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Hong Kong Art: Culture and Decolonization
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.
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.
- GenresArt
224 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2001
25 people want to read
About the author
David Clarke
8 booksLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
David Clarke is Professor in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, in 1983 and has lived in Hong Kong since 1986. He is both a photographer and an art historian, and his photographic art has been exhibited many times in Hong Kong, as well as in a number of other countries, including Australia and Canada. His black and white photos of Hong Kong during the handover years are featured in Reclaimed Land Hong Kong in Transition (Hong Kong University Press, 2002). Among his other books are Hong Kong Art Culture and Decolonization and Modern Chinese Art.
David Clarke is Professor in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, in 1983 and has lived in Hong Kong since 1986. He is both a photographer and an art historian, and his photographic art has been exhibited many times in Hong Kong, as well as in a number of other countries, including Australia and Canada. His black and white photos of Hong Kong during the handover years are featured in Reclaimed Land Hong Kong in Transition (Hong Kong University Press, 2002). Among his other books are Hong Kong Art Culture and Decolonization and Modern Chinese Art.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 5, 2018
Decent as an introductory read to Hong Kong art. Provides ample political context for the according development.
Displaying 1 of 1 review