Inspired by the day

Almost everything about artist Ha Bik-chuen was ordinary: his humble upbringing, his home in To Kwa Wan and the materials he used for his sculptures. Yet his five-decade-long artistic career was anything but.

Born in Guangdong in 1925 before moving to Macau 24 years later, Ha started out as a craftsman selling handmade paper flowers for churches and, later, department stores. In 1957 he came to Hong Kong and settled in a block opposite the Cattle Depot in To Kwa Wan, living and working among blue-collar workers and labourers.

'At a time when the majority of the local workforce was still in manufacturing, Ha chose a very unusual career path in the arts and that decision was extraordinary,' says curator Ivy Lin Mei-kiu of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, which is holding a large-scale retrospective for Ha, who died in 2009.

'He was self-taught, never studied fine art, yet his artistic practice and expression reflected the very unique characteristics of Hong Kong art and the society at the time.'

Ha belonged to an earlier generation of local artists who were influenced by both Chinese and Western art. Others include Luis Chan, Wucius Wong, Gaylord Chan, Cheung Yee, Hon Chi-fun, Kwok Mang-ho and Eddie Lui Fung-ngar. The museum today describes Ha as 'an iconic local artist' whose work has an important place in local art and social history.

From Common to Uncommon - the Legend of Ha Bik-chuen, which runs until July 17, charts his artistic development in print, sculpture, photographic work and ink paintings. The show looks at how the artist applied techniques gleaned from the handicraft tradition and borrowed from the creative experience of his peers, while finding his imaginative foothold in the everyday.

Lin says that as a craftsman, Ha was skilful with his hands and that deftness is evident in his print and sculptural works. In Information of Leaf, the multi-layered print is similar in approach to the layering of a paper flower. 'The piece also shows his sensitivity towards texture and how he layered the materials together ... the approach is very close to that of his craft,' she says.