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Lot Essay
In October 2015, Matthew Wong held a solo exhibition entitled Pulse of the Land at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre. The exhibition was on view for only 5 days, and consisted of 38 paintings dated to 2015, including several canvases and 23 works on paper. A self-curated show, Pulse of the Land marked Matthew Wong's debut solo presentation in Hong Kong, and was the artist's first notable exhibition.
Birds II was one of the largest acrylic on paper works exhibited in Pulse of the Land, and it depicts a flock of multi-hued birds tumbling and wheeling in flight against a bright fuchsia background. In this painting we can see the artist's interest in blending the figurative and the abstract, as well as his careful investigation of color and texture in his work.
As stated in the catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition, "Matthew Wong's practice is an extensive investigation into the act of painting as a vehicle for the discovery of existential truths. Working without preconceived ideas or guidelines on how to make a painting, he seeks to apply a vast array of painterly techniques, with an emphasis on experimentation and intuition that is nevertheless keenly aware of a wide variety of art historical precedents, ranging from classical Chinese painting, the pulsating brushstrokes of Chaim Soutine and Vincent Van Gogh, to the internal subjectivity of abstract expressionism. […] Neither fully abstract nor figurative, the landscape as it appears in Matthew's paintings nevertheless displays suggestive traits of human features to emphasize the interchangeability between man and nature."
A portion of the proceeds from this sale will be donated to the Children's Medical Foundation. The mission of the Children's Medical Foundation (CMF) is to develop and implement sustainable health care solutions for children in Asia, with a focus on helping underprivileged children. By establishing collaborative partnerships and institutional linkages, CMF provides capacity building initiatives to bring accessible health care to rural communities and to strengthen primary care and community health in Asia.
Birds II was one of the largest acrylic on paper works exhibited in Pulse of the Land, and it depicts a flock of multi-hued birds tumbling and wheeling in flight against a bright fuchsia background. In this painting we can see the artist's interest in blending the figurative and the abstract, as well as his careful investigation of color and texture in his work.
As stated in the catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition, "Matthew Wong's practice is an extensive investigation into the act of painting as a vehicle for the discovery of existential truths. Working without preconceived ideas or guidelines on how to make a painting, he seeks to apply a vast array of painterly techniques, with an emphasis on experimentation and intuition that is nevertheless keenly aware of a wide variety of art historical precedents, ranging from classical Chinese painting, the pulsating brushstrokes of Chaim Soutine and Vincent Van Gogh, to the internal subjectivity of abstract expressionism. […] Neither fully abstract nor figurative, the landscape as it appears in Matthew's paintings nevertheless displays suggestive traits of human features to emphasize the interchangeability between man and nature."
A portion of the proceeds from this sale will be donated to the Children's Medical Foundation. The mission of the Children's Medical Foundation (CMF) is to develop and implement sustainable health care solutions for children in Asia, with a focus on helping underprivileged children. By establishing collaborative partnerships and institutional linkages, CMF provides capacity building initiatives to bring accessible health care to rural communities and to strengthen primary care and community health in Asia.