Platform : Stephen Wong

According to Wong, “we have so many tools for capturing what we see in daily life, what I choose is a slow and subjective way of documentation.”  Painting mostly through an amalgamation of travel photography, instinct and imagination, Wong created his own visual vocabulary. Recreating the spontaneity and painterly approach of plein air painters, Wong captures the effects of nature through bold weaving patterns of vibrant colours in short, precise strokes. 

Characteristic of Wong’s artistic practice is the expressive palette, depicting an emotional sensitivity to colour and saturation that transmits intimate sensibilities, evoking notions of silence, introspection, wistful harmony, and a pure joy for life. Following an unsettling year, Wong’s body of work conveys a profound appreciation of nature and a sense of communion with the environment. 

This series also possesses a whimsical quality which materialised through Wong’s avid toy car collection. Envisioning the idea of a virtual road trip, Wong references his toy cars in the paintings, subtly placing them in each work for the viewer to find. In doing so, Wong transports the viewer as if they’re wandering within the painting themselves, as a sojourner embarked on a trip around the world. More than just renderings of his visual experiences, Wong’s paintings become moods, emotions and atmospheres incarnate; achieving a transcendent dual-existence between the world in which the artist creates versus the world he creates on canvas. 

When did you decide to become an artist? 

I had this image of a painter with an easel in a natural landscape when I was a child, I can’t remember where this came from. A piece of paper is an eternal space for me to create and explore. So, I decided to be an artist before really knowing what an artist I would be.

 How do you decide which landscapes to paint?

I don’t have too much of a plan or a premise of a theme before painting. But usually what interests me is the intervention of humans in nature. For example, some very tiny hikers walking on the trails far away or some tunnels that appear in between two mountains or the people standing at the observation deck. 

 Which artists most influenced your work?

In 2011, I travelled for the first time to the UK and visited the V&A Museum. I was excited to see the oil sketches by John Constable. From that moment, the more I read about his paintings and ideas, the more I become enlightened. His insistence towards painting the landscapes he lived around and understood, strengthened my decision on the expression of Hong Kong’s landscapes. Many painters like Hokusai, Hiroshige, Felix Vallotton, Albert Marquet and David Hockney also had great influences on my painting in terms of the use of brushstrokes and colour tones.

Which artist would you pair yourself with for a dual exhibition?

John Constable. It would be my greatest honour if that could come true.

Are you still searching for that “perfect” landscape or setting?

I always think that the next place I stop and paint will be the perfect setting.

Born in 1986, Stephen Wong Chun Hei is a Hong Kong based artist. He graduated from the Fine Art Department (CUHK) in 2008. Some solo exhibitions include ‘Stephen WONG Chun Hei: A Grand Tour in Google Earth’ at Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong, in 2021, ‘Beside the City’, at Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong, in 2019, and ‘Looking at the sky and the landscape beneath’ Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong, in 2018. Some group exhibitions include ‘The Breath of Landscape’ at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, in 2019 and ‘These Painters’ Painters’ at ROH Projects, Jakarta, in 2018. Wong’s paintings are collected by private collectors and institutions, such as Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Land and Swire.