Between Modern and Contemporary: Fong Chung-ray (馮鐘瑞)

The exhibition focuses on the artist’s mature work, which incorporates styles over the course of his career, calligraphy, splashes of acrylic, and found materials such as sheets of plastic, and is an abstract style that doesn’t fit neatly into any category of Chinese, Asian or Western. At first glance, this approach does not seem particularly innovative. However, it is precisely these techniques and artistry that Fong, now into his eighties and still a prolific painter, has set the stage for abstract Chinese art throughout his career. As curator Manni Liu points out, “Fong Chung-ray’s importance in the history of Chinese modernism lies in his relentless pursuit of a new visual language that combines Chinese and Western sensibilities.” While many artists in the 1950s and 1960s were content with perfecting brush and ink techniques, Fong instead explored new realms. Currently, his work can be found “in many younger Chinese artists, [and a] noticeable influence from Fong, whether they like to admit it or not.”