Beyond The Gallery
Most of the time people just appreciate or buy and collect art without having an iota of knowledge about the lives of artists or how they manage to do their art. There is a big difference between just merely grabbing a piece of art to boast to friends and appreciate its true value or even be enticed to become an artist as well and realizing the rigors and challenges faced by artists while in the process of producing their art pieces.
There are various means by which artists devise ways just to produce art. Here in this city where space is measured in square feet, an extra room or flat to be utilized as studio means money. Renting a studio in a village or in an industrial area is even more expensive especially when one realizes that every piece of art produced does not mean that the equivalent monetary returns will immediately come flowing in.
Moreover, there are artists who feel more convenient and relaxed doing their art privately while some are gifted with the discipline to focus on doing art in public, oblivious of the prying eyes of curious onlookers who are instant impatient critics as well.
I am a muralist and my experience in doing public art for the Hong Kong Mural Society brought me to the reality that I have to paint in public while at the same time our ongoing projects and its processes become public spectacle. This community based art projects not only inspire would-be artists but also make people more aware about art appreciation.
A New Environment, A New Reality, A Tiny Studio
When I decided to join my wife here in
A year later I and my wife moved to a new place and since we have no kids yet I had the freedom to make the new flat my studio. There I hanged all the blank canvases on the walls and painted on each and every one of them every day, This technique of simultaneously doing several pieces at the same time meant that there were no paints wasted because I made it a point to apply them all on the canvas. Besides, my chosen style requires a lot of meticulous work to deal with each and very detail of the paintings. For several months of religiously doing this I was able to produce several art pieces.
My full freedom to paint freely inside our flat ended when our first baby was born. Aside from the fact that I have to stop painting for several months because I was babysitting, I had no choice but to find other means to produce art. This new situation wasn’t a problem at all because I still managed to paint by making our not-so-spacious living room my make-shift studio this time because I have to place a “wall” to prevent my crawling and growing son to intrude into my tiny “territory.” I also decided to forget about using oil paints for the time being and preferred acrylics. The bathroom was also mainly utilized sometimes as a painting area especially when I have to prevent the paint odor to spread inside our flat. The exhaust fan there helped a lot to solve this problem. It was funny how my studio have grown smaller as my son grew bigger each day especially when he learned how to go and “tear down” those “walls” as soon as he learned to walk.
Inevitable Opportunities
Basically, some of the above reasons were behind why I was hesitant to accept an invitation in 1998 to have a solo show at Shaw College Gallery at the
Artists like me have several things to consider before embarking into our journey as professional artists. These are ideas, resources, time and studio. If one of these are impossible to have the whole plan suffers. I for one am blessed to have them all given the fact that it is my faith in the Almighty God the Father through Lord Jesus Christ that keeps these blessings flowing in their own perfect time.
Given the somewhat difficult situation above and the equivalent opportunities at the same time I again have to devise ways on how to produce art in an environment in which not only one but two kids are now sharing the flat with me and my wife plus the nanny. The solution was – a change of tactics. This time again the living area, a more spacious one, served as my studio where I started painting when all of them were sound asleep. The whole night was just as busy as daytime as I did a systematic routine to work on each and every canvas and other surfaces. I successfully made my first solo show here in
Faith Amid Uncertainties
The dreaded SARS brought fear to
My third solo show, FREE FLOW, was made possible through an invitation from the
Trust in the Almighty God the Father vs. Uncertain Future, Unsure Direction
News of events all around the world, both good and worst, cannot escape a keen artist’s attention and imagination. These are then translated into surfaces such as canvases as pieces of art. While the art market seems to be so promising, as evidenced by the sprouting of new art galleries here and there, I still question my role as an artist and the purpose of my art.
Will the art market dictate the direction of an artist or vice versa? Will art produced, that fuel a lucrative art market, remain merely as statements against serious personal issues while the solutions remain unreachable?
As I grow older I heard of my fellow artists pass away while some, without having the chance to reach their goals or do justice to their talents, became content with maintaining their jobs so as to support their family. In my case I just depend on and trust the Almighty God the Father for whatever my future will be.
TWO LANDSCAPES, TWO CHILDHOODS II
The theme of the mural-sized four-panel painting that I am going to do is all about the environment in relation to my life’s experiences and what I observe in this ever-changing world. It is the same as the first art piece I did in 2006 in my first North American solo art exhibition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania titled TWO LANDSCAPES, TWO CHILDHOODS and in other paintings of similar themes.
Imagine that one day you suddenly thought of making a list of all the things you bought, kept for some time and have thrown away as rubbish since you were young. Surely that would be a long list.
