Guided Visit: "Two exhibitions on ceramics in HK: Golden Splendours: 20th-Century Painted Porcelains of Hong Kong" with Lai Suk Yee and "Claylaboration: Contemporary Ceramic Art"
The porcelain industry is an integral part of the art, culture and history of Hong Kong. As a world trading port in the 20th century, Hong Kong developed unique painted porcelain with diverse shapes and rich decorations using continually innovative techniques. This particular type of painted porcelain, known as Gangcai, combines Chinese and Western cultural elements, while presenting the distinct local colour of Hong Kong. Popular among both the Chinese and Western communities, Gangcai represents the prime period of the painted porcelain industry in Hong Kong.
The exhibition, Golden Splendours: 20th-Century Painted Porcelains of Hong Kong, is jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and The Hong Kong Ceramics Research Society. It showcases painted porcelain made by local painters and factories, including styles in imitation of ancient porcelain and armorial porcelain, produced mainly for export, as well as ceramic items for decoration and household use commonly found in Hong Kong. Complete with historical photos, manuscripts, hand-drawn designs, pigments, tools, and more, the exhibition offers an elucidating study of the development and characteristics of painted porcelain in Hong Kong and of its achievements as an industry.
Ms. Lai Suk Yee, a Museum Expert Adviser to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government, and a Researcher at The Hong Kong Ceramics Research Society, will give a talk on Golden Splendours and guide us through the exhibition. Thereafter, a curator or artist of the exhibition will lead us through the second exhibition, Claylaboration: Contemporary Ceramic Art.
Claylaboration is an exhibition presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Bringing ceramists and creative talent from other fields together, it will offer you a unique experience in art through their exchanges of innovative concepts and techniques.
By transferring photographic images to ceramic plates, Fiona Wong transforms a moment in time into eternity. Immerse yourself in the surreal atmosphere of Yokky Wong’s black-and-white ceramic studio and peek into her intimate world of personal memories. Wy Lee and Ryan Hui will guide you into the world of Zen through hundreds of ceramic bowls. As you admire the elegant dancing ceramic figures by Nick Poon, just one second of evil thoughts will transfer you into Rosanna Li’s purgatory to redeem your sins. Don’t worry! Jakie Leung’s delicate porcelain work will bring you back to the human world, where you can enjoy the artist’s fine craftsmanship under shimmering lights. Annie Wan puts her ceramic books to the test of a searing blaze, and a rainbow rises from the ashes. And what do you find underneath Chan Kiu Hong’s thousands of ceramic scales? Is it a sleeping monster? As you step into this exhibition, it will surely creep into your imagination, making you gasp for breath.
Resource Person
Lai Suk Yee is currently a Museum Expert Adviser to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government, and a Researcher at The Hong Kong Ceramics Research Society (HKCRS). Over the last three years, she has been doing research at the capacity of the Research Consultant to the Guangcai/Gangcai Project of the HKCRS. In December 2018, the HKCRS presents with Hong Kong Heritage Museum to share the initial findings of the research with the public in the form of the exhibition Golden Splendours: 20th-Century Painted Porcelains of Hong Kong.