WHAT
As Hong Kong’s pioneer in the New Ink Movement, Lui Shou-kwan made a splash in the local art scene in the 1960s and had a profound influence on contemporary Chinese art. This master of ink art flawlessly combined Chinese classical painting with Abstraction and Symbolism through techniques such as landscape sketching and out-of-the-box experimentation with brush and ink. By studying the history of Chinese classical painting and modern Western art theories, Lui developed a unique style of painting and ultimately accomplished his iconic Zen painting series. The well-curated exhibition is focused on the structural beauty of Lui’s compositions (‘Forms’) and is divided into 3 sections, ‘Discovering Forms in Nature’, ‘Understanding Forms from Old to New’, and the ‘Enlightening Forms through Zen’.

WHY
The collection of masterpieces is an impressive one that traces Lui’s artistic journey to show how he transcended the practices of traditional Chinese painting and Western art theories to come up with a new form of expression. By placing paintings from different periods next to each other, the exhibition allows audiences to understand how despite Lui’s experimentation, he was always faithful to Form, and never deviated far from the roots of his Chinese classical training. The exhibition also includes a section on works of Lui’s pupils – all famous in their own right, such as Wucius Wong, Irene Chau, Leung Kui-Ting – to show how they developed their own unique styles after being inspired by their teacher.