THE quiet scene of a bowler hat with two stalks of pure white lilies looks deceptively peaceful. However, this oil painting, Connolly's Hat With Lilies by British artist Micky Donnelly, is in fact a sharp cry from the Irish independence movement against their British overlords.
Those familiar with the Irish question would not fail to recognise the lilies as symbols of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Subtle but unmistakable is the accusation of the murder of Irish revolutionist Connolly during that Easter uprising in the early 1900s. The bullet hole on the rim, disguised as a brown patch, attests to that.
Culturally interesting, ''Cries and Whispers - An Exhibition of British Paintings in the 1980s'' is a display of 22 works presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the British Council. It is on view at the centre's Pao Galleries.
The exhibition is ''small but one of the most important' exhibitions the art institute has staged'', said Mr Oscar Ho, the Arts Centre's exhibition director.
''Twentieth-century Western art has been dominated by America. But since the '80s, Europe has begun to reclaim its territory. Britain, considered ''the Black Horse'', has produced some weighty works in particular.'' Mr Tom Buchanan, director of the Hong Kong British Council, added that British art experienced ''a renaissance in figurative paintings'' in the 1980s, departing from the conceptual abstract mood of the '70s.
The paintings, selected from the British Council's permanent collection in London, are works of 19 artists considered ''the best of the new talent''.
Although there is no unified theme as such, the show has an ''urban perspective'' mixed with intriguing symbolism that makes incisive comments on contemporary society and politics.
