Enigma

An exhibition to launch new photographic works by

Wing Chan

at

Picture This Gallery, 13th Floor, 9 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

Tuesday 12th to Saturday 30th November 2013

RELEASED: 29th October 2013

Picture This Gallery is pleased to announce our forthcoming photography exhibition,

Enigma by Wing Chan, will open with a cocktail reception on Tuesday 12th November

from 6pm to 9pm and will continue until Saturday 30th November.

Wing Chan will be present for the Opening Reception

Lines No.002 Metamorphosis No.021

Inspiration for Wing Chan’s Enigma

Wing Chan’s use of photomontage for a wide arc of artistic expression imbued with vibrant

pop-street-graffiti iconography is more grounded in painting than in photography. Chan

leverages photographic technology to capture reality precisely and then transform it into

masterful works of Abstract Expressionism, a hugely influential art movement centred on

New York and developed shortly after World War II. Having lived in New York City for 25

years, it is no coincidence that Chan’s work is so influenced by this movement.

"My life's journey has afforded me opportunities to experience, absorb and

express artistic creations on a global scale. While my introduction to the use of

montage occurred in Hong Kong, my three decades in the United States

provided access to Abstract Expressionist art that greatly impacted me. My

travels to other cultures has also imprinted onto me and today I apply all of

these influences to my photomontages," explains Chan.

Metamorphosis No.009 Metamorphosis No.011

Chan’s photomontages also reflect a fusion of street art and pop art, where we discover

strands of the graffiti art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the looping figures of Keith Haring.

His work dances with the rhythms of bold colours and texture. Although his creations are

in fact two-dimensional, their distortion transcends reality to lend a greater depth and

movement to Chan’s work.

Wing Chan’s Hong Kong

After living in the United States, Chan returned to Hong Kong in 2011. Rekindling his ties

with the city, he has revelled in an outburst of creative inspiration.

In Chan’s own words:

“I am entranced by the emotion and beauty that can be found in unlikely places.

My approach is to use my photography to “steal” the real texture and energy of

the city of Hong Kong, often down narrow alleys and in densely populated

neighbourhoods. I am drawn back to the city of my childhood, culling the

symbolism and expression buried deep in my memory, where I borrow

neglected city images, paint, graffiti, bamboo scaffolding, styrofoam boxes,

aged air-conditioners, shipping containers and the ubiquitous property agent’s

for sale signs. These neglected city images form the raw material for my free

compositions; using my digital canvas I treat, distort and edit the images,

adding and subtracting details, colours and aspects including facets of gestural

abstraction. My images overtake and go beyond all concept of reality itself”

Urban-Tapestry No.001 Urban-type No.002

For Enigma, Chan gives us an unexpected energy and beauty from these

transformations. He delivers the texture expected of paint on canvas, the energy of a

street artist with his wild bursts of colour, a little humour and the realization that he has

created something far beyond the prosaic nature of his subject and tools. He pours

optimism and enthusiasm into every image elevating his work to a rarely found plateau.

There is no little drama in his work. Chan’s works exemplify the importance of artistic

sensibility and demonstrate how style can evolve to produce new extremes of creative

spontaneity.

Some Biographical Notes

Wing Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1962 and grew up in the shadows of the old

Kowloon Walled City. This was a very different city to modern day Kowloon, and Chan’s

formative experiences were embedded in that hardened era. At the age of five, he started

out as a child labourer in a noodle factory, in what was then a rough neighbourhood near

to Kai Tak airport. But diligence with his studies enabled Chan to excel at school, and at

18 he left Hong Kong to pursue his vocation for art in the United States.

In 1985, Chan graduated from the internationally renowned Art Center College of Design

in Pasadena, California, and began an award-winning career in commercial design,

including operating his own graphic and branding firm in New York City with clients

including Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, American Express Private Bank,

and Standard Chartered Private Bank.

Urban-Tapestry No.003 Urban-Tapestry No.004

During this time, Chan also served at an adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of

Technology in New York. Chan’s graphic design and photomontage works have appeared

in numerous publications worldwide, including in New York magazine, AIGA, Print

magazine, HGTV (USA), l’architecture d’aujourd’hui (France), Bangkok Post, Bangkok TV

(Thailand), Perspective magazine, City magazine (Hong Kong), pen magazine, World

Corporate Profile Graphics, World Trademarks and Logotype (Japan).

In 2011 Chan relocated to rediscover his roots in Hong Kong. Focusing on his

photography and photomontage and inspired by the wealth of subject matter in Hong

Kong he continues to apply his mastery of forms, shapes, colours and textures to the

creation of his fine art photomontages.

“To me, New York City is for dreamers and doers. The city is an empty canvas

with endless possibilities, the kind of city which embeds itself in you. Once you

have lived there, you carry it with you forever. In many ways, Hong Kong is like

that too. These are my towns, my homes and they always will be,” explains

Chan.

Chan has held solo exhibitions of his photomontage work in Paris and Bangkok and

Enigma is particularly significant and symbolic as it is his debut show in his home town of

Hong Kong.

The Historical Context of Photomontage and Abstract Expressionism:

While followers of the Dada movement in Berlin towards the end of World War I coined the

term photomontage, this art form has a long history dating to the very earliest days of

photography. The earliest known and recorded piece is Two Ways of Life created by

Oscar Rejlander in 1857.

Photomontage is the process of creating a composite image from the dissection of two or

more photographs, usually as an unreal illusion. Digital technology has unlocked a new

world of photomontage as computer based creation permits illusions and complexity never

previously attainable.

This process, combined with Chan’s fertile mind and classical graphic design background,

catalysed his extraordinarily beautiful Abstract Expressionist work.

From its roots in the late 1940’s, Abstract Expressionism, exemplified by leading American

exponents including Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning, opened the floodgates to all

the diversity and scope that followed and was one of the major reasons for New York to

assume Paris’ mantle as the world’s leading centre of the creative arts.

Exhibition Details

The Opening Reception of Enigma will be held at Picture This Gallery, 13th Floor, 9

Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong, on Tuesday 12th November 2013 with a cocktail

reception from 6pm to 9pm. The photographer will attend the opening reception.

The exhibition will continue until Saturday 30th November 2013.

Requests for further information or for images which can be used for editorial purposes

should be directed to Picture This. The photographer will also be available for media

interviews in the run up to the exhibition and until 18th November.

Christopher Bailey or Judith Siu

Tel: 2525-2820

Email: chris@picturethiscollection.com or judith@picturethiscollection.com