Movana Chen created a set of unique characters for showing at Art Basel Hong Kong, presented by Flowers Gallery. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Deep within a Chai Wan industrial building overlooking the sea with Tseung Kwan O in the distance, Movana Chen brews a pot of tea as she takes questions on her maiden outing at Art Basel Hong Kong. Besides debuting her ink calligraphy alongside her more well-known knit installations at the fair, Chen, who is represented by Flowers Gallery, will share insights into her work at a daily tea ceremony.

Chen, along with Leelee Chan, represented by Capsule Shanghai, is among the Hong Kong female artists featured at ABHK this year. She welcomes the opportunity to emerge after more than a year of pandemic restrictions. “The last time I travelled was in March 2020,” she said. “During lockdown, I began to experiment with ink and calligraphy, (in order) to translate memories into symbols.” 

A piece from Movana Chen’s Body Container series is on show at Art Basel Hong Kong. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Chen’s new series is titled “Word of Heart Beat”. The symbols she created are brushed vertically onto clear glass panes with some Chinese characters and other pictograms of what Chen has been experiencing recently thrown into the mix. Fifty such “characters” she created recently are on show at ABHK. “Each symbol has its own energy,” Chen said. “They capture my memory of being with others.” 

She does not categorize herself as a female artist, as she feels her themes are universal.

The pandemic proved to be fruitful for Chen, who used the period of staying at home to dabble in ceramics — a medium she previously had no time to explore. When she went on walks, she carried oil pastels and paper to sketch with. Her “kniterature” collection — shredded maps and dictionaries knitted into body containers and other forms — has grown too. One such container figures in the ABHK show.  

Leelee Chan is showing the findings from her BMW art journey at Art Basel Hong Kong. (RAYMOND CHAN / CHINA DAILY)

Longing for the personal touch

Alisan Fine Arts’ director, Daphne King, feels female artists the world over are under the spotlight at this moment. Her gallery though has supported them since the 1980s, when her mother Alice King held the reins. “Personally, it is an area that I have placed a heavy emphasis on since taking over the running of the gallery in the early 2010s,” says King. “Having said that, I think an artist’s work still has to stand on its own, regardless of the sex of the creator.” 

Besides having a booth in ABHK, Alisan Fine Arts is running an exhibition dubbed “Chinese Surrealism,” featuring works by four Hong Kong female artists at their Aberdeen gallery. The works of Cherry Cheuk Ka-wai, Ant Ng Wing-lam, Zhang Xiaoli and Charlotte Mui are a response to a show on French surrealism currently on at Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Alisan Fine Arts’ Chinese Surrealism show features works by Charlotte Mui. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Wang Mengsha’s dreamy watercolors were created especially for Alisan Fine Arts’ booth at Art Basel Hong Kong. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

“Ng’s human figures with fish heads are inspired by her dreams and experiences of growing up in Hong Kong,” King explains. “Cheuk’s work on the other hand reflects her day-to-day experiences in Hong Kong as well as her view of the city as an East-West-old-new blend. I think these themes are quite personal and believe that on a universal level, each artist explores different themes regardless of their sex.” 

Alisan’s ABHK offering is focused on artists from the Chinese diaspora. The list includes master painters Walasse Ting, Ming Fay and Chu Teh-chun, as well as contemporary ink artists Zhang Jianjun and Wang Mengsha. 

“Emerging female artist Wang Mengsha’s small, colorful, dreamy works of sexual fantasy are worth highlighting as they were all created specifically for our booth,” King stated. “Her feminist ink paintings are very unique and daring.” 

Daphne King, who runs Alisan Fine Arts, says  the gallery has promoted female artists since the 1980s. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

King admits that she had to change gears due to the ongoing pandemic: “Sadly, many of our clients will not be able to attend the fair in person, so I have selected works that I think are easier to appreciate online, such as Walasse Ting’s brightly colored works of ladies, flowers and birds.”

Drawing from experience gleaned during the past year, King increased the range of price points and included more established artists, as she finds they are easier to sell online. “Having said that, personal outreach to clients is still the most important, whether online or offline,” she said. 

Chen feels the same: “We have online sharing sessions as well as the ones at the booth, but I don’t like communicating online. I rarely do it. And I have no expectations of the fair — I only have expectations of what I am able to accomplish.”