Hong Kong’s Frog King leaps at the chance to cast off the shackles of convention
Local artist famous for his striking attire as well as his work is showing some of his recent paintings and prints, all of which make some use of his amphibian namesake
Kwok Mang-ho, more commonly known by his alter ego Frog King, had his first solo exhibition in 1967. Several decades of making amphibian-themed art later, the eccentric Hong Kong artist hopes the time has come for him to claim his rightful spot in art history.
“Avant-garde artists took a real beating during the 1960s and ’70s. Nobody in the art circle valued the experimental work that we were creating. That was especially the case in colonial Hong Kong. The government did not promote art and just wanted people to be well-behaved and conservative,” he says at the launch of his new exhibition at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery earlier this month.
More recently, interest in Chinese contemporary art took off but Hong Kong artists have been left behind, he says. “Critics and collectors focus on promoting mainland Chinese artists and overlook the fact that Hong Kong has its unique creativity.”
Today, Kwok is well-placed for inclusion in Hong Kong’s contemporary art canon, just as building progresses on M+, the future visual culture museum, and the city’s growing status as an art market provide fresh impetus for archiving and studying the evolution of the local art scene.