DISILLUSIONED ILLUSTRATOR Tung Pui-sun had a major regret when he quit his newspaper job seven years ago: in a career that spanned four decades, he'd never worked with respected martial arts novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung.
His wish has now been granted, through an exhibition of 40 ink paintings depicting scenes from popular works by Cha such as Book and Sword: Gratitude and Revenge and The Deer and the Cauldron. The collection represents the first time that Tung, who has since settled in Vancouver, has been free to decide on the subject of his illustrations without interference from editors.
His illustrations for local newspapers never received the recognition they deserved, he says, and were treated largely like 'concubines'. But casting an eye over his paintings at the Art Beatus Gallery in Central, the 63-year-old couldn't have been prouder.
The exhibition has attracted many fans of Cha's work, representing generations of newspaper readers who grew up with his illustrations and comic strips. 'I never realised that what I drew remained in people's memories,' says Tung, who contributed the comic strip Boss Chow in the Oriental Daily. 'I met a lot of old readers through this exhibition.'
Among the visitors was illustrator Chan Kai-yin, who says Tung is respected as a pioneer by many fellow professionals. 'I also like some of his comics, which poked fun at characters in the entertainment industry,' Chan says. 'Today, it's hard to find illustrators like him who have a good foundation in drawing. His way of expression is direct, without the need for any computer graphics.'
Tung's collaboration with Cha came about by chance. Two years ago, he was invited to stage a painting exhibition at an expansive venue in Guangzhou. Struggling to come up with a theme for the show, he used scenes from novels by Cha, who writes under the pen name Jin Rong.
