Hong Kong has been a major player in the contemporary ink art world since the 1960s.
But there is one style that has not seen much exposure recently: gongbi. Established early in the Chinese painting tradition, gongbi uses fine lines drawn with a brush to delineate the subject matter.
This meticulous technique was later eclipsed in the Yuan dynasty by the emergence of the more expressionistic and abbreviated xieyi style.
Transcending the Gongbi Tradition: Contemporary Hong Kong Fine-Brush Painters features nine local gongbi artists.
Said curator Chen Fong-fong: "This showcase focuses on contemporary gongbi painting practices and draws attention to the artists' distinctive styles and aesthetics. It re-examines the historical significance and contemporary relevance of gongbi paintings and explores the spiritual and contemplative qualities that underpin the techniques and materials. "
One of the more famous of them is Wilson Shieh, who is known for humanizing inanimate objects such as directions in the exhibition. Also displayed are a continuation of his Architecture series.
Exchange Square and Jardine House aptly capture the exhibition venue as well as its surrounding architecture in Central, while Kowloon and Beyond shows buildings on the Kowloon peninsula.
Chen said: "Despite using a traditional mode, their subject matter all incorporate Hong Kong landscapes. They convey the painters' emotions, passions, reflections and love for the place."
Sam Cheng Tan-shan and Barbara Choi Tak-yee share the same focus on Hong Kong buildings and combine them into traditional Chinese landscape paintings.
Cheng's Studio 13A depicts Hong Kong's dense buildings with traditional mountain and tree motifs. If you look closer, you may spot small rats scattered across the painting - a nod to Cheng's previous rat-infested art studio.
With a focus in blue-green landscape painting (qinglu), Choi depicts local markets in the hope of capturing them before they vanish. An example is the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market in the "boundary painting" genre (jiehua) in Day and Night of Wholesale Fruit Market.
Flower-and-bird paintings were another popular genre. Cherie Cheuk Ka-wai combines local wild birds with items that hold collective Hong Kong memories such as childhood games and mosaic tiles found in local eateries in her Lingering Clouds series.
The exhibition will run at The Rotunda in Exchange Square until May 22.
