Lot 870
  • 870

Kevin Fung (Fung Lik Yan)

Estimate
200,000 - 300,000 HKD
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Description

  • Kevin Fung (Fung Lik Yan)
  • Forgotten Stories of the City
  • oil on wood
incised in English and executed in 2013

Condition

This work is generally in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

A Peripheral Vision of the World

Hong Kong is a city on a seam: here Chinese and Western cultures both exert their influence and express their vitality. Hong Kong artists likewise transcend its confines to address issues of broader significance, including globalisation, urbanisation, and the intersection of Chinese and Western aesthetics.

Tsang Chui Mei graduated in 2003 from the Department of Fine Arts of Chinese University,. Painting is the concrete manifestation of her mental state as well as the material record of her life. Operating in a spiritual realm, she combines an abstract and a figurative idiom to explore possibilities in committing Eastern aesthetic ideals to canvas. In recent years, her work has incorporated more traditional Chinese elements, such as the metaphysical ethos of traditional ink painting and the fluid lines of calligraphy. Shattered (Lot 868) is one of Tsang’s new experiments. A traditional Chinese landscapes, featuring a cluster of mountains at the bottom and birds in flight on the side, is infused with white triangles that poetically recall snowflakes.

Born in 1964, Fung Lik Yan, Kevin has created many public works of art and exhibited widely in Hong Kong and elsewhere. His most absorbing works remain his idiosyncratic wood sculptures. Forgotten Stories of the City (Lot 870) is an extension of Fung’s most renowned Rooftop series. Tree trunks extend from tong lau-style buildings into the sky, embodying in fantastical form Hong Kongers’ wish for space and freedom. A former engineer with a nine-to-five job, Fung is intimately familiar with the routine life of the average Hong Konger, and has reflected deeply on urban alienation. At the same time, he purposefully exposes his carving and sculptural marks as a pointed rebuttal to the vulgar taste for refinement and realism. Thus his works symbolise the increasingly vague identity of the urban dweller in the ever changing present.

Tsang Tsou Choi (1920-2007) is a legendary figure in Hong Kong. From colonial through postcolonial times, he made graffiti throughout the city with a Chinese brush. Even as he expressed his idiosyncratic views on the colonial government, he also gave voice to a generation of Hong Kongers in their search for identity. Tsang, the self proclaimed King of Kowloon, was most beloved for the ink traces he left in various public spaces. For his accomplishments over a lifetime, Tsang became the first Hong Kong artist invited to participate in the Venice Biennial in 2003, which marked the height of his artistic career. Calligraphy on Red Paper (Lot 869) is a calligraphic work on red paper created during Chinese New Year in 2004. Subverting the traditional significance of New Year calligraphy, the work in a unique medium is a treasure indeed.