Advertisement

Renaissance man's Voyage showcases art, science

Reading Time:5 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP

For the next seven weeks until November 15, visitors to the Louis Vuitton store in Harbour City have a beautiful object to look at in addition to the travel bags, shoes and jewellery - a 15-metre painting called Voyage of Discovery.

'It goes from nothing to the start of the universe and back to nothing,' said artist Dominic Lam Man-kit. 'I try to capture billions of years in 15 metres.'

It goes from the Big Bang, a cascade of colours, to a galaxy of stars and planets and the deep dark blue at the end of the universe.

Advertisement

The piece is a mixture of art and technology, like its creator, a Renaissance man who has packed into a single life the careers and experiences of many different people.

A US citizen, Lam finds Hong Kong the perfect base to develop his wide range of interests - business, art, philanthropy, academia and following Liverpool and Manchester United in the Premier League.

Advertisement

The son of a poor immigrant family from Shantou, he wanted to be an artist. However, his parents insisted that he studied something more useful; he decided to become a scientist and went to Canada at the age of 17 on a one-year scholarship.

His family was so poor that they could not buy him an air ticket - a family friend gave him a one-way ticket to Montreal and C$200. Lam supported himself with odd jobs and two full-time jobs during the summer holidays.

Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x