Noel de Guzman, Hong Kong artist liberated by a hands-off approach
For his first solo show in seven years, Hong Kong Filipino moved on from painting with his bare hands to explore new materials and techniques. It was an itch he had to scratch, he says
It’s been seven years since Hong Kong-based artist Noel de Guzman last had a solo exhibition and the creative bug is now biting hard. The 48-year-old, best known for painting with his bare hands, has been taking on corporate commissions in Hong Kong, Macau and Manila, but the commercial work appears not to have dulled his artistic senses. If anything, it did quite the opposite.
“Despite the busy schedule, new ideas and concepts were sprouting like mushrooms,” says de Guzman. “I said to myself, I have to scratch this itch.”
So for his upcoming show “The Layers of Life”, to be held at PubArt Gallery between September 30 and October 31, the artist has abandoned his old practice and experiments instead with new materials, media and methods. Instead of using his palms and fingers to create his abstract pieces, here he has employed fabrics and fibres with acrylic paints to produce multi-layered and heavily textured paintings.
He says the experience has been liberating: “The experimentation and discovery proved to be challenging and artistically thrilling for me. I was free. I felt like I was born again and I can do anything I want. It seems like I was learning a new language. Making a lot of mistakes, and not afraid of making them.
“I have purchased a [fire] torch and created artworks by burning canvases. I also tried my hand at nude digital art.”