DREAMING is a great source of inspiration for Tsui Tin-yun, the 50-year-old artist who dreams what he paints. 'I love painting,' the Shanghai-born artist said. 'I even think about it when I'm sleeping, I have always wanted to paint.' His oil painting Innocent Couple of Young Children, to be auctioned at Christie's on Sunday, depicts a dream he had about his childhood. Tsui said it symbolised his wish for Shanghai 'to shine again' in the future.
'What makes me different from other artists is that I want to convey messages in my paintings,' he said. 'In the painting, the dark buildings and the golden sky show the contrast between dream and reality, the bright and the dark.
'The painting is about a feeling, it isn't just a story, it's about a subject, I set the scene and it is up to other people to interpret the meaning.' But Tsui is no scatter-brained dreamer. Until this year, he held a top job with an architecture company drawing illustrations for newspaper advertisements and glossy brochures.
'But I can't waste any more time as I find it more meaningful to contribute to our culture . . . commercial paintings are only good for making money but they are not as long lasting as artistic paintings,' he said.
Since giving up the business world, Tsui has begun a series of oil paintings on three themes - native country, old Shanghai and nudes.
Painting for leisure, however, has not always been a luxury Tsui could afford.
