For French May Arts Festival 2024, Oi Ling Art Gallery has selected 4 outstanding local Hong Kong Chinese artists whose artworks focus on the subject matter of identity, origin, and the quest to find the meaning to life - ideas and philosophies previously explored by several of the French Impressionist artists, indeed both Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.

Both Fan Hong Bin and Tian Yan Hua are grounded in traditional Chinese ink techniques but have developed non-traditional colour schemes to help them express their spiritual thoughts on religion and ways to find inner peace. 

Wing Chan and Cassian Lau by contrast, have an entirely different orientation. Wing Chan is a photographer. He uses his camera to capture the dynamic and different nuances of urban society. He then creates montages that speak beyond the aesthetic but also show the various rhythms and landscapes of an urban society. Similarly, Cassian Lau uses his art to comment on the different phenomena he observes in the modern world. Often his attention is drawn to the hypocrisy and shallowness of a society that focuses too much on materialism.  He uses black outlines, exaggeration and words to augment his artworks. His work is colourful, decorative, fun, and comedic. 

Tian Yan Hua

Tian Yan Hua was born in Shandong province, China in 1970. He holds a Master's degree in Fine Arts. He is the Head Curator of the Heze Museum of Art in Shandong province, China, and the current Chairman of the Heze Museum Association, the vice president of the Heze Arts Association, and the head of Arts Research at Heze Municipal Library. Of his art, he says, 'I have been pursuing an incredible longing, like a dream. This feeling is like half asleep and half awake and virtual reality. In my work, there is a free conversion between symbolism and pretence. I think art needs constant integration. The means of expression must be free, and it is a combination of tradition and modernity. The fusion of contemporary metaphysics, minimalism and traditional Chinese aesthetic orientation.'

Cassian Lau

Pop artist Cassian Lau was born in Hong Kong and raised in Toronto in the 1970s. Cassian learned to read English from devouring thousands of colourful superhero comics. Cassian graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Business Administration. Upon graduation, Cassian returned to Hong Kong to start up a successful chain of luxury fashion retail stores. It was during an art exhibition that Cassian hosted for a designer label that Cassian realized his love for creating art. Cassian decided to follow his artistic dreams and create what he calls 'thinking man's pop art.' His use of cartoon characters and bright colours and patterns bring a joyfulness and playfulness to his artwork. Cassian uses historical and visual allegorical painting techniques in his works to weave intricately rich tales for the art-lover to decipher. Hidden social messages within his art are a signature of Cassian Lau's paintings. In addition to Cassian's gallery and private showings around the world, Cassian is also the Creative Director for the popular fashion brand iiJin. Cassian Lau currently resides in Hong Kong with his family.

Fan Hong Bin

Fan Hong Bin was born in Ningxia, China. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Ningxia University in 1981. In 1991, he entered the training course of the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and studied under Zhao Ning'an and Jia Youfu. In 1995, he settled in Shenzhen and founded the Shizi Ink Painting Studio. He is a member of the Guangdong Artists Association, and is currently the chairman of the China Hong Kong Artists Association, and a distinguished professor at Communication University of China.

He says, 'the value of the Chinese spirit is the conscientiousness and willingness to brave new worlds and constantly push ourselves to the limits. Tradition in my view is a spirit, a type of development. It is not something that is stagnant without change. It is the cumulative and continuous effort of artists to excel and to push themselves to surpass boundaries, to create a new language, a new style, and an individual structure. This innovative spirit is what I call excellent tradition.'

Wing Chan

Born in Hong Kong, Wing Chan left for the United States when he was 18 and had an award-winning career in commercial design in New York City. In 2011, Chan returned to his roots in Hong Kong to focus on photography and photomontage. Chan uses photomontage for a wide arc of artistic expression that is more grounded in contemporary arts than in photography. Chan's photomontages reflect a fusion of pop art, street art and graffiti iconography. His work dances with rhythms of bold colours and texture. Although his creations are two-dimensional, their distortion transcends reality to lend a great depth and movement to the work.

Chan has held exhibitions of his photomontage work in Paris, Tokyo, Kyoto, Kobe, New York, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok. He has also conducted numerous Art Talks.

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