In SurrealHK's world, the iconic red taxi transforms into a Lamborghini, Jumbo Floating Restaurant is sinking and Choi Hung Estate takes the form of a giant Tetris game. Fans of this Instagram page will rejoice to know that these works can now be viewed in reality.
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The man behind the SurrealHK account, Tommy Fung, is hosting his first solo exhibition, My Surreal Life In Hong Kong, at the 13a New Street Art Gallery until November 9.
Fung's photography project started when he returned from Venezuela, where he lived since he was nine.
"When I moved back to Hong Kong in 2016 and was trying to get used to the lifestyle, I noticed that people are so busy and not very happy," he said. "So I just wanted to create something encouraging, let them see my artworks and laugh."
One of his works, Whampoa Beach, seamlessly merges a realistic-looking beach into the bustling Hung Hom neighborhood.
Apart from being aesthetically pleasing, his work also seems to tackle current affairs through humor and surrealism.
After Typhoon 9, created after Typhoon Higos swept past the city, depicts the Victoria Harbour skyline blown into mid-air.
His favorite work in the show is Infinity Choi Hung Estate, which, as the name suggests, takes the estate's vibrant architecture and stretches it into infinity. The piece poses a sarcastic take on the SAR's housing problem with a seemingly infinite void of flats.
While social media is already Fung's personal virtual exhibition space, he is still excited to see his works in a physical gallery. "Now people can really see all the details, which are impossible to see on Instagram," he said.
And they can appreciate the painstaking photo editing work that goes into each piece - sometimes as much as 15 hours.
"When I have an idea, I write it down and think of the kinds of photos I need in order to create this one image," he said. "Then I go take the photos or find them in my old photo library. The rest is just hours and hours of photoshop on the computer."
Fung will also be launching his first print collection at affordable prices so that fans can bring home their favorite pieces and hang them up.
A limited amount will even be created into Fotomo three-dimensional collages, enabling the surrealistic artworks to pop up more.
To Fung, photography is about capturing moments and stories. "And photo manipulation is capturing ideas and telling stories that traditionally can't be done," he said.
