A Review of the Fotan Artists Open Studios 2009

Fotan, 火炭; an industrial village in Hong Kong. In 2003 The Hong Kong Art Museum made the Open Studios Event in Fotan as a side project, which goes with the Hong Kong Biennale. The Open Studio Event in 2003 calls Fotanian 伙炭. When the Chinese character伙 replaced 火, the meaning of this particular place and event then shifted to a more humanist stage. It represents the spirit of the Fotanian artists, at the same time brings up the idea of the Fotanian as a society, and also a specific cultural activity in Hong Kong.

Fotan was a seashore small village in Shatin, however, during the 60s, the Hong Kong government planned to develop the whole Shatin area as a satellite city. In 1973, the new Shatin town and urban development plan have brought the whole area a brand new face. Fotan, because of its natural character, separated from the living area in Shatin. It gradually turns into an independent industrial city, which prevent the problem of the being too close to the human living area, like Tseun Wan and Kwun Tong.

1997, the Asia Financial Crisis pulled down the rental price in Hong Kong, not only the residence housing, but also the industrial rental as well. Besides the great drop in rental price, the relocation of many of the local industrial factories to Shenzhen and other places in the Mainland China also gives contribution to the development of the Fotanian.

Actually, since the 80s, there are already a few artists such as Leung Chi-wo, who had already set up their own studio in Fotan. However, if one wants to trace the history of Fotanian, the starting year should be in 2001. That year, a group of 8 fine art students from the CUHK decided to set up a studio as a starting point of their artistic career. It marks a significant turning point of the history of the Fotanian. And these 8 students also represent the new generation in Hong Kong who yearns for a new sight of living. In the same year, these 8 students organized the first Fotanian event – the 318 open studio, together with the solo exhibition of Lee Kit at the Lui Chun-kwong studio (now calls the Yiliu Painting Factory). This is the story of the Fotanian, and through 8 years of endeavor, the open studio subsequently becomes one of the very important cultural events in Hong Kong.

This year, 49 studios, and more than 170 artists had join the event. The devotion of these artists are perceptibly active, their desire to tighten the relationship in between art and the public is obviously shows throughout the entire event. By taking this chance to go deep into the artist studio, as an audience, one can see not only the art works, but also the efforts and different working style, which hide behind the scene.

There are several impressive artworks like the Acrylic Skin 2009 by Chester Chu in the galleryMill studio, Deep River 2008 by Sindy, Wong Sin-yi in the 囡 studio, etc. However, the most emphatic work that I admire the most is the Sim City No.6_lost 2009 by Sim, Chan Wing-leung in the Kiss On Fire studio.

Sim Chan is currently studying his BA of Fine Art at the Hong Kong Art School and besides; he also participates in different creative area such as wall painting, graphic design and stage design. In this painting, what Chan is depicting is a city – Hong Kong, which you and I are living in. the work itself offers a breathless squeezing sensation to its spectators. What one can see in this painting at the very first sight is nothing more than a disorderliness abstract form, however, when the sight of the audience becomes crystallized through a few seconds of gazing to the painting, the structure of the whole picture gradually emerges, and it comes like an aerial view of the city. It shows a struggle in between disorderliness and arrangement. I would see this as a metaphor of the contemporary living style, which, agenda and emergent is not absolutely confronting, but also corresponding, just like the city itself and the people who lives inside. In Chan ‘s artist statement, he says, “Architecture determines the appearance of a city, it also represents human’s life. It brings human and space into harmony.” The rise and fall, up and down structure create human life, and also a contemporary sense of beauty.

After spending an afternoon in these industrial buildings, one may find a special feature of the artist studio in Hong Kong – crowded. Usually a group of 5 – 8 artists share a studio around 1000 ft. that ‘s mean 1 single artist would have around 200 to 300 ft as their working space. And also, the artists develop the entire Fotan open studio by themselves without any aid from the government at the beginning; the whole event only becomes a cultural one until 2003. It indicates that there is actually a lack of support of the development of local art from the Hong Kong government. Artists, as a career, is definitely an unprotected one in Hong Kong. That is the reason why, most of the local artists in Hong Kong are a part-time one, they need to have another job to make their living, and at the same time, use their leisure time to continue their artistic career. Therefore, through the entire open studio project, large-scale works are rarely seen due to the lack of space and supports, and this also manifests the limitation of the local art industry. To solve this problem is to developed a better cultural policy, for example like a systematic funding policy from the government to help these artists to continue renting studio and get rid of the crowded working environment. Nevertheless, the Fotan Open Studio event is still a remarkable event in Hong Kong, which links up the artists and the public.

Mixed Media
Acrylic Skin 2009
Chester Chu, galleryMill

Mixed Media

Deep River 2008

Sindy, Wong Sin-yi , 囡 studio

Oil on Canvas

Sim City No.6_lost 2009

Sim, Chan Wing-leung, Kiss On Fire studio

Fotanian: Fotan Artists Open Studios 2009

Date: 10 – 11 & 17 – 18, January, 2009

Time: 2:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Enquiries: fotanian2009@gmail.com/ 6700 6591/ 6578 8155