 For
Chung Kin-san, the long arm of the law wields both weapon and paintbrush
Chung Kin-san has combined being both a Hong Kong
police officer and a professional artist for more than 20 years.
His works are in the collections of former governor Chris Patten,
the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the
Hong Kong Housing Authority. In 1997, he added one more to that
list:Art gallery owner and manager.
The 42-year-old sergeant says art was always on his mind. As a young
man fresh out of secondary school, he worked as the assistant director
in an advertising company. He completed a foundation design course
at Polytechnic University (then Polytechnic College), but fate intervened
before he could continue in his chosen career. "It was not
easy to find a job at that time and I was pretty lucky to get a
design job, but my salary was only about $1,000 a month," Chung
says. "Then my father got sick" Chung's salary was not
enough to support his family, "and that is what drove me to
be a police officer" in 1983.
Still, he never stopped painting. He had his first professional
show in 1989, and was included in the Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition
in 1992 and 1996. Chung opened his own gallery in the Hong Kong
Arts Centre in 1997, which moved to its current location in the
China Resources Building last year.
Chung's lifelike watercolours stood out at the Biennial, which mostly
featured abstract or avant-garde pieces. "I'm not doing things
like Salvador Dali," he says, referring to his tranquil
works that combine rural landscapes both real and imagined. "I
want to create reality. I want the atmosphere of my paintings to
imply that these places really exist."
Being at one with nature has something to do with Chung's childhood,
which was spent on a family farm in Fanling. "What I like most
is greenery, like forests or natural landscapes. I'm more sensitive
to these images form nature," he says.
Chung taught himself to paint as a child and developed his own style
as he went, opting to work in watercolours over other media. ˇ§Ink
is more romantic, oils can be closer to reality and acrylics more
passionate,ˇ¨ he says. "But watercolors can create the effects
of all these media. It is a really challenging medium. I am still
exploring it today."
Chungˇ¦s signature pieces include compositions that play with trees,
streams, light and shadow. There are also glimpses of local culture,
such as a portrait of an old man sitting on the roadside writing
Chinese calligraphy, and historical architecture, such as Yuen Long's
famous Tai Fu Tai.
Other paintings, such as Dragon and Chariot, were created entirely
out of Chung's imagination. These are of stone carvings on an ancient
Chinese city wall. "Many people may have seen such carving
patterns somewhere. But in fact they aren't painted from real life,
" says Chung, who also completed a series of dragon symbols
from nine Chinese dynasties to show his own interpretation of Chinese
history.
The day is fast approaching when the wheel will turn full circle
for Chung. The sergeant has worked for the Police Tactical Unit,
the Special Duties Squad and is now stationed at the New Territories
North Police Headquarters in Tai Po. He plans to retire form the
force at 45 to dedicate all his time to painting and teaching.
'Being a great artist has been my aspiration since I was a kid,"
says Chung.
"To me, a great artist is not a great artist because his works
are worth a lot of money, but because his works move people.
"Iˇ¦m not saying an artist has to do things to change the world.
But if people can forget their unhappiness and put aside their negative
thinking for the moment that they are looking at my works, that
would be a great thing for me.ˇ¨
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