Hong Kong Art: Culture and Decolonization - Hardcover

Clarke, David J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0822329050 ISBN 13: 9780822329053

Publisher: Duke University Press, 2001

Synopsis

Hong Kong Art is the first comprehensive survey of contemporary art from Hong Kong presented within the changing social and political context of the territory's 1997 handover from British to Chinese sovereignty. Tracing a distinctive and increasingly vibrant art scene from the late 1960s through the present, David Clarke discusses a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, video, and installations, as well as other kinds of visual production such as architecture, fashion, graphic design, and graffiti. Clarke shows how a sense of local identity emerged in Hong Kong as the transition approached and found expression in the often politicized art produced. Given the recent international exposure of mainland Chinese contemporary art, this book considers the uniqueness of the art of China's most cosmopolitan city. With a modern visual culture that was flourishing even when the People's Republic was still closed to the outside world, Hong Kong has established itself as an exemplary site for both local and transnational elements to formulate into brilliant and groundbreaking art. The author writes about individual artists and art works with a detail that will appeal to artists, curators, and art historians, as well as to postcolonial scholars, cultural studies scholars, and others.

About this title

Review:

"[A] welcome addition to the literature on contemporary art in China."
--Jason C. Kuo, "China Review International"

"This is an exciting look at the visual perspectives from many groundbreaking voices of Hong Kong's contemporary art scene. It showcases a wide range of (multi)media, including photography, video, painting, architecture, installation, and sculpture. Clarke even delves into fashion and graffiti, tracing Hong Kong art as it reflects social moods and politics from the '60s to the Handover."
--Giant Robot

"[A] lucid narrative, substantial research, and an awareness of art history writing. . . ."
--Ka-Fai Yau," Journal of Aesthetic Education"

""Hong Kong Art" persuasively illustrates the distinctiveness of Hong Kong art and its relation to Chinese culture. It is a worthwhile point from which to initiate discussion on a body of art that provokes multiple perspectives. . . . [A]ccompanied by a lengthy bibliography that may be the most comprehensive English-language bibliography of Hong Kong visual art to date."
--Joan Kee, "CAA Reviews"

"[P]rovocative. . . . The book is accompanied by a lengthy bibliography that may be the most comprehensive English-language bibliography of Hong Kong visual art to date. . . . [F]ascinating insights. . . . "Hong Kong Art" persuasively illustrates the distinctiveness of Hong Kong art and its relation to Chinese culture. It is a worthwhile point from which to initiate discussion on a body of art that provokes multiple perspectives."
--Joan Kee, "CAA Reviews"

About the Author:

David Clarke is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Modern Art: A Graphic Guide, The Influence of Oriental Thought on Postwar American Painting and Sculpture, Art and Place: Essays on Art from a Hong Kong Perspective, and Modern Chinese Art.

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0822329050
• ISBN 13: 9780822329053
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224