Eva K. W. Man Experimental Painting and Painting Theories in Colonial Hong Kong (1940-1980): Reflection on Cultural Identity D u r i n g the past fifty years the art of paint ing in H o n g Kong has distin- gu i shed itself f r o m o the r art forms, unde rgo ing a me tamorphos i s in both con- cep t and style. Concep tua l l y , m a n y H o n g K o n g pa in te rs have deve loped m e a n i n g f u l and sys temat ic theor ies of paint ing and aesthetics which reflect a c o n c e r n for cul tural ident i ty . In doing so, they have revea led the conflict that they as pa in te rs h a v e e n c o u n t e r e d - a conflict be tween tradit ional Chinese aesthet ics and m o d e r n Wes t e rn aesthetics. Further , they have given expres- sion to this in their pa in t ings and exper imenta l work. This article will illus- t ra te the d e v e l o p m e n t of the conceptual and aesthetic t ransformat ion that t ook p lace in H o n g K o n g be tween 1940 and 1980 by examin ing the aesthet- ics and artistic e x p e r i m e n t s of several representat ive painters. In addit ion, this article will p rov ide a critical discussion of this aesthetic deve lopment and invest igate if art and cul tural discussions in con tempora ry post-colonial dis- course can be app l ied to the si tuation of H o n g Kong. Painting in Hong Kong: 1940 -1980 Scholars agree that , s ince the mid-n ine teen th century , H o n g Kong has e x p e r i e n c e d m o r e cul tural in te rchange than any other Chinese city. This is largely due to its colonial her i tage and its geographical posit ion as the south- ern out let of Ch ina . In the pre-war per iod of the 1940s, H o n g Kong 's paint ing scene was d o m i n a t e d by Wes t e rn paint ing, and local art organizat ions were run by W e s t e r n e r s w h o out n u m b e r e d Chinese painters creat ing tradit ional Ch inese art. Th i s s i tuat ion con t inued until masses of Chinese painters immi- gra ted to H o n g K o n g f r o m Southern Ch ina dur ing the J a p a n e s e invasion of C h i n a in W o r l d W a r II .1 Yet still it took years before Chinese painters could b r ing in m o r e Ch inese inf luences to paint ing. T h e d o m i n a n c e of W e s t e r n artistic me thods in H o n g Kong cont inued for several years af ter W o r l d War II as Wes te rn pain t ing - still life and real- 1 Wucius Wong, »The Development of Hong Kong Art in the Recent Ten Years«, Ming Pao Monthly, Hong Kong, (1/1976), p. 169. Filozofski vestnik, XVII (2/1996), pp. 83-105. Eva K. W. Man ism in part icular - f lourished in galleries and m u s e u m s . 2 T h e w o r k of local painters was not of the highest quality at tha t t ime, because they had only minimal exposure to the great mas te rp ieces as well as to in te l lectual d iscourse regarding »foreign« art. T h e only pa in t ing classes o f fe red to H o n g K o n g art- ists were taught by a few Chinese pa in te rs w h o h a d r e t u r n e d f r o m W e s t e r n art studies abroad . 3 As a result, H o n g K o n g artists still did no t get as m u c h recognit ion as Wes te rn painters in the years i m m e d i a t e l y af ter W o r l d W a r II. Yet the neglect of Chinese artistry was soon to be r e m e d i e d . Cul tu ra l modern iza t ion accompanied a per iod of in tense indust r ia l iza t ion in H o n g Kong in the post-war era. Painters in the co lony were i n t r o d u c e d to a n u m b e r of new Wes te rn modern art movemen t s . In addi t ion , the g o v e r n m e n t of H o n g Kong established new and innovat ive art colleges o f fe r ing courses that re- flected the rapidly changing art scene. In 1958, the » M o d e r n Li te ra ture and Art Association« was established by a g r o u p of young , p r o m i n e n t local artists such as Lu Shoukun , Z h a n g Yi, W e n Lou, W u c i u s W o n g , and H a n Zh ixun . The association organized p rominen t art exhibi t ions , such as the » H o n g K o n g Internat ional Salon of Paintings« in the early 1960s. T h e exhibi t i nc luded m o d e r n abstract works by bo th local and fore ign artists, and , typical of the m o d e r n art m o v e m e n t in H o n g Kong at the t ime, was a bo ld reac t ion against the tradit ional Western artistic pract ices of the 1940s and the 1950s in the colony. N e w deve lopments like the In t e rna t iona l Salon were r e in fo rced by the open ing of H o n g K o n g City Hall in 1962, wh ich soon b e c a m e the m a i n venue for art museums, exhibi t ion galleries, art courses , and o ther events involving art. Still, in the early 1960s, H o n g Kong ' s local artistic ident i ty h a d n o t b e e n fully established, and the art work p r o d u c e d con t inued to ref lect W e s t e r n inf luence. Six years after its found ing in 1964, the » M o d e r n Li te ra ture and Art Association« dissolved, and some of its m e m b e r s f o u n d e d the »In Tao Painters Society«. This group consisted of e x p e r i m e n t a l artists a t t emp t ing to integrate Chinese and Weste rn styles by us ing a wide r ange of f o r m s and materials . T h e m e m b e r s of In 7 a o j u x t a p o s e d t rad i t iona l Ch inese t echn iques and materials - call igraphy and silk, for e x a m p l e - and nove l W e s t e r n meth- ods, such as print, spray-gun paint ing, and aesthet ical ly progress ive concep t s included abstract and optical art of the W e s t in th ree -d imens iona l works and 2 According to Hong Kong Artists (vol. 1), the last art exhibition prior to World War II was »Exhibition of Western Paintings« held at a library in the Hong Kong University. Cf. Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Artists, vol. 1, The Urban Council of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 1995, p. 13. 3 C/Wong, [1/1976], p. 170. 84 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... sculpture, as well as painting. This served to introduce an entirely fresh, though not uncontroversial , set of creative media. The mid-1960s, then, marked the beginning of H o n g Kong art. This coincided with a period of rapid economic growth and a move toward localization policies instituted by the British gov- ernment in the colony, which was intended to nurture a Hong Kong iden- tity.4 Hong Kong's artistic rejuvenation was just underway when political ri- ots were sparked in 1967 by local leftists objecting to British rule. During this time of rapid change and political upheaval came the call for a return to Chinese traditional art and the creation of forms of art that Hong Kong could call its own. The trend was led by Lu Shoukun, who, since the mid-1950s had promoted a »root-finding« process for local Chinese painters. He called on painters to first grasp the spirit of traditional painting and then turn to new developments once the proper tools were securely in hand. An accomplished painter himself, Lu combined Western styles - Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstractionism - with traditional Chinese painting in his experimental work. He later created the unique »Zen« style of painting. Lu's Zen painting integrated traditional Chinese ink painting with modern Abstractionism and served to convey Buddhist principles. Lu also launched one of Hong Kong's most notable movements in painting in the 1970s, which came to be known as the »New Ink Movement .« Members of this movement drew on tradi- tional Chinese ink painting techniques and transformed them, yielding vari- ous new forms of expression. A number of Hong Kong's young artists were at the forefront of the movement , incorporating concepts from Western mod- ern art, abstract expressionism, for the most part. The New Ink movement in the colony marked the end of the dominance of Western academic oil paint- ing and gave rise to »Hong Kong Painting«, which aims at the founding of local artistic identity. In the 1970s, more and more local artists devoted themselves to creat- ing their own individual styles instead of conforming to Western artistic prac- tice. In 1975, the Urban Council organized the first »Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition« at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, a mile- stone in exhibiting modern paintings created by local artists. The govern- ment sponsored the exhibition, reflecting its support of local artists. The open- ing of the H o n g Kong Arts Center in 1977 and the founding of the Fine Arts Depar tment at Hong Kong University further promoted art education in the colony. Finally, in 1978, the »Exhibition of Hong Kong Artists: the Early 4 Ibid., p. 171. 85 Eva K W. Man Generat ion« was organized by the H o n g K o n g M u s e u m of Art . This exhibi - tion gave a retrospect ive of the artistic p e r f o r m a n c e of local pa in te rs in ear- lier years, demons t ra t ed H o n g Kong ' s c o m m i t m e n t to d e v e l o p i n g a local artistic identi ty, and encouraged a historical awareness of the ta lent wi thin its border . Communist Influences In 1946, dur ing the civil war in M a i n l a n d C h i n a b e t w e e n the C o m m u - nist party and the Nat ional party, H o n g K o n g b e c a m e a sanc tuary for left- wing artists f r o m the main land . Whi le the i r stay in the co lony was t e m p o r a r y , these artists-in-exile f ounded the »Yen Kan Pa in t ing Society«. Wi th the free- d o m and stability H o n g K o n g p rov ided for them, the m e m b e r s of »Yen Kan« used art to p romote their socialist political views explici t ly. »Yen Kan«, wh ich means »the living of the proletarians,« gave a s t rong socialist message to a colony in which the very rich and the ve ry p o o r were l iving side by s ide; the contrasts were obvious and Yen Kaiis message clear. T h e society he ld exhibi - tions and p roduced publ icat ion that also expressed their ph i l o sophy of art and aesthetics. Whi le the Yen Kan was in exis tence only four years , b e f o r e it was dissolved in 1950, it a t tempted to exer t socialist in f luences on aesthet ics in H o n g Kong . The founder of Yen Kan, H u a n g X inbo , also o rgan ized artists w h o h a d immigra ted f rom the ma in land regions of K u n m i n g , C h u n k i n g , a n d Qui l in to the British colony and a r ranged for t h e m to be m e m b e r s of the society. Yen Kan also used a social club for Wes te rne r s as its activity venue , and in this capacity masked the C o m m u n i s t ident i t ies of its m e m b e r s . Soon the Soci- ety's art projects became very political. Its exhib i t ions d isp layed ca r toon and woodcraf t that symbolically demons t r a t ed first the fa i lure of the mil i tary, and second the shor tcomings of the political a n d e c o n o m i c pro jec ts of the Na- tional Party in China. 5 In another bo ld m o v e , the Yen Kan issued poli t ical statements that linked art with socialist theory . At the close of the civil war , the C o m m u n i s t Party was victorious, a n d the N e w C h i n a was f o u n d e d by Mao Tse Dung . The society then bus ied itself by p r o d u c i n g war ca r toons and huge portrai ts of Mao, the new and p romis ing ruler . In the end, it sent near ly all of its m e m b e r s back to the ma in l and w h e r e they took u p g o v e r n m e n t 5 Cf. Tan Shuetsung, »Memory of the Revolutionary Art Body who Fought in the South - The Yan Ken Painting Society«, Meixu, Renmin Meixu Press, Peking, 2, 1984, unpaginated. 86 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... posi t ions re la ted to art. T h e society's dissolution was comple te by 1950, with h igh h o p e s p i n n e d on the p romises offered by the N e w China . Dur ing Yen Karis four years in H o n g Kong, its m e m b e r s actively pro- m o t e d M a o ' s aes thet ic ideology, as expressed in his speech, »The Yen O n Art and Li te rary Discussion,« del ivered in 1942. A long article in a H o n g K o n g n e w s p a p e r by the f o u n d e r of the society, H u a n g Xinbo , in May 1949, revea led no t only Yen Kan's vision of art, bu t also its political agenda for H o n g K o n g . 6 In the first pa r t of the article, H u a n g severely criticized the artistic c o m m u n i t y u n d e r the Nat ional Party in China , including part icular local artists and g roups tha t p r o m o t e d Wes te rn paintings. Western paint ing, in Yen Kan's v iew was p r o d u c e d by and displayed for the rich only. Further , the paint ings fai led to express concern for the social condi t ions of the poor , no r d id the artists themse lves denounce the political policies that pe rpe tua ted tha t pover ty . T h e article ident i f ied by n a m e Shanghai artists guilty of these charges , a m o n g t h e m Liu H a i x u and Tsu Baixiung and accused their art of d i sc r imina t ing against the proletar ia t . H u a n g also claimed these artists either uncr i t ical ly r e v e r e d W e s t e r n art and bl indly fol lowed m o d e r n Wes te rn paint- ing or tr ied to p lease fore igners with t radi t ional Chinese art - merely a lefto- ver f r o m a f euda l society of days gone by. Huang ' s declarat ion def ined the »New Art« he a n d his col leagues p r o m o t e d as neo-democra t ic art. New Art was to depic t the lives of the masses who, according to Mao, were the sol- diers, f a rmers a n d fac tory workers . H u a n g and the N e w Artists insisted that art should offer ser ious ref lect ion on existing social condit ions, addressing the t hemes of ant i - imper ia l i sm and anti-feudalism. It should also take a real- istic a p p r o a c h to solut ions to these issues, based on that reflection. Huang ' s article also ident i f ied two missions for artists: first, use art as a tool for educa- t ion; second, re t r ieve art f r o m the hands of the privi leged class. It insisted tha t ar t should b e c o n c e r n e d with content but not with form, and that artists should depic t w h a t p e o p l e were familiar with in everyday life. Fur thermore , the society be l i eved that b o t h the style and the content of paint ing should c h a n g e with the t imes, as the lives and ideologies of peop le change over t ime. It should be n o t e d tha t Yen Kan, in its publ ic declarat ion, did not try to elimi- na te the art of the bourgeo i s because it realized that H o n g Kong was quite d i f fe ren t f r o m m a i n l a n d Ch ina . H o n g Kong 's masses were fueled by the cor- po ra t e interests of capi ta l ism. T h e society bel ieved that the bourgeois could advance a long with the proletar iat , but that members of the bourgeoise needed to prac t ice »self-correct ion«. Obvious ly , Yen Kan ul t imately failed to sway the 6 Huang Xinbo, »Our Opinions in the Establishment of New Art«, Wen Wui Pao, Hong Kong, May 20, 1949. 87 Eva K. W. Man political opinions of the majority of people in the British colony, who so eagerly followed Western colonial values. By 1950, at the end of their t ime in Hong Kong, Yen Kan had won few converts to their politico-artistic theory, although their social and artist influence was certainly notable. Other artists groups and art organizations took a favorable view of West- ern painting and were also active in the years of Yen Kan. Luis Chan , Lee Byng and Yee Bon, local painters who were famous at the t ime, p roduced Western-style paintings. Both Lee and Yee had studied in Nor th Amer ica and returned to the colony to found their own studios. Though C h a n had not traveled to the West, he became acquainted with both Lee and Yee. Appar- ently proving Huang's charges accurate, m a n y of those who gathered in the studios of Chan, Lee, and Yee were indeed quite well-to-do. The three also offered lessons in Western painting to these same patrons . These artists were so devoted to Western Classical paint ing that local artistic identity was not of particular concern to them. Thus, as will be discussed later, their influence took on a very different character f rom that of the Yen Kan. The Local Spirit There were a few painters whose art not only reflected the history of painting in Hong Kong in the 20th century, but also represented the colony's spirit of experimentat ion. Luis Chan, a painter in Wes te rn classical painting, was one of the most prominent figures in this era. As noted above, C h a n had never been to Europe or North Amer ica for formal artistic training, but in- stead was a self-trained artist. He developed the style he came to call his own through exchanging ideas with other local painters who had studied abroad. Making the most of his keen artistic sensibility, his f luency in English, and an indisputably charming personality, C h a n created a large circle of fr iends. These strengths in combination raised h im to a p rominen t position in H o n g Kong's art community. Luis Chan was also one of few local artists to cross the boundar ies of social class and race and had established fr iendships with a n u m b e r of Euro- pean and American celebrities in the colony. This played in his favor among his local fr iends and followers as well, ranking him a m o n g the most popular of cultural leaders in Hong Kong. But Chan ' s acquisition of the public atten- tion was gained over time. By organizing fund-raising balls to benefi t the arts and holding large art openings and parties, C h a n created opportuni t ies to exhibit work of his own and later founded art societies of his own as well. In 1934, at the age of 29, Chan was in t roduced to the H o n g Kong Art 88 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... C l u b by the wea l thy L a d y Shen ton . Soon the club gran ted h im executive m e m b e r status and s p o n s o r e d exhib i t ion of C h a n ' s work in water colors the fo l lowing year . Th i s was C h a n ' s first solo exhibi t and one that placed h im f i rmly in the cen te r of H o n g Kong ' s art circles. Whi l e C h a n c o n t i n u e d to paint , he earned his living by runn ing the family bus iness b e f o r e the war. His work in these years included Western a c a d e m i c paint ings , p r imar i ly landscapes in water colors and oil. After the war , C h a n s tar ted to concen t r a t e on oil paint ing. His s t rong relat ionship with the colonia l gove rno r , G r a n t h r a m , he lped to enhance his artistic influence.7 M e a n w h i l e , the civil war in Ch ina be tween the Communis t s and the Na- t ional par ty , as m e n t i o n e d earlier, had fueled the passions of the Yen Kan Pain t ing Society whose socialist or ientat ion was very different f rom that of C h a n . In the view of Yen Kan members , and o ther left- leaning artists groups in H o n g Kong, C h a n was as guilty as other local artists blasted in Huang ' s article of r ep re sen t ing the »bourgeois« in art and were regarded as art elites in the colony. M o r e o v e r , the British colonialists were enthusiastic over Chan ' s p r o m o t i o n of W e s t e r n pa in t ing , and fo rmed an alliance which did not share Yen Kan's na t iona l i sm, fu r the r fuel ing the antagonist ic relat ionship be tween these oppos ing local visions. W h i l e C h a n was a skilled organizer, he was also, quite simply, a great pa in te r . Ear ly in his career , C h a n was inf luenced by o ther young painters w h o h a d r e t u r n e d f r o m a b r o a d and who had p romoted the Realist t radit ion of W e s t e r n a c a d e m i c pa in t ing . Yet C h a n did not really embrace Realism. In the f o r e w o r d of his book , Treatise on Art (1953), he descr ibed art as »creative imagina t ion« and saw beau ty as »the express ion of consciousness and emo- tion.«8 A l though he a d h e r e d to the practical pr inciples of paint ing in accord- ance with W e s t e r n a c a d e m i c techniques , Chan had m o r e regard for creativ- ity t han for imi ta t ion . Creat ivi ty , for Chan , was the spontaneous outgrowth of the art ist 's c o m m u n i c a t i o n with Na tu re or objects, an idea he bor rowed f rom C o n s t a b l e w h o m he q u o t e d in his writings. C h a n expressed this same idea in a discussion in 1954 of por t ra i t paint ing: ... the most successful painting of a portrait, or for that matter, a figure sub- ject, requires observant understanding and sympathy before full expression of the artist can be adequately made.9 7 See the introduction written by governor Granthram to Luis Chan's, How to Paint A Portrait, Ming Sang Printing Co., Hong Kong 1954, p. 1. 8 Luis Chan, Treatise on Art, Ming Sang Printing Co., Hong Kong 1953, p. 1. 9 Chan, 1954, p. 21. 89 Eva K. W. Man Similarly, C h a n expressed his sense of aesthet ics in the p re face to his book, The Art of Drawing (1955): (The) ultimate technical accomplishment lies rather in artists' success in their adoption coupled with their imaginative and creative powers that may be developed by experience and endless experiments.1® O n e ' s style, according to Chan , is the way to c rea te one ' s artistic sym- bols. His quotat ion f r o m Kandinsky s u m m e d u p C h a n ' s o w n sense of aes- thetics: To any question beginning with 'must', there is no 'must' in art, because art is always free ... from the point of view of an inner need, no limitation can be made. The artist may use any form which his expression demands; his inner impulse must find suitable form ... The general relationship with which these works of art through the centuries are always more strengthened does not lie in the 'external' but in the roots of mystical inner content.11 Chan ' s stress on f ree creativity and the myst ical inne r work ings of artis- tic express ion contras ted sharply with Yen Kan's sense of art as poli t ical mani - festo. Al though C h a n had se ldom prac t iced t rad i t iona l C h i n e s e pa in t ing , he had writ ten a related book , A Survey of Chinese Painting (1954), in an a t t emp t to examine the deve lopmen t of Eas tern pa in t i ng theor ies a n d to c o m p a r e these to deve lopments in the West . A rep resen ta t ive e x a m p l e is his r e a d i n g of the not ion of »spiritual resonance« (the first of the f a m o u s Six W a y s in Chinese painting), based on Haro ld Speed ' s analysis . Spir i tual r e sonance is a term used to describe the artistic process as a k ind of musica l m o v e m e n t . 1 2 Chan ' s in terpre ta t ion, unfor tunate ly , i n c o r p o r a t e d too m a n y W e s t e r n ideas of art and thus showed l imited u n d e r s t a n d i n g in C h i n e s e aesthet ics , for he underes t imated its metaphysica l impl ica t ions . C h a n h a d also severely criti- cized imitative practices in the Chinese artistic t radi t ion, which , to h im, should serve as an in t roduct ion to paint ing only. C h a n f avo red a stress on creat ivi ty and on Speed ' s no t ion of »internal musical m o v e m e n t « ins tead . By the mid-1950s, H o n g K o n g artists h a d b e g u n to jo in in on the Wes t ' s m o d e r n art m o v e m e n t . In 1955, Lu S h o u k u n f o u n d e d the H o n g K o n g Artists Association. This marked the beg inn ing of the m o d e r n art m o v e m e n t in H o n g 10 Luis Chan, The Art of Drawing, The Artland Co. Ltd., Hong Kong 1955, p. I. 11 Ibid., p. 62. 12 Luis Chan, A Survey of Chinese Painting, Ming Sang Printing Co., Hong Kong 1954, pp. 27-28. 90 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories Kong. T h e n e w m o v e m e n t th rea tened Chan ' s posi t ion as the spokesman of an o lder gene ra t i on i m m e r s e d in the Wes te rn academic tradit ion. At this t ime, C h a n act ively e n g a g e d in debates on m o d e r n ar t in newspapers and in his o w n wri t ings to d e f e n d his posi t ion. Meanwhi le , the New Ink M o v e m e n t e m e r g e d as a m a j o r local ar t m o v e m e n t dur ing this pe r iod . New ink, a style l a u n c h e d b y Lu S h o u k u n , sought to modern ize t radi t ional Chinese art. New Ink ' s cha l lenges to the old order mean t that the t radi t ional Real is t / Impres- sionist school of W e s t e r n art , wh ich C h a n had represen ted so faithfully and so well, was fac ing severe chal lenges . Later , however , he started to exper iment with mod- ern art , fo l lowing his des i re to explore this new and provocat ive style. C h a n tr ied a wide r ange of styles. His mot ivat ion to explore m o d e r n art was h e i g h t e n e d in 1962 af ter a reject ion of his work by the curators of »Exhi- b i t ion of H o n g K o n g Ar t Today« , an event p romot ing the local M o d e r n art m o v e m e n t . This led h i m to begin an explora t ion of a n u m b e r of schools of m o d e r n pa in t ing inc lud ing Cubism, Expressionism, Abstract ionism, as well as a n u m b e r of nove l techniques , such as m o n o t y p e print ing, hard-edged colored-f ie ld l andscape , and spray-gun paint ing. In 1962, Chan expla ined his t rans i t ion f r o m Rea l i sm to Abst rac t ionism: (This) has been a natural part of my self-learning process. I have been mak- ing art in both directions for a while, and I have no intention to give up either one of them. ... When I first attempted to make 'new style' art, I was exploring Cubism and Surrealism, but I found them too limiting in form. Then I decided to go fully abstract. Meanwhile I wanted to continue my realist style, but added a touch of Fauvist modification.'3 C h a n d a b b l e d in m a n y dif ferent forms at this t ime and came up with new ques t ions abou t art: Why should we accept abstract art? That is because in our everyday experi- ence, there is more than physical reality. We have thought, feeling and im- agination and we cannot escape from abstract illusion. Realistic painting shows us physical reality, and abstract painting the mental and the emo- tional world. An abstract painter is someone who expresses emotion with his imagination as abstraction links with illusion and fantasy which exist in our daily life, only if we care to look for it.14 T h r o u g h these exp lo ra t ions , C h a n deve loped a theory of individual 13 Luis Chan, »From Realism to Abstractionism«, publication information unknown, 1962. 14 Ibid. Eva K. W. Man percept ion, of how artists view the wor ld a n d h o w their express ions are out- lets for their deep emot ions: When one needs to deal with the complexity of the world, they could either be optimistic or pessimistic. My abstract art is born in pessimistic mood. Whenever I am depressed I turn to art, for it takes away my sadness and depression. In the world of my own creation, I am God, and I deliver all my sorrow to the universe I create. The abstract art I create is the voice from my heart which tries to make people understand emotion and life. ... Rhythm is the spirit of my abstract art, I create it in my own symbols and illusions, and successfully form a distinctive style. ^ Based on these writings, it is clear tha t C h a n ' s i m m e r s i o n in this n e w art form, led h im along a path in which he was d i scover ing his inne r self. Ar t is not just s imply representa t ion of form, as he always real ized, b u t also of the inner workings of the artist 's own in ternal core . After years of exper imenta t ion , abs t rac t ar t b e c a m e C h a n ' s m a i n vehi- cle of expression, and Weste rn aesthetics r e m a i n e d his m a i n re fe rences . Un- like other local artists of his per iod , C h a n insisted on absolu te f r e e d o m in artistic expression, and this f reed h im f r o m the b u r d e n s of bo th cul tura l her- itage and nat ional ism. Both personal ly a n d in his work as an artist, C h a n thrived in the colony, a bi-lingual and bi-cul tural space w h e r e East a n d Wes t merged. Ques t ions of cultural ident i ty a n d Ch inese t rad i t ion ve ry se ldom affected h im as all he asked for was a »free soul.« After ano ther decade of searching, C h a n revi ta l ized his ar t t h r o u g h the playful and skillful use of the subconscious , p r o d u c i n g dist inct ive surreal is t ic landscapes mixed with personal fantasy and il lusion. His work inc luded por- traits and animal paintings in a un ique and chi ldl ike style, revea l ing only his own h u m o r (fig. 1). Dur ing the 1970s and 1980s, C h a n once again e m e r g e d as an outs tanding creative figure. U p o n his dea th in 1995, he was desc r ibed as: Questions of cultural identity and Chinese tradition have never been bur- dens to the creative activity of Luis Chan who advocates absolute freedom in painting. Chan's fish paintings in later period reflect an unique and child- like style. One of the outstanding figures in the history of Hong Kong art, and an artist who, through boundless imagination and endless creative energy, was able to keep up with the rapid pace of development of Hong Kong.1 6 15 Ibid. 16 Hong Kong Arts Centre, exhibition notes of »Retrospectives of Luis Chan, 1905- 1995«, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong 1995. 92 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... Fig. 1: Luis Chan , Kau Yu Tao (Nine things in harmony), 1980 C h a n ' s adap t ive and creative spirit, his association with the West , and his un ique process of se l f -explorat ion parallel the deve lopmen t of m o d e r n art in H o n g Kong . The New Ink Movement T h e N e w Ink M o v e m e n t , led by Lu Shoukun , usurped Chan ' s eminence in the 1960s. At the t ime, Lu was a very influential f igure in the local art c o m m u n i t y , as he p r o m o t e d modern iza t ion of t radit ional Chinese pa in t ing a n d re la ted it to a H o n g K o n g cultural identi ty. His views he lped emerg ing H o n g K o n g artists address an existential crisis in the British colony - a crisis that b e c a m e m o r e serious w h e n political tension finally grew into riots and street demons t r a t i ons in 1967 as H o n g Kong's leftists protes ted against Brit- ish colonial ru le . 1 7 17 The radical political tensions emerged between the British government and the Chi- nese leftists in the colony in the 60's was initiated by a group of factory workers on strike in San Po Kong which resulted in the 1967's riot. Thousands of workers joined 93 Eva K. W. Man While C h a n t ended to in te rp re t C h i n e s e aes thet ics a c c o r d i n g to the Wes te rn scheme, Lu absorbed Wes t e rn ideas in to the Ch inese t radi t ion. Lu, born in Can ton , l ea rned Chinese pa in t ing f r o m his fa ther . H e also l ea rned by copying ancient Chinese scrolls and pic tures in his fa ther ' s an t ique shop. Lu m o v e d to H o n g K o n g in 1948 where he impres sed the art c o m m u n i t y wi th his work and his teachings. Amazingly , he could r e p r o d u c e at will every tra- ditional style. However , his desire for ind iv idual express ion caused h i m to b e c o m e an exper imenta l i s t in what m a y be t e r m e d »Chinese art with a West- ern approach .« 1 8 Lu was keen on ink pa in t ing , which he later m i x e d with his exper imenta l ideas. Eventually, this led h i m to 'Zen ' paint ing, the style for which he was most f amous in his later d e v e l o p m e n t . Ink paint ing, deve loped dur ing the Tang Dynas ty in the e ighth cen tury , emphas ized individual and spiritual express ion . T h e original concep t was to create an al ternative to the strict outl ine and the sp lendid , colorful t r ea tmen t that had b e e n very popu la r in Tang. T h e N e w Ink M o v e m e n t , i n t r o d u c e d in H o n g K o n g in the 1960s, revised t radi t ional Ch inese ink pa in t ing . Via N e w Ink techniques , ink pain t ing went t h r o u g h revo lu t iona ry changes and was exper imen ted with, using var ious W e s t e r n m o d e r n ar t f o rms and styles. Lu 's intent in beg inn ing the N e w Ink m o v e m e n t was to fill a n e e d H o n g K o n g painters had to establish an artistic ident i ty for H o n g Kong . This g roup of young artists found tradit ional Chinese paint ings repet i t ive and felt it fai led to express feel ing related to their l iving and t imes. At the same t ime, these painters were not satisfied with Wes te rn academic paint ings , as they f o u n d them unimaginat ive . In Lu's view, n e w ink pa in t ing was a r e f o r m of the old Chinese t radi t ion, as well as an embe l l i shmen t to the W e s t e r n academic tra- dition. H e also took into account the social e n v i r o n m e n t of the post -war era which encouraged , n,ot only f r e e d o m of express ion , b u t in tense compe t i t ion as well. So then, for Lu the spirit of new ink pa in t ings of fe red a men ta l bal- ance to peop le living in a colony which was o v e r r u n with mater ia l and tech- nological advancements . Lu regarded the tradit ion of ink pa in t ing as mani fes t ing the spiri tual pr inciple of tradit ional Chinese aesthetics, which c o n n e c t e d artistic con ten t and form to personal spiritual and ethical cul t ivat ion. Lu be l ieved that the growing prosper i ty of H o n g Kong, which by the 1960s h a d b e c o m e an inter- in the riot which led to injuries. The riot was read as a local rebellion against the colonial government. After the riot, localization policy was promoted by the colonial government to build up a sense of belonging and local awareness among Hong Kong citizens. 18 Cf. Lee Ying Ho, (ed.), Modern Edition, Hong Kong Modern Literature and Art Asso- ciation, Hong Kong, No. 4, September 1963, p. 14. 94 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... na t iona l and c o m m e r c i a l city, p rov ided some favorable condit ions for the ink pa in t ing m o v e m e n t . First, accord ing to Lu, the H o n g K o n g Chinese peo- ple could relate to ink pa in t ing ; they felt closer to ink pain t ing than to West- ern pa in t ing . Secondly , the in te rna t iona l art communi ty was more interested in a n e w genre of work that grew out of local cultural innovat ions more than it in imita t ions of W e s t e r n schools. Finally, combin ing Chinese ink paint ing with Wes t e rn mater ia l s and techniques , p roduced intr iguing artistic effects. Lu's views were re f lec ted in the work of young artists who mixed ink with f luorescent colors or p r in t ing oil and utilized ink with concepts of Wes te rn design. H e classified m o d e r n ideas combined with t radi t ion as »adaptat ion« which should n o t be separa ted f rom the »root« or founda t ion , which, in tradi- t ional Ch inese aesthetics, is the spiritual cultivation of the artist.1 9 T h e »root« of pa in t ing , accord ing to Lu, was based on ancient Confuc i an principles and teachings such as Chung Yung (The Doctrines of the Means) and Da Xua (The Teachings) b o t h of which p r o m o t e self-cultivation and self-discovery. Lu drew on these teachings to urge artists to return to the »root« - i.e. the inner self - and nour i sh it, to f ind the wisdom to incorpora te new fo rms of painting. By re tu rn ing to the root , pa in te rs could f ind their own style which would also ref lect their own persona l i ty and ways of existence. Accord ing to old Confu- cian teachings, this r e tu rn to one ' s root, or inner self, could also t ranscend t empora l , spacial , and cul tural differences. Cri t ics t e n d e d to r e a d Taois t and Buddhist messages into Lu's paint ings, especially in his 'Zen ' pa in t ings which ref lected life att i tudes of the two teach- ings via b rush strokes in ink and abstract expressionism in style (fig. 2). Lu exp la ined his style in Taois t and Buddhis t terms and said it reflected styles of l iving and the re la t ionship be tween an individual and society. His vision of- fe red solut ions to artists struggling with a crisis of cultural identi ty in H o n g Kong, w h o o f ten f o u n d themse lves feeling confused and u n g r o u n d e d in their hybr id cul tural s i tuat ion. Whi l e Lu asked his students to follow tradit ional ways of l ea rn ing and to copy tradi t ional paintings, he r ega rded the practice of imi ta t ion as an in t roduc t ion to the idea and skill of paint ing only. The re was m u c h to l ea rn f r o m the t radi t ion, like the principles of brush strokes and symbols . O n c e pa in t ing s tudents mas te red these, and only then, could they establish their own def ini t ive style. In other words, Lu bel ieved that artists should be able to b r eak with t radi t ion only after they have a good founda t ion and k n o w l e d g e of the t radi t ion . Lu saw p len ty of possibil i t ies in merging the Chinese and Wes te rn styles 19 Lu Shoukun, Sui Mo Hua Jiang, notes of Lu's lectures recorded by a group of his students and published by them, Hong Kong 1972, pp. 31-33. 95 Eva K. W. Man Fig. 2: Lu Shoukun, Chuang Tzfi by himself, 1974 A representative work of Lu's »Zen« painting and the New Ink move- ment. Critics tended to read Taoist and Buddhist messages into his »Zen« paintings which are mainly experimental work in ink strokes in a style of Western abstract expressionism. 96 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... of pa in t ing . H e be l ieved tha t by combin ing the artistic t rea tment and tech- no logy of the W e s t with the spiritual t e m p e r a m e n t and ink brush strokes of the Ch inese t rad i t ion o n e could create a whole new visual exper ience. The mos t i m p o r t a n t goal , he be l ieved, was self-discovery. For, only through self- d i scovery could o n e f o r m original ideas, and this process should always come b e f o r e artistic f o rm . Lu saw a need for a new form of expression in H o n g K o n g which was b e c o m i n g a place so »foreign« to the peasant society of Ch ina . T o ach ieve innova t ion in art, as he always insisted, was to seek self- k n o w l e d g e in one ' s t radi t ion , a founda t ion which artists could build on later. Lu 's own e x p e r i m e n t a l work paral le led his teaching. His at tempts to m o d e r n i z e ink pa in t ing had b e e n controversial as conservat ive atti tudes re- sisted his p u s h for innova t ive exper iments in paint ing, which the following exce rp t f r o m a cr i t ique of his exhibi t ion demonstra tes . (Lu's) new approach is almost entirely Western and it would, indeed, be hard to differentiate where Chinese painting ends and Western painting begins. However, his conception, technique and execution remain Chi- nese. ... I do think, though, that it is dangerous for Mr. Lui to assimilate a phase of Western art which I consider undesirable - that is vista or per- spective painting. It has taken the Western artist hundreds of years up to our time to discover the disadvantage of making a hole in the canvas, thereby breaking the unity of the picture.20 Never the less , t h r o u g h o u t the struggle for a new art form, Lu's was a s t rong voice in favor of nu r tu r ing a cultural identity in the Chinese artistic t radi t ion. From Traditionalism to Creative Freedom Lu's in f luence t h r o u g h his work and his articles in various newspapers and magaz ines was signif icant to H o n g K o n g art circle in the 1960s. While invo lved with the N e w Ink M o v e m e n t , Lu was also curator of the H o n g K o n g M u s e u m of Ar t in the 1970s where he oversaw m a n y impor tan t art exhibi- t ions and events . Af te r his sudden dea th in 1975 at the age of fifty-six, his effor ts were car r ied on by his s tudent , Wucius Wong . W o n g h a d s tudied C h i n e s e pa in t ing u n d e r Lu in 1958 and b e c a m e his close fol lower . W i t h his p rovoca t ive views on art and his call to re turn to 2 0 K. C. Wong, »Impressive Exhibition«, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, March 5, 1957. 97 Eva K. W. Man Chinese tradi t ion, Lu inspired W o n g to a grea t ex ten t . W o n g s tud ied art in the U.S. in the early 1960s and was s truck by w h a t h e saw of W e s t e r n artistic culture. In 1966, a year af ter re tu rn ing to H o n g Kong , W o n g chron ic l ed this exper ience, descr ibing life as a y o u n g artist in H o n g K o n g a n d out l in ing his struggles be tween the inf luences of East and West , m o d e r n i s m a n d t radi t ion- alism.2 1 Accord ing to W o n g ' s descr ipt ion, p r io r to the 1950s W e s t e r n ar t was available in H o n g Kong only as low-qual i ty r e p r o d u c t i o n s in ar t books . It was not until the 1960s that W o n g h a d the c h a n c e to see g e n u i n e W e s t e r n work when he studied in the U.S. This e x p e r i e n c e also ra ised ques t ions abou t cultural differences in artistic express ion and an artist 's re la t ion to t radi t ion . The West had not comple te ly displaced W o n g ' s C h i n e s e roots , ins tead he was integrat ing the two influences, t hough no t wi thou t struggle. H e h a d also found that Wes te rners he ld two c o m m o n at t i tudes toward Eas te rn art: o n e asked that wha t is essentially Eastern be p re se rved ; the o the r insis ted that Eastern artists should learn f r o m the West . A c c o r d i n g to W o n g , b o t h revea led noth ing b u t ignorance of Eastern art. W o n g ' s re f lec t ion is r emin i s cen t of Edward Said 's notion of »Oriental ism« and the p r o b l e m of the »Otherness« in con tempora ry post-colonial discourse. As W o n g said in 1966: Some Westerners tend to look for their notion of the Eastern tradition in our work and make elaborate significance out of it, they disregard our crea- tivity and our relations to the contemporary world. The others only read our work from their own aesthetics, values and modes of perception which finally repel them from really entering into our world of painting.22 W o n g regarded the »Eastern ident i ty« of y o u n g H o n g K o n g artists as the language they learned as they grew. Ch inese ways of living, th inking, and visual habits are all related to the Ch inese t radi t ion . Th i s ident i ty , b e c o m e s »the other« in a foreign context and can resul t in an impe tus for artistic ex- per imenta t ion . Wong himself had a t t e m p t e d to give u p the t rad i t iona l l ines in Chinese paint ing and pain ted l andscapes in oil and the h u m a n f igure in ink. But no mat ter how hard he tr ied to c o m b i n e the East and the Wes t , the former was still his base and structure. Soon he dec ided to re turn , bo th to his home land in H o n g Kong and to his Ch inese pa in t ing t radi t ion in o rde r to have, in his own words »a greater freedom in creativity .«23 2 1 Wucius Wong, »Return to the East and Get Set...«, newspaper article, publication information unknown, Hong Kong 1966. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 98 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... W o n g ' s idea of r e tu rn is similar to Lu's notion of re turn , except W o n g e l abo ra t ed m o r e expl ic i t ly on the existential exper ience as a H o n g Kong artist. A return to the East does not mean just a return to the tradition or to cut oneself off from the West, both are impossible. We are living in a place where the East meets the West; we grow in our tradition while our way of living is under the influence of the West. To escape would only mean to limit one's creativity.24 In a 1963 art icle ent i t led, »The Reconst ruct ion of the East,« W o n g de- scr ibed the aesthet ics of Eas te rn paint ing as disinterestedness, and as embrac- ing a h a r m o n i o u s re la t ion with Nature.2 ' ' Instead of fol lowing the rules of pe r spec t ive in W e s t e r n paint ing, W o n g saw Eastern pa in t ing as reflecting the p r inc ip le of »spiritual resonance ,« which t ranscends »style« or »technique,« as well as the b o u n d s of nat ional i ty and culture. The only absolute, W o n g said, is artistic f r e e d o m . This total f r e e d o m allows for the final t ranscendence of the East itself. In this sense, the incorpora t ion of Wes te rn influences into Eas te rn art is cer ta in ly acceptable ; it is always beneficial to learn f rom the Wes t ' s f o rms of express ion and mater ials and its deve lopmen t s in artistic m o v e m e n t s . W o n g ' s e x p e r i m e n t a l paint ing, which m e r g e d the Wes te rn and C h i n e s e ways, expresses his sense of the compl imentar i ty of the two cultures. O n e e x a m p l e in par t icu lar is his pa in t ing of a Chinese landscape, entit led »Puri f icat ion # 2 « f r o m 1979, using the fo rm and texture of Western paint ing (fig. 3). It should be n o t e d that W o n g was highly concerned about the role of the H o n g K o n g artist. For such artist, he said, Rebellion is necessary when he wishes to break through the confines of his predecessors to make way for something new, personal... What is around him is vague, fluctuating, and shapeless. He has no sense of be- longing; he lacks identity. However, with exceptional determination and conviction, he has an ample opportunity to mold the future.2® W o n g was skept ical of Wes te rn art vogues and w o n d e r e d if m o d e r n art 24 Ibid. 2 5 Wucius Wong, »Reconstruction of the East«, newspaper article, publication informa- tion unknown, Hong Kong 1963. 2f i Wucius Wong, »Foreword to the Second Exhibition of the In Tao Painters«, catalogue of the 2nd exhibition of the In Tao painters, publication information unavailable, Hong Kong 1970. 99 Eva K. W. Man Fig. 3: Wucius Wong, Purification #2, 1979 Wong's experimental painting expresses his sense of the complimentarity of the Western and Chinese aesthetic principles. This is an example of his painting of a Chinese landscape in the form and texture of Western paint- ing. 100 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... m o v e m e n t s like P o p ar t h a d any th ing to relate or contr ibute to the living reali ty of H o n g K o n g artists. In the 1960s and the 1970s, when H o n g K o n g artists ' identi ty was be ing cons t ruc ted in pa r t by mode rn i za t i on and economic growth, the N e w Ink m o v e m e n t cal led for a r e tu rn to the past. Dist inction be tween Chinese and Wes t e rn pa in t ings p r o d u c e d by local pa inters was unnecessary, accord ing to Wong , because in his view «//artistic expressions produced by Chinese painters - no ma t t e r wha t the i r f o r m - were still Chinese paint ings. However , he admi t t ed tha t it was difficult to ident i fy » H o n g Kong paint ing« because it was ambiguous , con t rad ic to ry , and con ta ined split e lements . T h e most impor t an t thing, he said, was to re tu rn to t radi t ion for spiritual identif ication, which, accord ing to W o n g , should be the ha rmon ious relation of m a n and Nature . For var ious reasons , beg inn ing in the 1980s, the »Chinese complex« of the y o u n g e r H o n g K o n g artists had lost its vigor. As the colony progressed to b e c o m e a thr iv ing in te rna t iona l and commerc ia l center, these artists p re fe r red to fol low artistic d e v e l o p m e n t s in the internat ional communi ty ra ther than r e m a i n wi thin the C h i n e s e t radi t ion. T h e younger artists had m o r e f r e e d o m to create, i ronical ly, in a state of »rootlessness« than the genera t ion of artists be fo re t hem. Ch inese t rad i t ion was one of the young genera t ion ' s opt ions, yet they p r e f e r r ed the artistic vision in the West . - ' This m o v e m e n t can be v iewed as a p h e n o m e n o n of late capital ism which h a p p e n e d to parallel the ear ly stages of colonia l i n d e p e n d e n c e . T h e mass culture and en te r t a inment indust r ies had d is t rac ted peop le ' s ref lect ions on p rob lems of cultural iden- tity, p o w e r s t ructure in colonial rule, race, and social class. Fur thermore , the p l a n n e d re tu rn of H o n g K o n g to C h i n a in 1997 did n o t create a real sense of colonial i n d e p e n d e n c e , especial ly in terms of cultural influences. As a result of commerc ia l i za t ion , art educa t ion curr iculum in H o n g K o n g came to focus on W e s t e r n t echn iques and concepts dur ing the 1980s, and the t rend contin- ues today . Post-Colonial Discourse and Painting Theories It is said that pre-colonia l cultural puri ty can never be fully recovered, because colonia l cul tures are inevi tably hybridized. Colonial cultures have d e v e l o p e d a dialect ical re la t ionship be tween the world view and epistemol- 2 7 David Clarke, »Hong Kongness: Chineseness and Modernity: Issues of Identity in Hong Kong Art«, Hong Kong Cultural Studies Bulletin, CUHK, Hong Kong, Winter (4/1995), pp. 82-84. 101 Eva K. W. Man ogy of the colonizers and have deve loped an impulse to recons t ruc t an inde- p e n d e n t loca l i den t i t y . As p o i n t e d o u t b y H e l e n T i f f i n , t h e so c a l l e d »decolonisat ion« process invokes a con t inuous dialect ic b e t w e e n h e g e m o n i c centrist systems and a per iphera l subvers ion of these sys tems. 2 8 T h e pa in te r s discussed in this essay, a long with their pa in t ing theor ies r ega rd ing the p rob- lems of cul tural identity, co r respond to some of the ma in issues in c o n t e m p o - rary post-colonial discourse in the West . The aesthetics of paint ing in H o n g Kong, re f lec ted by g roups such as Yen Kan and individuals such as C h a n , Lu, W o n g , and the y o u n g e r artists of the 1980s, reflect quite different values and perspect ives . This is due to differ- ences in personal background , educa t ion , class, poli t ical consciousness , and ideologies - especially regard ing their views of the Ch inese t radi t ion. Each manifes ted their views in their art and u n i q u e styles. O n e c o m m o n view ex- pressed in post-colonial discourse is that h e g e m o n i c sys tems exer t f o rms of control on colonized culture. This was no t the case in H o n g Kong . Af te r political upheava l in the 1960s, the local izat ion pol icy p r o m o t e d by the gov- e rnment a imed to avoid fur ther rebell ions against the colonial rule. This policy greatly encouraged f r eedom of express ion wi th in the H o n g K o n g artistic com- muni ty and thus a sense of be longing. T h e n e w aesthet ics and artistic m o v e - ments that grew as a result can be in t e rp re ted as a search for an artistic iden- tity, instead of as mere ly resistance to cul tural suppress ion . H o w e v e r , these views and activities can also be perce ived as a par t icu lar mani fes ta t ion of the process of decolonisat ion. This process is d y n a m i c : it does no t seek to sub- vert the d o m i n a n t colonial ideology, bu t to p r o m o t e textual strategies as they substitute the dominan t discourse. 2 9 It canno t be denied , however , that a p o w e r s t ructure still existed, even within the localization policy. In the absence of a critical awareness of coloni- alism's ideological effects on the cul ture of H o n g Kong, p o w e r and cont ro l were in the hands of local Chinese art author i t ies . All too easily, these au- thorities could have served the insti tutional func t ion of ensur ing that the domi- nant force 's preferences in art were ma in ta ined . H o w e v e r , h e g e m o n i c projects were not unde r t aken by the colonialists themselves . T h e ins tance in wh ich Luis Chan ' s work was rejected by cura tors of the »Exhib i t ion of H o n g K o n g Art Today« in 1962 is one example . 2 8 Helen Tiffin, »Post-Colonial Literatures and Counter-Discourse«, in Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin (Eds.), The Post-Colonial Studies Reader, Routledge, London 1993, p. 95. 29 Ibid., p . 97. 102 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... Conclusion: »Chineseness« and the »Third Space« It is a p p a r e n t that some painters had fewer p rob lems with the colonial cul ture than o thers . Luis C h a n , discussed earlier, is one example . He was b u o y e d by his f luency in English and his relat ionship with colonial celebri- ties w h o h e l p e d to bu i ld his reputa t ion and sphere of inf luence in the local art f ield. H e p r o m o t e d basical ly Wes te rn academic paint ings in his earlier years and i n t roduced t radi t ional Ch inese paint ing unde r the in terpre ta t ion of West- ern aesthet ics . C h a n was f r ee of the psychological complex of »Chineseness« that p l agued other pa in ters . Tha t is, he was not critical of Western aesthetics, nor d id he h a v e a p resc r ip t ion for H o n g Kong art, instead, he embod ied the spirit of H o n g K o n g itself - a truly mult icul tural society - by expressing and e x p e r i m e n t i n g in grea t en thus iasm and f r eedom. In contras t Lu S h o u k u n , a native of Main land China , called for a re turn to the t radi t ional and p r o m o t e d the not ions of »root« and »adaptation.« H o n g K o n g pa in te rs , accord ing to Lu, are rooted in t radi t ional Chinese aesthetics wh ich serves as a f o u n d a t i o n for bo th content and technique . H e claimed that knowledge of one ' s h is tory and tradi t ion are the keys to self-realization, and he cal led for expans ion and deve lopmen t of local art. Lu's aesthetics thus was f o u n d e d on t rad i t iona l i sm. Wuc ius W o n g ' s vision, as analyzed here, r e sembled Lu's, bu t offered a m o r e e labora te no t ion of t radi t ion. H e discussed the conflicts be tween the aesthet ics and t radi t ions of the East and the West f r o m his own exper ience of l iving and s tudying in the West . He also encouraged y o u n g artists to embrace Eas tern t radi t ions as a m e a n s to discover their t rue artistic ability or identity. Whi le H o n g K o n g pa in te rs ' artistic identi ty was based on tradit ionalism and na t iona l i sm, these e m e r g i n g young artists were also pushing forward and m a k i n g i m p o r t a n t artistic innovat ions . Dar ing exper iments like the New Ink and o ther m o d e r n m o v e m e n t s - wha t one post-colonial discourse descr ibed as the l ibera t ion processes in colonial terri tories - emerged dur ing a time of uncer ta in ty and of s ignif icatory or representat ional undecidabi l i ty . 3 0 These changes arose out of a con tex t in which mos t H o n g K o n g painters were busy p r o d u c i n g works i n t e n d e d to mee t Wes te rners ' expecta t ions of »Chinese art.« H o w e v e r , whi le a g r and t radi t ion which m a n y regarded as the p r imary source of creativity, Ch inese t radi t ional art had come to be seen as a l imited source of inspi ra t ion years later . This was because its »root« h a d been seriously dam- aged du r ing the Cul tu ra l Revo lu t ion (1966-1976) in C o m m u n i s t China . Thus its in f luence in the co lony had slowly diminished. In addit ion, H o n g Kong's 3 0 Homi K. Bhabha, »Cultural Diversity and Cultural Differences« in ibid., p. 206. 103 Eva K. W. Man intense modern iza t ion process was a cons tan t r e m i n d e r to y o u n g artists that they were not living in old China , wh ich m a d e the w o r k of w h a t s e e m e d a distant h o m e l a n d seem less than re levan t to the i r p r e sen t context . As H o m i Bhabha has po in ted out, the sense of the his tor ical ident i ty of culture as a homogeniz ing , uni fy ing force , au then t i ca ted by an or ig inary pas t and kept alive in tradit ions of a cul ture , was great ly cha l l enged in the so- called »third space« in which the co lonized g r o u p is caught b e t w e e n the tra- ditional cul ture to which it had once b e l o n g e d and the n e w colonia l cul ture . Looking at it in the mos t positive light, this m e a n s tha t the s ame signs can be appropr ia ted , translated, rehistoricized, and r ead anew. 3 1 Th i s h a p p e n e d in H o n g Kong because of converging social, economic , and cultural forces. Again, as descr ibed by H o m i Bhabha : assimilation of contraries, the split-space of enunciation may open the way to conceptualizing an inter-national culture, based on the inscription and articulation of culture's hybridity.32 And in fact, emerging f rom the ref lec t ions on cul tural ident i ty by local painters is the search for an artistic ident i ty for H o n g K o n g itself that is differ- ent f rom that of ei ther East or West . H o n g K o n g ident i ty has b e c o m e , in- stead, an integrat ion of concepts , styles, and visual symbols of bo th par t s of the globe. The colonial government ' s local izat ion pol icy af ter the leftist poli t ical riots against British rule in 1967 was or iginal ly t ied in with p r o m o t i o n , even p ropaganda , for a growing and mode rn i zed H o n g Kong, yet it laid the g round- work for the search for H o n g Kong ident i ty t h rough art. It should b e no t ed that, general ly speaking, people in H o n g K o n g f ind it m o r e difficult to iden- tify themselves with C o m m u n i s t C h i n a (this was especia l ly t rue immed ia t e ly following the Cultural Revolut ion) than with C h i n a in a na t iona l sense. O n the other h a n d , they do not regard themse lves as British peop le . T h e situa- tion again reminds us of the so-called »third space« in post -colonia l discourse . T h e not ion of »third space« has been desc r ibed as the 'inter', the cutting edge of translation and negotiation, the in-between, the space of what Derrida has opened up in writing itself that carries the burden of the meaning of culture.33 31 Ibid., p. 208. 32 Ibid., p. 209. 33 Ibid., p. 209. 104 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories ... In essence, those l iving u n d e r colonial power have taken on a hybr id ident i ty . U n d e r this n e w identi ty, they must ensure that t radit ional signs can be app rop r i a t ed , t rans la ted , rehistoricized, and read anew. T h e re turn to the t radi t ional m a y be a strategy to establish a cultural identi ty that does not advoca te an i r revers ible or essential his tory of cul ture . 3 4 Wi th this under- s tanding, ass imila t ion of Ch inese and Wes te rn tradit ions into a new m o d e r n t radi t ion b e c o m e s a useful strategy and is a natural ou tcome of the hybr id ident i ty of H o n g K o n g artists. Luis Chan , for example , whose life and work r ep re sen t ed the spirit of H o n g Kong, served to help def ine the colony 's artis- tic ident i ty. Lu be l ieved that H o n g Kong 's artistic style would d e p e n d on the f r e e d o m of the indiv idual artist to develop whatever they wished, unrestr icted, as long as they had g o o d a tradit ional foundat ion . To m o d e r n artists like W u c i u s W o n g , the re is a s t rong historical dynamic in the art of H o n g Kong. As W o n g once said, its past is in China , its present is in H o n g Kong, and its fu tu re lies in the who le wor ld . 3 5 34 Ibid., pp. 208-209. 3 5 Wucius Wong, »Hong Kong Art Today«, Nan Bei Gi, Hong Kong, 58 (3/1975), p. 49. 105