Calligraphy Workshop With Giraffe Leung

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Join us for a guided tour with Hong Kong artist Giraffe Leung at La Galerie, follow by a fun workshop lead by the artist to experience great aesthetic pleasure in writing traditional Chinese characters, and learning the creative process of his new work titled Characters Map of Hong Kong, which are currently exhibiting at the gallery.

In the amusing calligraphy work series titled Characters Map of Hong Kong Leung has created since 2020, which was inspired by the aesthetic of traditional Chinese characters, Leung converts single lines into different shapes by filling the negative space created in a single stroke written Hong Kong street name. The shaded areas were carefully selected and inked on Chinese paper before filled up by the artist, a new gesture of Chinese writing is being formed. Character size varies lightly with each map which visually reflects the street density of the districts of Hong Kong.

RSVP: fion.ko@lagalerie.hk

*Limited seats available, registrations are based on a first-come first-served basis.
Participants need to have the basic skills to read and write in Chinese.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Giraffe Leung Lok Hei, a Hong Kong based post-90s artist, worked as an interior designer for a year after completed a Bachelor’s Degree. He was then determined to pursue a career as a full-time artist. Recently graduated a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he now lives and works in Hong Kong as a full time artist.

Leung always responds to his home environment and identity as a Hongkonger in his work that highlight the artist’s critical thinking on varies subjects, including the shared history and collective memories of Hong Kong people, social changes and urban development, etc. His art often features material that were once highly valued to many Hongkongers in everyday lives but became obsolete in rapid urban development.

In one of his early created art series, he chooses leaves as the medium to raise Hong Kong’s urban planning problems, diminishing of green areas and poor awareness in environmental conservation. On the other hand, his handwritten characters work speaks the unavoidable challenge of digital and communication platforms, where his coins work depicts a nostalgic form is being gradually replaced by digital and virtual transactions.