The landscape genre (山水畫) has long been positioned at the top of the hierarchy of Chinese art and has played a significant role in the Chinese literati culture since the Five Dynasties. Yet, it experienced drastic changes in the twentieth century. With the occurrence of the May Fourth Movement, the revolt against Confucianism and Taoism during the Cultural Revolution, the promotion of modernization and westernization, the strong economic and military power of the West, and the British colonization in Hong Kong, the traditional brush and ink landscape genre came under attack for being “outdated” and “irrelevant” in the modern era.
Koon Wai-bong (管偉邦), who is an enthusiastic Hong Kong young artist with an aura of the cultured and cultivated ancient scholar from the twenty-first century, ambitiously determines to revitalize this traditional art form by giving full play of his great knowledge on ancient masters and their works, his meticulous painting prowess, and his fusion of Chinese brushwork and ink with a contemporary display. Koon successfully synthesizes “the past” and “the presence” by conserving the traditional brush and ink technique, engaging in the traditional subject-matters such as landscape and bamboo, and presenting his artworks in a contemporary way with a keen sense of crisis as well as a creative and valorous attitude.
Koon Wai-bong (管偉邦), who is an enthusiastic Hong Kong young artist with an aura of the cultured and cultivated ancient scholar from the twenty-first century, ambitiously determines to revitalize this traditional art form by giving full play of his great knowledge on ancient masters and their works, his meticulous painting prowess, and his fusion of Chinese brushwork and ink with a contemporary display. Koon successfully synthesizes “the past” and “the presence” by conserving the traditional brush and ink technique, engaging in the traditional subject-matters such as landscape and bamboo, and presenting his artworks in a contemporary way with a keen sense of crisis as well as a creative and valorous attitude.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whispering Woods｜颯颯風聲
2013
ink on paper｜水墨紙本
pentaptych｜五屏
70 x 305.5 cm in total｜公分 [合共]
private collection｜私人收藏
Luxuriant Greenery ｜菉竹猗猗
2013
colour on gold cardboard｜設色金箋卡板
polyptych with twenty-four panels｜二十四屏
135 x 424 cm [in total]｜公分 [合共] [45 x 53 cm [each panel]｜公分 [每屏]]
collected by J. Safra Sarasin Group｜J. Safra Sarasin Group 藏
Perking Up in the Mist
2013
ink on silk ｜水墨絹本｜水墨绢本
polyptych with twenty-four panels｜二十四屏
82.5 x 220 cm [in total]｜公分 [合共]
Glistering as Stars｜會弁如星
2013
colour on paper cardboard｜設色紙本卡板
polyptych with twelve panels｜十二屏
79.4 x 358.2 cm [in total]｜公分 [合共] [39.7 x 59.7 cm [each panel]｜公分 [每屏]]
Glistering as Stars｜會弁如星
2011
colour on silk｜設色絹本
twenty panels｜二十屏
25 x 25 cm each｜公分（每屏）
private collection｜私人收藏
Luxuriant Green｜綠竹猗猗
2010 (retouched in 2012｜2012年潤色
colour on silk｜設色絹本
sixteen panels｜十六屏
25 x 25 cm each｜公分（每屏）
private collection｜私人收藏
Tree Methods｜樹法
2009
ink on silk ｜水墨絹本
fourteen panels｜十四屏
96 x 68 cm each｜公分（每屏）
private collection｜私人收藏
Dichotomy｜對
2005
ink on paper｜水墨紙本
tetrapytch｜四屏
136 x 45 cm each｜公分（每屏）
private collection｜私人收藏
