A little late but last week’s adventures included studio visits to Sharp Motion, Big Fish Design and Whitespace. I’ll do a separate post on each of them later on in the week. So you’ll just have to settle for the other little discoveries that i found this week. First was Homeless on 29 Gough Street in Central/Sheung Wan area, a little serendipity where i was able to find this awesome quirky shop. It was actually in the Hong Kong Creative City Guide (which was one of the elements that Whitespace along with Lancashire Road designed that’s packed full of thing to see, do and of course eat for people like me and you.) This week i also went back to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum yet again. This time i took my time going through the Poster Triennial exhibition here’s two of my favorites:

Hand-scape by Japan’s Tomoya Kaishi in 2009, the photos were taken by an old friend and collaborator Hirotsugu Hoshikawa and none of them were digitally composed which makes it more impressive i think. The positioning of the hands are used to evoke mountains and i love how the series suggests the different depths and ranges of the mountains whilst still conveying different connotations. A very simplistic and elegant piece, makes you think what you can achieve with the simplest of things. This piece received not only a gold award but the judges award.

Another piece that i really liked was Chairligraphy 2009 by Lau Siu Hong Freeman. The chairs that was used were Ming styled by merging this with Calligraphy it was “…the hope that audience could sense and feel the smoothness and strength of the calligraphic stroke.” This piece received the Bronze and Judges award.

For a bit more of culture i also went to the Cantonese Opera Appreciation Class, i’m not really a fan of the music but i like the visual costumes and i’m willing to learn about it so maybe i can appreciate it more hence the appreciation class. This was also at the Heritage Museum and is on a Saturday, you can find out tour information on their site and the best thing is that it’s usually included in the entrance fee.

Back to the Appreciation class, the guide was a man called Paris and as you can guess he was rather on the camp side but that’s alright since it’s normal for men to act out women roles. He was actually quite impressive as whilst he was telling us background information, character types, and specific movements to each person he also provided a demonstration on both male and female roles (at the same time.) So whilst i’m still not a fan i can understand it a little better, maybe i can be converted but don’t get your hopes up.

Another exhibition that was on was the Creative Ecologies which included Danny Yung’s Tian Tian. (Unfortunately this was a no photography zone so i only got photos of display outside which incorporated Yung’s Tian Tian and other creatives to design and play with the figurine.Here’s a picture of the 1881 Heritage Display in Tsim Sha Tsui while i was passing, nice typography can anyone guess what it is?

I really liked the signage for the K11 Gallery Shopping Mall, very modern isn’t it? Love how the display develops over the ceiling.

Another little treasure that i found was the DNA Galleria in the Tsim Sha Tsui area. The bright vibrant neo lights on the walls and escalator are alluring just like how a fly is attracted to the light i was captivated and got curious so went up and had a look, had the usual quirky shops, a few clothes shop and some shops dedicated to local artist’s craft such as jewellery and t-shirts. (Yes i bought alot of stuff here, got a very nice bag hehehe)

Ended the week with Wing wah’s cake making class where a group of us learnt how to make wife cakes. This was within the shop and if you’ve ever been shopping in Hong Kong space is pretty small so it was fun trying to learn in this environment and the class was slightly overbooked with having 12 people when it was only suppose to be 8-10 but all is good and as they say the more the merrier. The class itself was pretty good and whilst the cakes were being baked they served tea and cookies and we also got a little goodie bag. Well that’s it for the week.

Last week’s adventure led me to visit the Tsim Sha Tsui area, in particular the Hong Kong Museum of Art where there was an exhibition of Touching Art: Louvre’s sculptures in movement. There was a total of 18 replicas from the Louvre Museum, created from resin or plaster and finished to appear like marble or bronze. The exhibition allowed you to touch the pieces which was refreshing to see as typically in Museums it’s DO NOT TOUCH, “bringing you a new way of experiencing art.” Also you don’t have to worry about hygiene as before you enter the exhibition you’re required to sanitize your hands, something that i’ve noticed in Hong Kong, hygiene is a big thing over here, everything is constantly cleaned, in particularly door handles.

I also found my way to the Harbour City Mall, which is one of the biggest malls in Hong Kong. Here’s the entrance with a very festive outdoor display from Chinese New Year which i found very exciting to walk through….photo opp ^_^ Here’s a couple more interesting display finds during my shopping adventure, although i’ve been quite good and kept the spending to a minimum but i bought a rather cute purse which you’ll see if you scroll down.

The Monki’s skyscrapers were from Langham Place in Mong Kok, really liked the cityscape, very alluring and fulfilled it’s purpose of attracting customers so decided to pop in but didn’t see anything i fancied.

This is the Sale Sign from the Diesel Store in the Harbour City Mall, better than your average “Sales” sign isn’t it. Really liked the 3d texture of using thick red yarn with, keeping a small correlation with the traditional red sales sign, but also liked the connotations of the scissors  graphic with the cutting of prices.

This week also had a little serendipity, i accidently found the Chocolate Trail exhibition of Chocolate Heritage. The exhibition contains you guessed it chocolate sculptures of different famous landmarks in the world from the Great Wall of China to the Leaning Tower of Piza. Here are some of pictures below, and as the sign below says “Please refrain from Touching and Eating” which was so tempting as when you enter you automatically get hit with a chocolate aroma. Yum or what. ^_^ Can you guess where these place are?

During my stay in Hong Kong i’ve noticed alot of public art which i love, but the worst thing is that it’s hard to find the artist or creator but thankfully this piece was perfectly labelled. Check out some more of his work over here. The painting was found on the way home from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station, it covered not only the walls but the ceiling which is one of the things i like best about it, love when art breaks the boundary of the typical canvas.

The purchase of this week was the Salad Leather Purse, loved the embossed graphics, had my eye on it at the beginning so i’m glad i bought it in the end, how cute in the rocking horse? Near the end of the week i headed down to Central in Hong Kong, where a New York Artist John Hobbie was sketching in a coffee shop, (surprisingly he speaks cantonese quite well) so i got intrigued and he gave me business card. So here’a couple pieces of his work, i like his watercolours best but then again i’m a sucker for watercolour. ^_^ Basically John’s on a painting excursion across Hong Kong, check out some more of his work over here.  

The Schoeni Art Gallery known for Chinese Contemporary art has collabrated with UK Adapta. One of the artists that was featured here was David Bray, however the original pieces that i saw were a bit more timid compared to the one i’m showing below (can’t find the piece i saw that time, titled “God only knows”.) “Bray creates intricate, time-consuming drawings, which explore emotion, utopia and a world of fantasy, mainly taking women and animals as his motif” (via adapta gallery site.) You can view more of his work over at Stolenspace.

I also visted the Zee Stone Gallery, one of the artists that i liked was Wei Shaodong, a binary opposition of the tradition vs. contemporary, what i like most about the peices is the hand painted intricate detail of the stereotypical asian dress patterns that are used as the background of the graceful silhouettes. (Note real life paintings are more vibrant.)

On Sunday evening i headed to Kowloon Walled City Park with the exhibiton Power Plant being on, unfortunately all tickets for whole event are all sold out. So here a few photos from the bit that was opened to the public. To be honest the event was a bit creepy and like a haunted house with the eerie music playing, luckily there was a good crowd but i don’t think i would’ve liked to wandered there all alone in the middle of the night. Glad i saw a bit of it anyway. Well that’s all for this week.

Here’s a few sketches i’ve been doing, inspired by the hustle and bustle of the city the images cover the entire canvas (which isn’t that big to begin with since each of these drawings are the size of a business cards) removing the whitespace and the small scale is all symbolic of Hong Kong or so i’m inclined to think.  Let me know what you think or if you’ve got any ideas on what else i can do on my trip over here.

In the beginning of the week i headed to Sham sui po where there were the usual shops and markets however this is one of the best places in Hong Kong  a any crafter’s dream since it’s rows of shops upon shops with beads, ribbons, string, and buttons. Basically anything you need here is the place to go. Will be visiting here again, could spend hours upon hours just going though everything. Hopefully get more photos next time.

This week i also went to the JCCAC, Jocky Club Creative Art Centre, an eight level building dedicated to the arts, i only got to see half of it so levels 5-8 next time. Here are a few random photos from the JCCAC, the grey rose is entitled Trinity and created by Shum Ka Wai.

Really liked the illustrations on the back of this milk carton, super kawaii, very chinese and japan-esq with the mini characters.

Well near the end of the week, i decided to open the red pockets i got for new years, lots of extra cash! ^_^ (A little more than usual since i’m over heres hehehe)

Happy Chinese New Year, may you be prosperous in the year of the rabbit. Very festive over here in Hong Kong with lots of bunnies everywhere in particular shopping centres where they specifically put exhibition displays for the public as chinese people are very photo happy as you know with our beloved peace sign.

Among the decorations there’s also a few festivals and markets specifically for the new year, there’s lot’s of random toys featuring a bunny aspect such as bunny ears, soft toys etc.

The shopping centres over here are massive, each usually have 6 or 7 levels any shoppers dream. The place you see here is the Grand Century Plaza in East Mong Kok. (One of the many plaza’s in Hong Kong and Mong Kok for that matter.) 

In chinese New Year, like any typical holiday is usually spent with loved one so visited my grandparents and had new year dinner with them, actually had two in one day. We had early tea (fasting/vegetarian style) and then at midnight we had another dinner (this time with meat), it’ part of chinese tradition, usually you would fast for a about approximately a week or so but as society changes i guess we just have to adapt. Below are a few photos from my grandparent’s place and the alter which sounds like something from a cult where animal sacrifices and constant praying occurs but sorry to disappoint it’s uses is more for a remembrance and respect for your ancestors.

Random fact along with burning incense sticks, candles, faux money, we put food, usually stuff that we’re going to eat (typically fruit/buns) in front of these stands with the concept of giving thanks to the ancestors and providing their sustenance.

During my little dander to Mong Kok which i got completely lost (intentional of course), i found these pixel pieces which was a community project. Hong Kong is full of public art, i’ll keep you posted on my next finds next week.

Following lunch i visited the Hong Kong Heritage Museum for the International Poster Triennial of 2010 but before that i went to the Chao Shao-An ”Unrestrained Passion” which includes Ng Yuet Lau who’s a student of . The paintings were very elegant and graceful with the delicate brush strokes that are very expressive. There was also a painting demonstration video that’s very hypnotic, or maybe i just like watching how someone paints? You really learn alot about some’s style and technique. Here are a couple pieces of her work:

When i finally tore myself away from the demo video and went to the Poster Triennial which only left me a little over a hour to view the exhibition so here’s a few snaps of some of pieces i liked. The exhibition’s there until May so if you’re over here it’s a must see!! It’s so good that i might actually have to go again as i kind of rushed through it as it was near closing time.

Titled: Twelve animals, 2007, Designer: kentaro Nagai, Japan

Formed from different countries merged together to created the 12 chinese zodiacs.

Titled: ali mohammadi painting, 2008, Desginer: Homa Delvaray, Iran

I really liked the details of this piece with the patterns and how it merges two and three dimensional space.

Titled: Campaign for “No Dog Droppings”, Designer: Junya Kamada, Japan

The character on the left (including the stroke) means “big” and the image on the right means “person”. What you think it means?

Titled: Peace is a Blessing, Designer: Unknown 

This is probably the piece i liked the most from the poster collection, really liked the simplicty and the bright vibrant red, very Chinese traditional. Of course i like the piece’s white space imagery of evoking birds in the typography, not really anything new but i’m still a sucker for images like these.  

Titled:Masks of Peking Opera, 2008, Designer: zhang wexian  China

Simple strokes creating imagery from chinese opera masks, very minimalistic.

Titled: Solar terms punctuation, 2009, Designer: wang hsu chun, taiwan

Chinese characters created from as stated above punctuation marks.

On the way home i noticed the sky, maybe it’s because Hong Kong has so many sky scrapers and buildings that i haven’t really been able to see clouds in a while so i wanted to just take a few photos.

Had dinner with my grandparents and Uncle that’s over from Scotland. This is my little cousin Nicole, isn’t she super cute? Her walk is really adorable, she sways as she danders about.

 Yesterday i went to the Sheung Wan district to have a look at galleries over that side of city. Here’s a few random snaps that i took. I had a good walk around the area trying to find a few of the locations that the Creativity City guide for Hong Kong recommended but google maps wasn’t very helpful and kept mistaking where the current location was but luckily i found the Lomography Shop on Po Yan street, which as you can guess had a extreme dedication to some awesome Lomography Cameras (if i’ve got any money left that’s what i’m going buy, there’s a very nice and Diana collection that includes a flash, different lenses, view finders etc.) Right beside the Lomography shop there was the Para site art space, unfortunately it was closed for a new installation that actually happens to open tomorrow night, maybe visit another time.

Across the way was The Cat Street Gallery, which i got confused with the antique shopping centre The cat street galleries. They had an exhibition of Australian painter Martine Emdur and her new collection Lazuline, another bewitching submersion. I love how Edmur plays with light and how she paints the underwater distortions. The pieces are very elegant with the models posture and connotes the image of a mermaid.

Another gallery that i went to was the Shin Hwa Gallery when i was walking towards the Soho area to have another dander. The works above is created by Korean artist Kim Jieh, the two above is created with oil, ink on Hanji on Canvas. Her pieces are very intriguing with a complicated style that’s very surreal that attracts the audience to look twice at the piece.  I like how she uses black ink for empasis and outlines.  

Well it’s around that time again, in less than a week Pecha Kucha is on at the Black Box Belfast on the 1st of Feb at 7pm. Just incase any of you haven’t been before or want a refresher as to what this event is click here. This round we have the speakers below, unfortunately i’m in Hong Kong so i won’t be attending this time but i’ll still be helping with whatever i can via the miracle invention of the internet.

Anna Fitzsimons, Animator

Darcie Graham, AV Browne

Gordon Ashbridge, Photographer

Jamie Neely, Front

Jonny Campbell, Multi Disciplinary Design

Mark Nagurski, Own Brand Media

Neal McCullough, Illustrator

Ronan McKinless, Triplicate

Saul Golden, Lecturer in Architecture

Susan Gillespie, Interior Designer

Well if you have any questions or nominations for future speakers since there’s another one in May drop me a email at hello@winnieshek.com