Artworks

Shanghai Grand, "I am only a passer-by in Shanghai."

Enamel paint on canvas

磁漆布本

100cm x 150cm

This photo shows the director's feeling of being an outsider. The colour of the picture is quite dim and the shooting angle is from bottom to the top which reveals that Chow could see the sky and and many buildings but he felt nowhere is his home. Standing in the street, looking around, people are having their own lives in Shanghai. Lacking that sense of belonging makes him feel lonely. For him, Shanghai is the place to work, once he finished it, he will leave.

The Boxer from Shantung, "Who doesn't rob in Shanghai?"

Enamel paint on canvas

磁漆布本

100cm x 150cm

This picture reflects on angel of the history in that time period in Shanghai and shows how Hong Kong people think of Shanghai at that time. The background of this movie is that Ma Yung Cheng leaves Shantung, trying to find better fortune in Shanghai, trusting his youth and physical valor. As a young man, he faces  many problems through his way to success. From the picture, we can tell that Ma is trying to build up his power by violence.

Love in a fallen city," You're an authentic Chinese, so naturally you're not like the Shanghainese she mentioned.”

This picture raised the question about cultural roots and ethnic identity. From the picture, we can see that several foreigners surrounding the woman with different facial expressions. Some of them are curious and some are contemplative. From the line, we can tell that from those people's eyes, Shanghainese are somehow different from the typical Chinese. Maybe due to the concessions' influence or regional culture, Shanghai shows that it was a little bit more westernized.

The theme, form and medium of the art work

I picked the theme " Shanghai tan”  for my research. In this series, Chow Chun Fai shows the city outlook via the movie scenes. A group of previously unreleased canvases feature scenes taken from movies that portray or evoke the city of Shanghai. Shanghai, as the cinematic source of China, developed rapidly during that period of time. What Chow looks for is how Shanghai appears in the Hong Kong movie scenes.  From the scene to discover whether the lines can show the Chinese's self-perception.

Chow chose enamel paint on canvas to do this series.Contaminating pictorial and cinematic languages, Chow Chun Fai, after having extracted a still from the movie, applies a dense, coagulated materia with a vigorous gesture. He froze the film, used different scenes and dialogues to express his emotions. The exchange of dialogue among actors is broken into fragments that represent the thematic and auditory essence of the scene. These highly ironic phrases, always endowed with subtle and conceptual twists, consituting a key to reading the images that they accompany. The color of the pictures is usually dim and heavy in order to emphasize on the sense of history.

- the cultural and social background of the art work

Even though Hong Kong has been returned to China for decades,  Hong Kong people's sense of belonging was a bit weak somehow. From Chow's other art work, lots of the substitles in the film clips are related to a particular theme--identity. in this series, Chow moved his focus from Hong Kong identity to Shanghai identity. Shanghai, though unlike Hong Kong, hasn't been seperated from the mainland but still was a  bit more westernized than other cities in China. From the substitles, some related words occur, such as 'identity', 'Shanghainese' and 'Chinese' etc. And this historical problem becomes the social background of the paintings. 

Background of Chow Chun Fai

Chow Chun Fai, graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, gained both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Fine Art in 2003. He was one of the earliest artists to move to Fo Tan, an art place far from the center of the city with cheap rents and big space. Although he is only 30 years old, Chow is now a well-known artist not only in Hong Kong but also in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Manchester, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Palermo, and Verona.

1. Solo Exhibitions
   2005	Significant Form: Paintings of Chow Chun-fai, Grotto Fine Art Ltd., Hong Kong
   2004	Paintings by Chow Chun Fai , State of Arts Gallery, Hong Kong
   2003	Painting, Grass, Ceiling—Paintings by Chow Chun-fai, Hong Kong Arts Centre
   Selected Group Exhibitions
   2005	YCCA - Young Chinese Contemporary Art , HangART-7, Austri a
   2004	Fotanian 2004 , Fo Tan Industrial Centre, Hong Kong
   2003	Fotanian 2003 , Fo Tan Industrial Centre, Hong Kong Matrix Inside Out: Paintings by Au Hoi-lam and Chow Chun-fai, Grotto Fine Art Ltd., Hong Kong The Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition 2003 , Hong Kong Museum of Art
   2001	Joint Funeral of Chow & Kwan, “Expectation to Expectation ”, 1 a Space, Former Cattle Dept, Hong Kong
   Selected Awards
   2005	Sovereign Art Prize Finalist
   2004	Sovereign Art Prize Finalist
   2003	Selected entries in the Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition Hui's Fine Arts Award in Chinese Painting Ting Yen Yung Memorial Artistic Achievement Award Ramon Woon Creative Prize Gallery Ferry Competition, A Dynamic City, Two-dimensional Art Award (2003) Philippe Charriol Foundation 18th Annual Art Competition Finalist (Painting)
   2002	Philippe Charriol Foundation 17th Annual Art Competition Finalist (Painting)
   1998	Shatin Drama Festival the Best Script

Interview Questions

1. Why you choose this sensitive topic concerning about the identity as your main theme?


2. People always think that the artists chose some particular topic to express own feelings as the art is their emotional outlet. So can you tell us what do you want to express through your artwork?


3. What's your ideal creative environment?


4. For you, what's the ideal life as an artist? 


5. One of your picture capture the scene with the words saying that "You're an authentic Chinese, so naturally you're not like the Shanghainese she mentioned." How you think about this sentence?


6. We should emphasis on the image or the words when appreciating your work? 


7.What's your aim putting one line on the image? Helping us to understand your work? Some of the lines are really thoughtful. 


8. People are interested in one series of your artworks, the painting on movies. Can you tell us why you want to make this series? 


9. How you choose the material? After watching a movie and then get you eureka moment?


10. I notice that you have another related series of artwork -- video on painting. Could you compare the differences between these two series?