Is the journey of solitude boring or liberating for you? For Hong Kong contemporary artist Ho Suk-mei, solitary time allows her to enjoy being in nature. Recently, the Harbour City Art Gallery presented the artist’s solo exhibition “Wandering,” showcasing two series of works, including the “Night Wander” series documenting night swims on Lantau Island, and the “Botanical Courtyard” series depicting garden landscapes.
He Shumei focuses on oil painting creation, likes to observe people, and reconstructs the sense of existence of people who are separated through painting. She likes oil paintings to have different levels of feelings, like human skin, body, and mental state, which are rich and complex in the same way. At the same time, she is also good at capturing time, memory, and atmosphere. The “Night Tour” and “Botanical Garden” series exhibited in this exhibition are the spiritual faces of people and things in her contemplative works, listening to their own needs and feelings, and enjoying themselves alone in the natural environment.
The exhibition features over 35 new oil paintings and sketches from two major series. The “Night Swim” series was inspired by the artist’s first nighttime swim in Lantau Island, expressing her feelings of breathing, fear, and helplessness as she breaks through barriers and constraints in the water. The new themes in her oil paintings in the series are more diverse, depicting stories and characters she encountered during her travels last year, as well as the local scenery and stormy coast of England. She also experimented with a new oil painting material – beeswax, successfully creating richer layers on the canvas to depict water splashes, the ocean, and the texture of the characters’ skin.
In addition to showcasing oil paintings, this series also unveiled many sketches for the first time. These sketches are the initial drafts of the oil paintings, capturing the artist’s first instincts and thoughts on the night wandering series, presenting a more complete creative portrait.
He Shumei is exhibiting her entire “Botanical Garden” series for the first time in Hong Kong. The inspiration for this series comes from her gardening practice at home, capturing unique plant postures as the creative theme, as well as the natural scenes she sees every day while walking with her dog in the park or jungle, such as the changing leaves and flowers throughout the seasons, small animals in the garden, etc., allowing viewers to feel vitality everywhere, while also reflecting the changes in people’s daily emotions.
In addition to a series of souvenirs at the exhibition site, He Shumei collaborated with the natural fragrance brand ” Fragrance Memory” to launch two fragrances inspired by the work “Plant Courtyard”, allowing everyone to turn their homes into a garden jungle through fragrance. Even indoors, we can still feel the natural atmosphere in the painting through the sense of smell!
Hong Kong contemporary artist Ho Suk Mei solo exhibition “Wandering”
Date: Now until May 2, 2022
Time: 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
Location: Shop 207, 2/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Image source and learn more: Harbour City Art Museum
