Hong Kong artist Wing Chan grew up in the shadow of Kowloon Walled City, it taught him ‘to find beauty in the underdog’
Through his art, Wing Chan honours unsung heroes and neglected objects and sites, an approach he attributes to his upbringing in a working-class neighbourhood in 1960s Hong Kong
Hong Kong artist Wing Chan is a master of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, best illustrated by his “Urban Tapestry” photomontage series, a fusion of pop art, street art and graffiti iconography that shines fresh light on the mundane aspects of city life: shopping malls, escalators, train platforms and commuting passengers.
“My inspirations come from travelling, watching people, observing what is around me, seeing and feeling life,” says Chan, whose latest series, “Improvise”, will be on show at the Shout Art Hub and Gallery in Wan Chai for a month starting from January 5. “I often pay tribute to unsung heroes and neglected objects and sites. It’s rewarding to find beauty in the underdog. I guess it has to do with my upbringing, in a working-class neighbourhood.”
Chan was born in Hong Kong in the early 1960s and grew up “in the shadows of the old Kowloon Walled City”. “Many of my formative experiences are embedded in that gritty area,” he says.
When he was six, Chan started working at his parents’ noodle shop near Kai Tak airport, one of the most valuable experiences his mum and dad gave him, he says. “I learned about teamwork, time management, how to be practical, and most of all I learnt how to appreciate life.”
But it was a meeting with photorealistic painter Michael Wong Cheung, when Chan was 12, that would steer him down a creative path.
