The Stallery

Many of the works in
“Young Talent Hong Kong”
explore the aesthetic
intersections between
light, sound and motion
through a range of
traditional, non-traditional
and new media

The Affordable Art Fair returned to Hong Kong May 13-15
with presentations by more than 100 local and international
galleries. The exhibitors showed an exciting array of local
and overseas artists who work across a wide range of media,
exploring different issues of concern to them with a diversity
of innovative and unique practices. Once again, the Fair was
able to draw attention from the art-loving public and collectors
alike to the promising work of young artists, especially those
who are based in and continue to work across different niches
in Hong Kong’s vibrant art scene.
Apart from local galleries featuring prominent presentations of

young, local emerging talent, a returning show in the public area
of the Fair called “Young Talent Hong Kong”, curated by established curator and scholar Eric Leung, showed the innovative
work by artists Julvian Ho, Vaan Ip, Andio Lai, Joyce Lung, Ng
Sum Chi, Siu Wai Hang, Donna Tam, Wayne Wong, Jovial Yeung,
CULTURE


A Showcase of Young Local Talent
and Yiu Chi Leung, who have all had promising solo and group
exhibitions across the city in recent years.
Many of the works in “Young Talent Hong Kong” explore the
aesthetic intersections between light, sound and motion
through a range of traditional, non-traditional and new media.
Artist Jovial Yeung works primarily with glass, a visually alluring
material that is both strong and delicate. Her work in the “Young
Talent Hong Kong” exhibition, Seed, is a glimmering installation
inspired by the lightness and airiness of dandelions. In the work,
two full-length mirrors are placed at a narrow angle to each
other, allowing the reflections of many individual coloured glass
sculptures in suspension to fill up the tight physical space with
kaleidoscopic light.
In the same show, artist Vaan Ip’s Lost City No. 45 (2016) is a dynamic
stainless steel sculpture that consists of shiny, silvery models
of skyscrapers competing with each other for height – like the

In The DNA (I), Ernest Chang, Digital Print On Archival Paper
Courtesy of The Stallery

SEAL (Blue) (2015), Ernest Chang
Digital Print On Archival Paper

SEAL (Green) (2015), Ernest Chang
Digital Print On Archival Paper

Courtesy of The Stallery

Courtesy of The Stallery

SEAL (Magenta) (2015), Ernest Chang SEAL (Yellow) (2015), Ernest Chang Seed, Jovial Yeung
Digital Print On Archival Paper
Digital Print On Archival Paper
Glass and mirror installation
Courtesy of The Stallery

May-June 2016

Courtesy of The Stallery

Courtesy of the artist and the Affordable Art Fair


21

Falsely Implied (II) (2014)
Ernest Chang, Digital Print On Archival Paper
Courtesy of The Stallery

competing layers of canopy in a rainforest, but instead reflecting the tightly-packed architecture of a “concrete jungle”. Joyce
Lung’s Antiques of Gong Yun (2016) is an installation of porcelain
sculptures in the shapes of cleaning products illustrated with

words and drawings that speak to the daily reality, treatment
and perception of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong. A
similar, equally provocative work by Lung was recently on show
in a group exhibition at art space Para Site. Ng Sum Chi’s Piece,
Glimpse and Fathom (2016) are paintings of ink and resin with
geometric square and rectangular forms that, as the artist put
it in his introduction, seek to capture the “infinite expanse” of
nature to be found outside ordinary windows.

Oyster (2016), James Teong
Digital Print On Canon Archival Paper

Some of the galleries at the Fair were recently established,
participating in a large-scale fair for the first time. One of these
was The Stallery, a gallery and photography studio on Wan
Chai’s historic Stone Nullah Lane. The Stallery – whose name is
a portmanteau word combining “gallery” and “studio” – is run
by young Hong Kong artist and photographer Ernest Chang,
whose colour-blindness allows him to see the colourful and
vibrant metropolis of Hong Kong from a unique perspective.

Courtesy of The Stallery

CULTURE


A Showcase of Young Local Talent
Many of Chang’s works showcase his characteristically subjective use of colours across the media of digital photography and
painting. In his visually alluring works, Chang explores different themes of urban life through manipulating images of the
city, often by adding in elements of structural symmetry and

heightened colour contrasts to highlight the inherent order in
Hong Kong’s seeming urban chaos.
Chang’s eye-catching Falsely Implied (2014) series consists of five
complex compositions with overlaid photographic images of
Wan Chai’s street scenes, creating a visual matrix of roads and
buildings both old and new. In (I) and (II) of the Falsely Implied
series, the neon-tinged compositions – recalling the vibrant night
lights of a gentrifying neighbourhood – are layered to show
top-bottom and left-right symmetry with light trails behind cars
as central dividing lines. This mix of photographic images and

stylized, contrastive colours offers a new and enlivened view of
a historic neighbourhood in the heart of Hong Kong.
The highly contrasted colours and imposed symmetry on
photographs can be seen in Chang’s other works, including In
the DNA (2015), in which the image of a roller coaster drop is
manipulated into the shape of a double helix. Another work,
SEAL (2015), consists of six prints in sharp monochromes featuring an emblematic image of a symmetrical figure-eight at the
centre. Viewers have to do a double-take before realizing that
this emblem is formed by identical black-and-white images
of a seal.
The Stallery’s presentation also included works by two young
illustrators from the Savannah College of Art and Design
(SCAD) in Hong Kong. James Toeng’s works, including Whale

With their varied backgrounds and experiences, these
young artists continue to innovate with their diverse
practices, cutting across both traditional and cuttingedge media...

Whale (II) (2016), James Teong

Digital Print On Canon Archival Paper
Courtesy of The Stallery

May-June 2016


23

Abstract (1) (2016) Purdy Chan
Digital Print On Canon Archival Paper

O.K. (2016), Purdy Chan
Digital Print On Canon Archival Paper

Courtesy of The Stallery

Courtesy of The Stallery

(2016), Oyster (2016) and Rhinos (2016),
are detailed, realistic drawings depicting
their titular creatures set against plainly
coloured or geometric backgrounds, a
compositional strategy that highlights
the artist’s environmental concerns.
Purdy Chan’s intimate and fine-lined
drawings depict more hybrid, subjective
images. While Butterfly (2016) and O.K.
(2016) are composed of representational
forms of the wingspan of a butterfly and
a gesturing hand, Abstract (2016) and

Moon (2016) depict more surrealist imagery with anthropomorphic elements
that draw viewers into their imaginative
dimension.

Lost City No.45, Vaan Ip, Installation
Courtesy of the artist and the Affordable Art Fair

brick-laid sidewalk. Rendering these familiar elements of Hong Kong culture realistically in the
traditional medium of ink highlights how much
such spaces in the city ought to be appreciated
and preserved.
Also represented by Artify Gallery, Hong Kongborn and New York-based artist Sarah Tse
showed her detailed, elaborate and highly
sensuous work for which she whimsically draws
inspiration from childhood memories and
ephemeral dreams. Her etching My Dear Castle
(2015) depicts an intimate dream-scape that
combines realistic drawings of a North American
antelope, a suspended castle structure rendered
with fine, brightly hued lines, and a background
in blue with patterns of leaves and branches
left white in contrast. These seemingly paradoxical and disparate images complement each
other in the composition, creating a delicate
and sensuous balance in the ambience that
rouses the viewers’ imagination and evokes their
nostalgia.

Artify Gallery, another exhibitor, showed
local artists Evan Wu and Sarah Tse. Evan
Wu’s work spans a wide range of media,

from ink painting to prints to paper cuts, Herbal Tea (2012), Evan Wu
Ink on Paper
the latter reflecting the inspiration she Courtesy of the artist and Artify Gallery
takes from the traditional elements in her
culturally hybrid surroundings in Hong Kong. Her work Herbal The Fair was another successful showing of the vibrant works of
Hong Kong’s many talented emerging artists. With their varied
Tea (2012) is an ink painting on paper depicting a top-down
backgrounds and experiences, these young artists continue to
view of a traditional herbal tea vendor in delicate realism,
innovate
with their diverse practices, cutting across both tradicomplete with details of gourd-shaped metal tea dispensers,
tional and cutting-edge media as they carve out new dialogues
finely etched Chinese words on a wall menu, drinking bowls
with their city and beyond.
laid out like chess pieces on the tiled table top, and even the

CULTURE