bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

There are no limits as to where Dave Parker plans to take his sketch book next. In recent days he has moved from Government House to the top of the Tsing Ma suspension bridge then on to the roof of the new Convention Centre now under construction.

  After dark, he took to the alleys of Sheung Wan, drawing street stalls selling ladies' bras and knickers. The next day it was underground to sketch workers toiling away in the huge vault that will soon be an airport rail terminal.

  Parker is getting a buzz from Hong Kong this year, not only from the political and human stories unfolding but also the spectacular physical development that is underway.

  As an artist, he is working like a man possessed to record almost every aspect of the territory in this year of change. Nothing escapes this man's amused eye.

  The result will be A Brush With Hong Kong 1997, to be published in April as an updated and expanded version of his eclectic portrayal of the territory published by Odyssey in 1990.

  'I am stripping the book down to its framework. There's going to be lots of new stuff and a poetic and amusing bilingual text,' he said.

  The British artist is enthused by the historical significance of his work, and believes the book will be a pre-handover collectors' item. It will be a visual record as versatile as it is ambitious, including drawings, collages, oil paintings, water colours, computer-generated images, photographs and etchings.

  'It will be the most original book on colonial Hong Kong, ever,' he declared.

  This will be followed later in the year by an artist's view of the handover, which he plans to publish with the help of corporate sponsorship.

  'I am buzzed by what I am doing. Every day is more exciting. I will be out day and night until after the handover.

  'If there's anything going on in this town to do with the handover I'll be there. In that 24 hours I will cover all relevant events, on both sides,' he said.

  'I'll draw the official events, the Peak parties, the gweilo parties, the welcome-to-China parties, and the underground raves.'   So far, he has not been turned away from many places, despite his Bohemian appearance, flowing hair and multiple earrings. 'I am a very determined person, and quite persuasive. I am not daunted by anything,' he said.

  Parker is particularly attracted to the most challenging locations. 'I love extremes and believe in taking calculated risks, and every now and then a not-calculated one, when it feels good.'   In scaling the top of the Tsing Ma bridge and drawing the construction and view beyond, Parker satisfied his passions for both art and excitement.

  'I have a most unusual view of Hong Kong,' he said.

  He has even recorded the view from the cockpit of a plane during its descent to Kai Tak airport.

  There is a similar thrill from recording the centre of political power. 'Government House is always interesting,' he said.

  'It is the current seat of power, but that does not mean anything. We are all on the same planet. We are all humans.

  'I have been doing a study of the building. It is a bit of a special project.'   Aircraft hangars at Kai Tak are another favourite location. 'This is like a film set beyond film sets, with all these workers in yellow uniforms crawling like ants over the huge mother ant.

  'I have been asked why I am updating [the book], but only by people who have never been to Hong Kong. It was almost out of date the first day it came off the press,' he said.

  The new book will include his impressions of the new airport, Ocean Park, a horse-racing spread and a 360-degree view from the Peak Tower, contrasted with street life featuring anything from handbags to dried dogfish.

  It will begin, however, with a New Year street party scene of Lan Kwai Fong.

  'I am going to add more ecologically-directed material as well. There is no limit to how bold you can be on this,' said Parker, adding it is an artist's responsibility to convey an environmental message.

  The endangered pink dolphins, for instance, will be included, as will the recent eco-festival held next to the China Light and Power station on Lamma Island.

  'This was totally Hong Kong in its contrast value alone,' he said. Lamma is home for Parker, where he lives among other artists.

  He grew up with the film industry, his father having been a make-up artist as well as a fine artist.

  Parker has also worked as an artist on film sets and is very much a showman himself, whether performing live art on television or creating a vast 175-metre mural for a go-kart track.

  Indeed, the man is as eclectic as his art. His concern for the environment and appreciation of all things natural contrasts with his enthusiasm for dramatic architecture and crowded urban alleys.

  Before coming to Hong Kong in 1988, he had been working as an artist for architect and building companies in London. 'I was just about to become a serious yuppie earning far too much money,' he said.

  But he gave up this option to travel in Asia. Along the way he added to his set of illustrated diaries that he had started in earlier travels in Europe.

  Now Parker combines his architectural drawing skills with his more irreverent creativity.

  While he takes as much delight in drawing an old lady dusting the bras displayed at her stall, his precise eye for the detail of a building is evident as he quickly sketched a view of Kowloon from the Convention Centre roof.

 'I love modern architecture. Hong Kong, with Tokyo, is the first 21st century city visually. It is stunning,' he said.

  Like a number of expats who have settled here, Parker has mixed feelings about the territory.

   'I have got the bug. I have a real love-hate relationship with this place. I love to leave it and to arrive.'   His native England has become too slow for him. 'It is a stuck-in-the-mud place great only for holidays,' he said.

  For now, he is more fascinated by the objects of empire that will soon be removed from the territory and that have been the subject of his art.

  'I would love to buy a Hong Kong pillar box,' he said. 'It is one of my ambitions to make an exhibition of my works along with the real things, like a real junk and a real letter box.'   And the venue for displaying all this? An aircraft hangar would do just fine.



An artist's brush with history