**********************************
Hong Kong is known as a modern metropolis in the world. The fast expansion of the city is the cause for the rapid disappearance of the villages, traditional buildings and old streets. To retain the beautiful scenes of the past, the local artist Kong Kai-ming chooses to make a pictorial records through the mastery of brush. Kong has traveled over the city and sketched the scenery such as streets, cityscapes and landscapes. His paintings serve not only a vivid reminder of our past, but also a refection of Kong's affection for the city.
As a local born artist, Kong Kai-ming has a profound interest in depicting and sketching Hong Kong's scenery in a simple and unadorned style. His warm touch and refined brushwork always remind the local seniors of their bygone memories. To the younger generation, however, his paintings enable them to gain a better understanding of the territory's changes at different times.
From tomorrow onwards, members of the general public will have an opportunity to appreciate Kong's 60 works of sketches and watercolour at an exhibition organised by the Art Promotion Office (APO) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Entitled the "Into My HeartĦEHong Kong - Western Paintings by Kong Kai-ming", the exhibition will run from tomorrow (February 8) through to February 26 at the Exhibition Gallery of Kwai Tsing Theatre and Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Kwai Tsing Station, and will further move to the Exhibition Gallery of Sheung Wan Civic Centre and MTR Sheung Wan Station from March 2 to March 24.
Kong's works have a common touch which is free of the obscurity usually found in the reading of a history book. As a fusion of sentiments and landscape, his paintings vividly reflect the various facets of the territory, leading the audience to appreciate the works of art from a wider and unconventional aesthetic perspective.
To enable the audience to experience the pleasure of creation in art, the exhibition is supplemented with guided tours and workshops. Also, there will be interactive computer games provided at the venues, where visitors can meet the artist and further grasp the ideas of the exhibition.
The current exhibition is the closing exhibition of the Artists in the Neighbourhood Scheme which was launched by APO in November of 2000. The Scheme aims at showcasing the works by local artists at various cultural venues, bringing visual arts into every corner of the community. Four groups of artists were selected including Sara Wong and Leung Chi-wo, the installation artist Kum Chi-keung, Hong Kong Modern Chinese Ink Painting Association and the painter Kong Kai-ming.
In conjunction with the Roving Art Programme of the "Art in Stations", an initiative by the MTR Corporation, selected works of the artists will be displayed at various MTR stations, as a collaborating effort to further promote visual arts in Hong Kong.
The Kwai Tsing Theater is located at 12 Hing Ning Road, Kwai Tsing. It opens from 10 am to 8 pm daily and closes on the first day of the Chinese New Year. On the Chinese New Year's Eve, the theatre will close at 5 pm. The Sheung Wan Civic Centre, located on 6th Floor of Sheung Wan Complex, 345 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong, opens from 10 am to 8 pm daily. Admission is free for both the venues.
For details of the exhibition, please call 2521 3008.
End/Thursday, February 7, 2002
NNNN
