f22 foto space presents Wing Chan’s ‘Urbanmontage’ exhibition. Combining Chan’s signature ‘Urban-Tapestry’ and ‘Urban-Graphis’ pieces, many of the works in the exhibition are shown for the first time. Chan’s photomontages create a new lens through which we can encounter our urban landscapes in a different light. Through his work, Chan encourages an intimate connection between us and our environment. The images are not only strikingly rhythmic; they also stimulate reflection and introspection. With a creative mix of angularity and fluidity, Chan’s photomontages encourage us to take a closer look at the harmony and beauty within the apparent chaos of urban living, thus allowing the city’s true fabric to shine.
Chan’s ‘Urban-Tapestry’ series is a pictorial meditation on the mundanities of city life. Shopping malls, escalators, subway platforms and commuting passengers on the metro are removed from their humdrum existence and cast in a fresh new light. This collection reminds the viewer that, in the midst of the bustling, monotonous rhythm of daily public life, such places, people and things are threads in the fabric of urban society; they are what makes a city a living, breathing entity in its own right.
In ‘Urban-Graphis’, Wing Chan creates optical poetry, wherein a single subject of interest, found in an urban area, is interwoven with itself multiple times or positioned in such a way as to become something completely alien unto itself. Reflecting the nature of the urban world, these electrifying and bold pieces urge the viewer to rethink their obliviousness to these often-overlooked staples in urban society and to find beauty and unpredictability in surroundings that are otherwise stationary and formulaic. No matter whether it be Hong Kong, Paris, Seoul or any other city, you can immerse yourself in the mood of his visual music.
Wing Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1962. He grew up in the shadows of the old Kowloon Walled City. At the age of eighteen, he left Hong Kong for the United States to pursue his artistic vocation. In 1985, Chan graduated from the renowned ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, and began his award-winning career in commercial design. Later he started his own graphic and branding firm in New York City while also serving as an adjunct professor at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology).
In 2011, Chan returned to Hong Kong, seeking to rediscover his roots. Finding inspiration in the city’s diverse subject matter, he continues to showcase his mastery of forms, shapes, colours and textures through photography and the creation of photomontages. Chan’s photomontages have been exhibited in Paris, Tokyo, Kyoto, Kobe, New York, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
Wing Chan : Urbanmontage
1 March to 30 April 2019
f22 foto space
5/F Amber Commercial Building,
70-74 Morrison Hill Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
