Art and Place: Essays on Art from a Hong Kong Perspective

Abstract

The book brings together a series of essays about art in Hong Kong written over the last ten years, with the intention of offering a personal chronicle of the Hong Kong art world during a time of great change. Many of the essays concern themselves with the work of local artists, but Western and Chinese artists whose works have been exhibited in Hong Kong during this period are also discussed. In addition to a consideration of particular artists and works of art, there are also essays which engage with debates that have been taking place in Hong Kong concerning curatorship and various arts policy issues.

Fully illustrated and written in a straightforward style, Art and Place is one of the first serious attempts to evaluate the art of Hong Kong. It should be of use to anyone interested in the cultural life of one of Asia's leading cities.

David Clarke teaches in the Department of Fine Arts of the University of Hong Kong. He received his doctorate from the Courtauld Institute of the University of London in 1983, and came to Hong Kong in 1986. He has written on a wide variety of topics, but is particularly interested in American and Chinese art of the present century.

The essays assembled in this collection construct a mosaic-like image of the Hong Kong art world in a period of great change. The topics covered -- art and its contexts, art policy, Western art and Chinese art in Hong Kong, and representative local artists -- strengthen a sense of Hong Kong identity and illustrate an increasing maturity of public culture.