Lam Tian-xing, an ink wash painter renowned for his "Tian-xing Lotus" series, has lived in Hong Kong for over four decades and remains captivated by the city's nightscape: "It is the most beautiful in the world." In his latest exhibition "Night • Hong Kong" at Illuminati Fine Art, Central until January 5 next year, the dazzling nighttime views of the city are distilled into 62 new artworks.
Pitch black without artificial lighting, nights in olden times were often reduced to a lone moon hanging in the sky in ancient landscape paintings. Under Lam's contemporary take on ink wash painting, however, night is a festival of lights. His new works portray Hong Kong – "the city that never sleeps" – in its different facets, spanning from landmarks such as Victoria Harbour and Lion Rock, to fleeting moments like a tram glimpsed between buildings, all soaked in the warm glow of light.
Despite having traveled and seen countless nightscapes around the world, Hong Kong's night view still holds a special place in Lam's heart. Magnificent yet unpretentious, it sports towering skyscrapers, overlapping streetlights, rolling hills, and shimmering waters, exuding unreplicable charm. To capture Hong Kong's night view in a fusion of traditional and modern art is no easy feat, however. "It was a bit of a struggle at first, as there wasn't much to draw from," Lam said. He eventually came to a breakthrough using techniques like ink splashes, broken color, texture strokes, and crisscrossing lines to present Hong Kong's vistas on rice paper. Referencing his previous lotus series, he noted, "Lotus flowers and nightscapes are similarly variable and multicolored, so painting them involved similar techniques."
A Hong Kong resident for 41 years, Lam paints from memory, as every street, lamp, and change in the cityscape are already etched in his mind. He remembers Hong Kong's 80s and 90s as star-studded with neon lights, calling it "a pity that there are fewer of them now." He also believes that art functions not to replicate reality, but to invite viewers' participation in the imaginative process. "It's about capturing the most striking moment and sublimating it into a painting. If you can immediately tell where it is, how is it any different from a map?"
Speaking of his creative journey, Lam, born in Fuzhou in 1963, said he first dabbed in traditional ink wash painting in his twenties. Around the same time, the '85 Movement in China saw the introduction of Western culture and a sweeping liberation of the arts, leading to the rise of avant-garde artists of which Lam became part. Over the years, Lam's works have covered subjects ranging from the landscapes of Shaanxi and Tibet to lotus flowers and calamus. Yet, Hong Kong – with its distinct fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, and of urban and natural scenery – has proven to Lam an inexhaustible source of inspiration, as well as the place where he feels "the most comfortable and at ease." Describing Hong Kong, he said, "You would find an ancient temple lying next to a skyscraper; in another 10 to 15 minutes, nature unfolds before you," adding that he has mused about how best to paint the city since the mid-1990s.
"Painting one or two is simple," Lam noted, "but painting a series requires a distinct style, a stable grammar, and variation within consistency." This exhibition is the culmination of years of observation and reflection on his beloved city. Hong Kong's nightscapes will continue to feature as an important part of this next international tour – with 10 provinces in China as well as countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan, and Italy on the itinerary – in the hope that the world may see the city's beauty through his art.
