Rosarians Re-Interpreted Moustache with a Contemporary Notion

Rosarians re-interpreted “moustache” with a contemporary notion

Rosaryhill School S.7 Graduates’ Visual Arts Exhibition at Chai Wan Youth Square and CC Wu Building

By Vincent LEE Kwun-leung Art Officer, Art Of Nature International Company Limited

What would you recall while observing a man’s “moustache”? You might associate such iconography with the facial features of John Tsang Chun-wah ( 曾俊華 ), the current Financial Secretary of HKSAR Government who were pressed by public resentment to deposit $6,000 in every citizen’s bank account. You might reminisce the charisma of Charlie Chan, the main character in a renowned British detective movie who entertained audiences with his humoured Oriental appearance throughout the past 20th century. To a group of A-Level Visual Arts graduates from Rosaryhill School ( 玫瑰崗學校 ), “moustache” corresponds with the notion of “sophistication”, which implies that they are getting mature enough to bear up the honourable identities as either “young artists” or “young designers”. Being courageous enough in contributing their unique aesthetic perspectives to the academia of Hong Kong, this group of Rosarian young artists initiated a Graduation Exhibition in Chai Wan Youth Square and CC Wu Building, with “Moustaches – Show” ( 鬚 SHOW) as an inspiring theme to catch public attention. Under the curatorial effort of Mr. Kevin Leung ( 梁崇任老師 ), the “Moustache – Show” presented widespread art lovers with both an exposition-oriented grooming and an energetic impression.

The “Moustache – Show” was divided into two sessions. The first session, being held in Chai Wan Youth Square, emphasized on acrylic paintings, graphic designs, illustrations and photographies

1 created by the participating Rosarian artists. These works provide Hong Kong art circuit with useful references in terms of exploring curatorial opportunities for the adolescent artists whom exposed to diversified mediums and inspirations in their creativity. The second session, being held in CC Wu Building, emphasized on still-life drawings, figure drawings, gesture drawings, ceramics, fashion designs and installations. Apart from promoting the concreted fruits of their studio-art endeavour, the Visual Arts Department of Rosaryhill School particularly encouraged the graduates to present art lovers with a professional mode of “reminiscence” on their process of “idea development”. Thus, both expressionistic and adventitious contexts in drawing, sketches, hand-building and re-laying of substances were positively accepted as precious outcomes to demonstrate how the Rosarian young artists developed innermost sentiments based on their empathy towards the humanistic, trendy and social affairs.

2 3 Alexander Yeung Tsan-hei’s pursuit on Photorealism sets a wholesome example for stressing an absolute correctness in anatomical structures despite of presenting a contemporary awareness on the globalization of Japanese culture in the aspect of performing arts. From his monochrome portraiture on Ayumi Hamasaki, we can see that Alexander Yeung described her hair, eyesight, skin and facial textures as refined as the modified visual effect in magazine pages. Alexander Yeung is regarded as an avant-garde to revive the spirit of “chairoscuro” with a media-oriented vision. He particularly admired Japanese illustration artists, for their endurance in exploring perfections through an inheritance of their racial art styles and their Neo-Confucian practice of unquestioned diligence. Moreover, we comprehend how Alexander Yeung is so talented in transforming the humble and abandoned materials as luxurious costumes. The two fashionable dresses, created by Alexander Yeung, enhanced Contemporary Feminism as a mysterious notion to encourage adolescent ladies being confident with their potentials to highlight both their intrinsic and external beauty while encountering with the social-gathering and dating activities.

4 Wong Pui-ling found an innovative method to pursue figure drawing in a more fashionable mean. From her work shown in CC Wu Building, Wong Pui-ling expressed a lady’s physical compositions with delineative contours by making use of her thin ink-brush. She never considered of over-exaggerating the contrasting norms beyond concave and convex parts of that lady’s skins, but to splash a slight portion of pale Chinese ink onto the fatty parts of her belly and the background. Wong Pui-ling regarded the leaning posture of this swim-weared lady with high- heeled shoes as an enchanting norm to mark the growing liberal-mindedness of our Oriental society in accepting adolescent ladies to expose their naturalistic body parts for a more aesthetic and marketing-oriented level of public appreciation. She seemingly defends the privilege of modern ladies in terms of deserving respect from those who honour traditional patriarchism, as these ladies are qualified with genuine abilities in consolidating their status of domination for re- modifying the trend of beauty judgment in our society.

5 Tsang Ching-yee presented her utmost respect on Michael Jackson’s achievements with a pop-art vision. Michael Jackson is historically renowned with his endearing melodies, his moon-walk, his strong motivations in approaching the weakness groups with a charitable mind, and his contribution in enhancing the social status of black people in the United States. The reason for Tsang Ching-yee to apply pop-art style on her portraiture is that, she realized Michael Jackson as being manifested unnoticeably by the capitalists as a cultural soft power to make the Oriental people be submissive with the institutional norms of American music, and we Hong Kong adolescents would undoubtedly regard Michael Jackson as a typical example of universal pop star to bear up with the responsibility as an ambassador to promote world peace, advocate fraternity and initiate the Great Powers to be sympathetic with the impoverished countries who suffer from either famines or war disasters. In fact, by using Michael Jackson as an example, Tsang seemingly encouraged the adolescents in Hong Kong, who are enthusiastic with the ever-changing trends of pop music, to offer a greater extent of caring spirits for the international affairs, perceive the virtue of selfless dedication, and be thanksgiving with what they currently enjoy from daily life apart from a blind adoration on the artistic charisma of particular singers.

6 To uphold popular culture with a pro-technological approach, Jamie Tsang adopted Charlene Choy, a renowned member of Twins who was also a distinguished alumnus from Rosaryhill School, as a target for re-fabricating the trivial illusions from his subconscious mind; in which such illusions corresponded with his motive of imagining how an idealistic pop singer appeared in either concerts or press media with her appearance being thoroughly varnished by artificial cosmetics. In this monochrome painting, Jamie Tsang described Charlene Choy with dark but sparkling eye-shadows, which shared much similarity with the luxurious feministic representation of Marilyn Monroe and Lady Gaga. Yet, Jamie Tsang’s artistic expression seemingly implies a fact that, the adolescents nowadays, for their prior adoration on those ladies with wild and emancipated personalities, have been unnoticeably persuading the star agencies to enfranchise females with an anti-humanitarian mode of beauty perceptions. In fact, Jamie Tsang’s painting has raised our concern on whether ladies with naturalistic beauty would be regarded by the general social atmosphere as a norm with tremendous marketing values for an advanced level of performing-art career development, which equally suits the promotion strategies of diversified trademark clients.

7 Mark Chung created a self-expressive Chinese painting called “A Hero Feeling Regretted for Dying from the Nuisance of Bird”, which unveiled the humour of enigmatic jokes in British culture. Mark applied the iconography of a cock’s head to represent “lust”. Such notion remarkably conflicted with the skinny but Taoist appearance of an elderly, whom was portrayed with textural strokes and subtle chrominance. Conveying sexual affairs in figurative painting is regarded as a breakthrough on the aesthetic taboo of literati-art traditions in China. Mark Chung dared to manifest the flexibility of self-expressiveness and directness in Chinese-ink infiltration for his stylistic purpose of exaggerating human anatomy in a more propaganda-oriented level. He seemingly persuades art lovers from the elder generation to observe Chinese fine arts with stimulating or ironic contexts with mildness and acceptance.

8 To conclude, the young artists from Rosaryhill School made a very self-motivating attempt in building up their critical perspectives on diversified social phenomenon in this contemporary epoch. The “Moustache – Show” exhibition was a significant milestone for this group of Rosarians to further acknowledge the values of their “creative egos”, which are no longer disordered by any schools of conventional art thoughts. Throughout their two years of studying experiences in taking A-Level Visual Arts course, this group of Rosarians were trained to be very confident with their ability in expressing what they were eager for in their subconscious minds. A sophisticated level of coordination was sought among techniques of inter-disciplinary representation, sedimentation of visual experiences, exploration of superegos, conciliation with universal virtues and sensitivity on trendy norms. Thus, they deserve to be honoured as authentic leaders who will contribute striking ideas for the wholesome transformation of visual and creative cultures in Hong Kong.