Wong Chau Tung

Born in Shantou, Guangdong in 1944, Wong Chau Tung moved to Hong Kong in 1979. He is deeply passionate about Hong Kong and has been inspired by the city. Though his realistic urban paintings are widely acclaimed, he acknowledged his early works were constrained by his objective conception of Hong Kong; he describes this as "Hong Kong paints me", indicating that his paintings lacked expression. Since he realised that it should be "I paint Hong Kong" instead, he transitioned to exploring and establishing urban ink paintings of the Xie-yi style. In the late 1980s, he began creating Xie-yi urban ink paintings by portraying Hong Kong in his mind, expressing his feelings by blending of lines, colours, halos and ink tones, overlaying the reality and subconscious.

Wong Chau Tung created a perfect blend between Eastern and Western techniques, adopting Western Impressionist techniques to depict air, light and colour while retaining traditional Chinese bird-and-flower style ink techniques such as dotting, brushing, splashing, breaking and staining paintings. This fusion has given rise to his unique "urban ink painting style", which embodies the characteristics of "New Ink Art," earning him the title of "pioneer and trailblazer of urban ink painting."

His artworks have been collected by private art galleries, institutions and collectors in China and worldwide, including the National Art Museum of China, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Shenzhen Art Museum, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Ningbo Museum of Art, Shenzhen Fine Art Institute etc.

Source: Artspace K