Art And Place: Essays On Art From A Hong Kong Perspective

~T&PLace Essays on ART FRom a Hong Konq PeRSpeCTlVe For my mother, and in memory of my father. RT& Essays on ART FRom a HonG KonG PeRspecTIve David Clarke . . Hong Kong University Press ~\I' * ,~ *- 1.f ~ )!.[ ~ Hong Kong University Press 139 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong © Hong Kong University Press 1996 ISBN 962 209 415 5 All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover illustration: Entrance to the exhibition of works by Zhang Hongtu, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, May 1996 Printed in Hong Kong by United League Graphic & Printing Co. Ltd. ontents Illustrations Vlt Introduction Xl Section I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Art and Its Contexts Site-Specificity in Recent Art Monologues Without Words; Museum Displays as Art Historical Narratives Museums, Artists, Audiences Private Art in a Public Place 'In Search of Art'; Looking Back With the Future in Mind Engaging Tradition Photography, Art, Life Section II. Arts Policy Issues 1 3 12 19 24 28 33 37 45 8. The Culture of Democracy; Looking at Art in Hong Kong 9. The Arts Policy Review Report: Some Responses 10. Submission to the Legislative Council's Panel on Recreation and Culture Concerning the Proposed Arts Development Council 11. Research and the Nurturing of Public Understanding of Art 47 52 55 Section III. Hong Kong Art 63 12. Between East and West: Negotiations With Tradition and Modernity "in Hong Kong Art 13. The Sculpture of Antonio Mak 14. The Art of Yank Wong 15. The Art of Chan Chi-ling 65 58 85 105 109 v Contents 16. A Sense of Place: Chan Chi-ling and Wong Wo-bik in Conversation With David Clarke 17. Innocence and Experience: The Art of Mei Lo 18. The Insufficiency of Tradition: Paintings by Fang Zhaoling and Chu Hing-wah 19. Photography and Social Reproduction 20. Revisions 21. Zuni Icosahedron in Context 114 Section IV. Western Art in a Hong Kong Frame 149 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 151 157 169 174 178 183 187 198 202 207 Grimm's Fairy Tales: A Series of Etchings by David Hockney The Blue Guitar Drawing From the Unconscious: The Surrealist Art of Max Ernst German Graphics of the 1970s Aspects of Contemporary Australian Art Hot and Cool: The Art of Robert Rauschenberg Rodin and the Fragmented Figure The Aesthetic of the Sketch National Shows at the 1995 Venice Biennale Art and the History of the Body: A Review of 'Identity and Alterity', the Keynote Show of the 1995 Venice Biennale Section V. Chinese Art: The View From Hong Kong 120 126 132 138 144 213 32. Li Tiefu and Western Art 33. Exile From Tradition: Chinese and Western Traits in the Art of Lin Fengmian 34. Reframing Mao: Aspects of Recent Chinese Art, Popular Culture and Politics 35. Foreign Bodies: Chinese Art at the 1995 Venice Biennale 215 225 Plates 259 Chinese Names 285 Index 287 vi 236 250 • ustrattons Figures 1.1 1.2 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 6.1 7.1 7.2 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4