'In primary and secondary schools, teachers tend to impart students with art craft rather than art creativeness' - Roger Lai Yat-fong, vice-chairman of the Visual Arts Society ABLATANT neglect of visual arts development is evident in the Governent's recently released Art Policy Review, two representatives of the local art community claimed.
Mr Aser But, a well-known graphic designer and former senior lecturer at the Hongkong Polytechnic's Swire School of Design, described the review as ''discriminating against the visual arts''.
His view was echoed by Mr Roger Lai Yat-fong, local sculptor and vice-chairman of the Visual Arts Society, who felt that the Government had not taken local art bodies seriously.
According to Mr But, the review deliberately avoided mentioning a proposed art academy, an idea raised as far back in a 1989 draft paper by the Government Secretariat's Culture Division, about which Mr But was consulted.
Mr But had been a proponent of an academy to train visual artists even as early as 1980. He felt that the Government should pour resources into art training rather than just provide more exhibition venues as it had done in the past few years.
''Hongkong is underdeveloped in visual arts. We don't have a unique art culture on a national level,'' he said.