Alisan Fine Arts Until Aug 18
As a young man, Lai Tim-cheong would watch as his father, an imperial scholar in the Qing dynasty, brush fluid strokes of black ink on paper. Today he stands in front of his paintings at the Alisan Fine Arts gallery, looking at the calligraphic style he inherited from his father.
'I believe the environment you're born into influences [your style],' says Lai. 'I looked at my father writing every day and just picked it up. He never taught me - not even one stroke.'
At 88, Lai, a painter, calligrapher, writer and retired professor, captures the distinctive quality of life in Hong Kong from his own perspective. His work View of HKU from an Interior, for example, is 'a view from the university, but of course you aren't able to see the Lion Rock', he says, pointing to the hill in the background of the painting. 'If I want to add something on, I'll put it in. It doesn't matter if the viewer thinks it looks like Hong Kong or not. It's a fancy, that's all.'
Just as Lai's paintings reflect his vision of how Hong Kong looks, they are also a showcase of his talent for combining calligraphy, poetry and ink painting into one medium. In HK Panorama with Interior, the leaves of a bamboo are made up of characters from a poem.
This exhibition, the first of two instalments, will also showcase the works of Lui Shou-kwan, Wucius Wong, Pat Hui, Antonio Mak and Man Fung-yi. More than 25 artworks, including Chinese ink paintings, calligraphy works, oil paintings and sculptures, will be on display.
