‘It made me really calm’: how seeing Alex Katz’s painting City Landscape changed the life of Hong Kong artist Ernest Chang
- US-born, Hong Kong-raised Ernest Chang was a troubled teenager when he saw Katz’s painting in Germany, aged 16, having just completed his first drug rehab
- Viewing the artwork immediately brought him a sense of peace, and years later, the art gallery founder still uses it as a reference point for conveying emotion
Figurative artist Alex Katz is known both for portraits and landscapes, such as City Landscape (1995), executed in a rich, smooth, flat style, with influences from pop culture and advertising.
United States-born, Hong Kong-raised Ernest Chang, contemporary artist and founder of Hong Kong gallery The Stallery, tells Richard Lord how it changed his life.
I was maybe 16 and taking a break from school because I was going through my first drug rehab. My mother wanted to visit my sister, who was studying in Munich, Germany, so I went with her.
She was living near the museums, I didn’t have a lot to do, and one day I just strolled into (contemporary art museum) the Brandhorst. I remember there was a room where there was a lot of Alex Katz’s work.
I was going through a lot at that time. I was looking for something to keep me calm because I had a lot of anxiety from withdrawal; I’d just finished my detox, and it was a tumultuous time for me, both mentally and physically.
