Review | Meet Andy Lau, artist. Actor and Cantopop star shows off a new string to his bow in an exhibition in Hong Kong of collaborations with other artists

The Hong Kong movie star and singer turned to art during his enforced downtime amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It has led to collaborations with other artists

The fruits of their labour is on show in Hong Kong. Lau admits to being a mere ‘student’ of art and ‘open to criticism’. Just as well – some of it is awful

Reading Time:3 minutes

Andy Lau at “1/X Andy Lau X Art Exhibition”. The Hong Kong show features art the movie star and singer created with fellow artists, having turned to art in downtime during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 7:15am, 29 Aug 2023

Andy Lau Tak-wah, one of Asia’s biggest movie stars and one of the “Four Heavenly Kings” of Cantopop in the 1990s, turned to producing art in his downtime during the Covid-19 pandemic, when several of his projects were put on hold.

He has practised Chinese calligraphy since childhood, when he wrote the daily menus for his family’s dai pai dong open-air food stall. But during the pandemic, he decided to push himself further by collaborating with a group of visual artists, each of whom uses a different medium.

The result is “1/X Andy Lau X Art Exhibition”, a group exhibition which runs until September 9 in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District. Tickets to see the group show cost HK$298 (US$40) for a 45-minute visit.

Lau admits to being a mere “student” when it comes to making art. “I am in my 60s. I am open to criticism and I’d rather hear criticism than just praise,” he says.

Andy Lau (above, centre) with his creative team speaks ahead of the opening to the public of the “1/X Andy Lau X Art Exhibition” at the Freespace arts centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

This was good to hear, considering how much opportunity for sycophantic idolatry the exhibition provides.