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Some new cityscapes coming soon...

 Sage advice from Jackson Pollock/Bruce Lee, found on youtube.

Smoking Ban

I huddle in a doorway on the street like Anton Webern.

Surfing Hong Kong

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Top to bottom: a wedging peak near the Shun Tak Centre; long period swell hitting the sandbar off Tsim Tsa Tsui; smokin' right barrel in Macau.

Whenever I'm gazing out from the Star Ferry, I find myself thinking that the only way Victoria Harbour could be more spectacular is if there were surfable waves peeling into Sheung Wan.  So during a slow work period a couple of years back, I knocked these out in photoshop to keep my skills up. Later, in August '08, typhoon Nuri was making international headlines...and, well...the Victoria Harbour surf pics seemed to be begging for release.  Adopting the nom de Wacom  "Otis Chen"  (in homage of Otis Chandler,  long-time publisher of the Los Angeles TImes, who loved to surf), I submitted the somewhat questionable pictures to a famous surfing website. They were quite well-received. There's a hit counter on their page for each photo, and I could see it was climbing fast. I began to get alarmed when one was automatically entered into the  "photo of the month" contest, and won second place. Thank God it didn't win a prize, I said to myself, envisioning handcuffs slapped on my wrists as I showed up in boardshorts to claim my free trip to the Pipeline Masters, or whatever. I was relieved when things seemed to be dying down. The hit count began to level off and I thought that was the end of it. Then one day I received an email from the editor: would I be interested in doing a surf-travel feature? By then work had picked up, and slightly freaked-out Hong Kong correspondent Otis Chen had no choice but to decline. Cowabunga. 

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Chemical Light

Chinese Pop Concert

Pak Tai Temple, Cheung Chau

Cheung Chau was once inhabited by pirates and it's got a couple of spooky old temples.  Friend of mine who lives there says the island is haunted. Fast forward to me in the studio working on this little oil study, and about an hour into it I suddenly realize I'm not feeling well, my arms are so heavy I can't lift my mahl stick. I lie down on the floor and it passes, but as soon as I start working again, sick and dizzy. I push on and wrap it up after another hour and a half, and then I'm perfectly fine again. Could just be the humidity...

Wine of China

I don't know the name of this building in Wanchai — I've always referred to it as The "Wine of China" Building, because that's what the enormous neon sign on the roof says in Chinese. Each time I sketch it from another angle I realize it's not quite the shape I thought it was before. It's like a giant puzzle — each side of the building  steps in a little differently than the others.

Last week I took the ferry out of Wanchai, which I hadn't done for maybe 6 months, and I noticed something different:

Gone! The green stump is all that's left.

Here's a series of photos of The "Wine of China" Building, taken over the course of a few months in 2006:

Madame Cheng

Tattoo

I'm going to a party tonight where everyone will be getting temporary tattoos,  and this is my contribution. 

I can't see a tattoo without thinking of my friend back in Los  Angeles, Alexis "Gents of Desire" Ross, who not only designs groovy tattoos but applies them with a homemade contraption fashioned out of  what appears to be piano wire, a sewing machine motor, and the plastic casing of a ball-point pen.  Alexis is a learned connoisseur of what I like to call the "LA Latino Ex-convict Sign Painter Flirting With Parole Violation" style of design.

Hong Kong Drizzle

Tsim Sha Tsui

18 Views of the ICC. #4

I vaguely recall a story about Giacometti having been commissioned to produce a sculpture for a town square.  When it came time to deliver the sculpture he walked up, reached into his pocket and took out a matchbox containing the finished piece.  It had started out monumental and he'd just kept working on it and working on it until it was 2 inches tall.

Well originally this painting showed the ICC across the harbour. Over a bunch of sessions I kept reworking the distant buildings, trying to make them recede...

Porte-cochere of the Venetian, Macau

On the ceiling are reproductions of Tiepolo. There's an interesting book by Svetlana Alpers called Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence, in which she writes about how Tiepolo used the unique lighting characteristics of each location in ways that enhance or amplify the sort of lighting he's depicted in the fresco. He often used the device of a partly-cloudy sky, with some groups of figures in shadow and other groups in light, in order to exploit the uneven lighting conditions of a given building or room, and this is one of the things that gives his work its peculiar luminosity. So when you see the Tiepolos on the ceiling in the Venetian, you can see right away that even though they appear to be very accurate reproductions, they're strangely dull and lacking luminosity when removed from the lighting of their original context. Anyhow I'm guessing not many people are going to be bothered by that, and the casino is still a cool place to go and have a drink.

18 Views of the ICC. #3

18 Views of the ICC. #2

18 Views of the ICC. #1

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The empty slice of land on the left (between the walla-walla and the moon, as it were) is the future site of the West Kowloon Cultural District. It's been the locus of intense debate about public funding for the arts. Temporarily there's a little park there with fantastic views.

Port, Kowloon

First painting in a while. Hard to get moving again once you stop...

As I finish this one up and head out to the New Year's bash, here's something inspirational to usher in 2009.

Special thanks to Sham-Shui-Po Boy for his kind words at hong-kong-blogs-review.com 

  Because Hong Kong is so chaotic visually, I'll often start a new scene  with some fast black and  white studies to try and get a handle on the composition. 

Kind of cool

 At first I thought this was a hoax because I hadn't seen it covered in the American press, but it's been on the news here in Hong Kong the past few nights and people are pretty electrified by it: President-elect Obama's half-brother lives in Shenzhen, China and speaks mandarin. 

 

Wet Market, Wanchai, 2007

gouache on paper

7" x 4 1/2"

Some delicious light at the Wanchai wet market.

The outdoor markets are rapidly being moved to modern indoor facilities. This one at Wanchai is in the process of moving now. They retain a lot of the same character even indoors - the butcher is still likely to have a cigarette dangling from his lips as he chops your pork - but the lighting is little different, with fluorescents dominating the mix.

The Star Ferry

Built in the 1950's, these boats are still popular with commuters. The trip between Hong Kong and Kowloon costs HK$1.70 (22¢ US).

I was pleasantly surprised to find my blog mentioned in a couple of places. First it was the "Daily Catch" at nineteeneightythree.com by Kenny Wan, and then some kind words at surfstation.com from Tom Dolan. Thanks guys!

Hainan

Tsim Sha Tsui

Temple at Nikko, Japan

News and Shameless Self-promotion

Five years ago I was asked, along with seven other artists, to produce a piece for the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design . Curated by architect Tom Marble, the participating artists were: Sam Durant, Sharon Lockhart, Pae White, Mary Hodson, Jim Isermann, T. Kelly Mason, Mitchell Kane, and myself. Printed in an edition of 25, each portfolio contained eight prints and one box designed by Jorge Pardo. The Getty Museum has recently acquired an edition.

"The Art of Superman Returns" (Chronicle Books, 2006). I'm quite proud to have artwork included in this book alongside such talented professionals as Ed Natividad, Jeff Julian, Ben "Papa" Procter and Production Designer Guy Dyas. Check it out!

Construction of the new store for Gallerie Fine Jewellery at the Landmark, Hong Kong, is scheduled to begin in August. It's shaping up to be a real beauty!

Ms. Cheng

Central

Fishmongress

This lady was wearing pearl earrings and a lovely print blouse along with her white apron and elbow-length red rubber gloves. She fished a writhing three-foot long eel out of a tank and pinned it to a wooden cutting board with a metal spike. She cut the head off, gutted the length of the eel, chopped it into 3" sections and handed it to me in a plastic shopping bag.

Macau bridges

Wanchai, the Epson sign

Very misty the past few nights, which creates an interesting ambient light.

Wanchai

Sampan

The Sampan is something like the pickup truck of the boat world, hauling goods or materials a short distance. They're often made of teak and have a "necklace" of used tires hanging over the sides, as in this sketch.

A sketch from the weekly figure drawing session at the studio of Hong Kong painter Linda Liao.

Corner Market

Shenzhen

Victoria Harbor

HK really comes to life in the evening light. There's always some sort of play between the waning daylight and the artificial light of the city.

The building in the distance on the left (short one with the cranes on top) is the International Commerce Centre. When completed it will be the tallest building in HK and fourth tallest in the world.

Maggie's wedding, Tsim Sha Tsui

Circular Quay, Sydney

This was done in Australia while working on Superman Returns.

Sketchbook

Couple of pages from a sketchbook... Norman Foster's HSBC building.

Macau

Macau is booming with high-end casinos, high-rise apartments and massive construction projects. They're about to build an eighteen-mile-long bridge between Hong Kong and Macau.

North Point

Truck, Sheung Wan

Shek O

This was just before a huge squall blew through and sent everyone scrambling for cover. Torrential rain, lightning, umbrellas tumbling across the beach...the works.

Neon Sign

Signs shaped like this indicate a pawn shop. They say
the shape is derived from a bat holding a coin.

Kiu Fat Building, Sheung Wan

I've done a number of sketches of this building. I love the tombstone shape, and in typically-practical Hong Kong fashion the plumbing pipes run right up the outside wall.

Wet Market

Pork, 2007

gouache on paper

6 3/4" x  4 3/4"

Victoria Harbour

The Star Ferry