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HK Magazine: Do you explicitly try to use artistic language that reflects China or Chinese culture?
C.C. Lee: I don’t think so. It’s not on purpose, but a very natural process. Probably it’s the same with Mr. Chu as well. We’re standing in front of China, but a lot of the information and culture that filters in is western. We grew up in Hong Kong, and it just inevitably created this kind of visual language that inspired us.
 
Chu Tat-shing: Our creations usually follow our own personal conceptualizing, and we don’t think to make art from specifically an eastern angle or a western angle, or whatever; those are other people’s perceptions. 
 
HK: Should your works be seen as an amalgamation of east and west?
CT: For one of the works, I was inspired by Chinese mythology, depicted in Han Dynasty mosaics. The ancestral deities Fuxi and Nuwa [who represent heaven and earth] were shown with human heads and serpent bodies, entwined together. [Fuxi and Nuwa] are also to do with yin and yang; it’s a dichotomy—like positive and negative space—and encasing that sense of dichotomy within a solid sculpture is what I’m very interested in. Abstract expression is not just western, it’s also eastern. 
 
CL: We’re constantly east and west, but our job is to see how to compromise both sides; we’re always trying to balance things: from the composition, to that fine line between abstraction and realism. In the end, art is very human, and it has to go through a filter [to achieve balance].
 
Danny Li Wan-fai: My work’s changed quite a bit [through the years], but I was caught up in the idea of merging eastern and western art. They’re indistinct landscapes, not really of specific locations. In terms of technique, it’s very western. Sometimes painting is like playing chess. Your first move, you have no idea how it’s going to go; you change your thoughts depending on each move, and even now after 40 years I am still learning and changing. My inspiration really comes from whatever I draw. I make an abstract shape. Then, if I see a silhouette of a rock, I make that slightly more apparent.
 
CL: My work’s in the east, and looking to the west for influences; but Danny’s training puts him in the west, and he’s looking to the east.
 
HK: Are there any challenges associated with making public art?
CL: The consultancy that chooses the works gives us a lot of freedom for us to create, and also make it appropriate for a public space. In terms of visual art, public and private collections have that difference where public art doesn’t try to affect the viewer’s emotions too harshly, and so it won’t promote a specific sort of attitude, and also try not to draw on anything too political, and that’s fine.
 
DL: Large-scale sculptures tend to be more common in public spaces, but there are also ways to make it blend in with the space. You can’t just do whatever you want; it has to look pleasing and comfortable within the setting. Artists really need an expanded audience to see their works.
 
HK: Is it hard being an artist in Hong Kong?
DL: In some countries they have state-commissioned artists: as long as they reach a certain standard, they’ll be able to earn a living. But in Hong Kong, you need to build a name for yourself, you need to wait for someone to appreciate and buy your works. And this is difficult to achieve in Hong Kong.
 
CL: From my experience, that’s why a lot of us Hong Kong artists have to work with commercial groups like hotels and offices: there’s no other way out of it. We have to make a living. It should be the government’s job to support artists, but we’re grateful that Hongkong Land supports us. Commercial entities don’t really have that responsibility at all. 
 
DL: There are plenty of talented and creative artists out there, but there just isn’t the right environment for them to thrive. 
	 
 
“Unfolding Visions” at the Rotunda, Exchange Square runs until Apr 17. Check out more work at www.landmark.hk/art.&nbsp;


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Hongkong Land has nurtured a relationship with local artists for years by exhibiting their works in public spaces across town. In a new exhibition, they’ve chosen five local artists with works that aim to inspire passersby or art lovers alike. Evelyn Lok speaks to three of the five: Danny Li Wan-fai, C.C. Lee, and Chu Tat-shing, about their art, as well as the perpetual struggle of the artist in Hong Kong.
