How Chinese ink artist Water Poon’s innovative paintings taught a Hong Kong gallery co-founder to be bold and break rules
- T.K. Chan, co-founder of Blink Gallery and an ink artist herself, says Water Poon’s works made her realise how different Chinese ink paintings could be
- Get Together (2015) has had a particularly strong effect on her – it now hangs in her home and inspires her in various ways when she paints
As with much of the work of the mostly self-taught Chinese ink artist Water Poon Kwing-wing, who is also a well-known photographer and filmmaker, Get Together (2015) takes an innovative, minimalist approach to the medium, depicting nature using spare brushstrokes and pleasingly rounded forms.
T.K. Chan, a co-founder of Hong Kong’s Blink Gallery, who is also an ink artist, tells Richard Lord how it changed her life.
Water Poon has a strong visual sense and has been exploring various media and styles throughout his long career as an artist. Despite being largely self-taught, he has mastered the art of Chinese ink painting in Hong Kong and beyond for over half a century.
In his watercolours, Water often adopts a minimalist approach. He uses a limited colour palette, employs the colour wash technique and uses just a few defining brushstrokes.
I particularly admire how he draws animals, such as goldfish and birds, in the Chinese ink style. The way he portrays them is cute and simple, leaving plenty of white space for the audience to interpret. He incorporates design elements such as dots, lines and shapes into his artwork.
I’m fascinated by the way he blends ink with water on paper, creating different shades of ink tone in a single stroke. Additionally, he considers calligraphy writing as an integral part of his drawings, often using it as short artwork titles. He has even crafted his own artist seal with a unique pen name.
I think it was his “Harmony” collection that inspired me first. It was quite contemporary and semi-abstract. The collection attracted many collectors and made me realise that Chinese ink painting can be different.
Get Together was created in 2015, while my ink painting started in 2016. It contains a big shape, some lines and dots. The image is quite open for discussion, but the artist was depicting lotus leaves, flowers and two sparrows: the sparrows were even give the name Double Happiness.
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The artwork’s title was drawn by the artist instead of writing it in the traditional way. I love the diffusing of the ink, which uses different grey tones to form the subject, with a few dashes of red.
I collected this piece of art and hung it in my home when I first moved into Lohas Park [in Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O area]. It is quite big, 105cm x 105cm (3.4ft x 3.4ft), which fits perfectly on the wall of my living room. This is the biggest piece of art I have ever purchased. Sometimes I paint at home, and it has inspired me in different ways.
Water’s ink paintings have had a profound impact on my own development as an ink artist. He has encouraged me to be bold and break the rules of ink painting. My artwork also focuses on cuteness and incorporates the blending of ink strokes with various shades of ink.
I am also exploring incorporating my own writing and my own handcrafted artist seal into some of my collections, considering them as integral parts of the paintings.
