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
1
Youth Square, emphasized on acrylic paintings, graphic designs, illustrations and photographies
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.
9