‘Varying degrees of drunkenness’: Hong Kong ink artist’s show mixes wine, liquor and food with advanced brush techniques in a feast for the eyes
- Chui Pui-chee added red wine and Chinese baijiu to his ink to create ‘rich’ effects and enhance the colours of works on show at Hong Kong’s Karin Weber Gallery
- The show, called Master Chui’s Kitchen, combines calligraphy and painting techniques ‘in a similar way to fine cooking’ to create various food-related pieces
Most people would consider a wine stain annoying. Not Chui Pui-chee.
The Hong Kong ink artist saw its potential and incorporated a few drops of red into his creations, resulting in the aptly titled calligraphy pieces Merry Drunk and Slightly Drunk.
“Together with the layering of ink and the champagne gold, it creates a very rich effect. I think this is a stroke of genius and the works look very interesting.”
And he didn’t waste a drop.
“It’s downside – which I actually don’t mind – is that I get to consume the wine after I open the bottle.”
Embracing wine as paint is the sort of boundary-pushing experimentation expected from Chui, whose works feature in his solo show “Master Chui’s Kitchen” at Karin Weber Gallery in Hong Kong until September 16.
“I use advanced calligraphy and painting techniques in a similar way to fine cooking, which is how the idea of ‘Master Chui’s Kitchen’ came about.”
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“I bought fresh crabs from the wet market and spent days studying their structure,” he says.
“Traditional Chinese ink painters painted crabs using a simple gongbi technique,” he says, referring to the realist style characterised by close attention to detail and fine brush work. “I applied this same technique in a more refined manner.”
Each series, he says, requires the use of specific paper and ink, and involves complex steps.
“I started grinding my ink more than a decade ago and because it contains less preservatives, I have to store it in the refrigerator to prevent it going bad,” he says.
To enhance the ink’s pigmentation the artist again embraced booze, this time a tipple known as China’s “national liquor”.
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Chui has previously produced detailed works featuring ants and bees, and nature is likely to shape his next series, too.
“Master Chui’s Kitchen”, 11am-7pm, Tuesday-Saturday, Karin Weber Gallery, 20 Aberdeen Street, Central, tel: 2544 5004. Ends September 16.
