Going to great lengths: artist’s pencil drawings of swimming pools a quiet study in immaculate detail

You can almost smell chlorine in the air. The gallery of the Fringe Club in Hong Kong has been temporarily transformed into a poolside space for Chan Wai-lap’s exhibition “I Say Marco, You Say Polo”, a refreshing collection of swimming pool-themed drawings.

A life-size height chart stands by the entrance to the exhibition in the club’s Central district premises, looking like the commercially printed archetypes commonly seen at public pools but, in fact, drawn entirely in pencil, as are all the works on display.

Playful props planted around the space help set the aquatic scene: a metal pool ladder hangs off a blue wall, there are two yellow plastic seats from a spectator stand, and elegant shower gel dispensers of the kind the 32-year-old Hong Kong artist has seen at New York public pools.

The highlights are large bird's-eye views of pools emptied of water and stripped of their surroundings. These are quiet studies of pool designs from around the world, drawn with immaculate attention to detail right down to each individual tile. Chan, who swims at least 20 laps of a pool every day, compares the drawing process to the physical perseverance and regular rhythm required to propel one’s body through water.

There are smaller compositions that he completed during a 2018 residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York. These are snapshots of random corners of the public pools there, and you can imagine him taking it all in while he paused for breath.