Preface
As an amateur painter, I always have an impulse to capture the beauty of a moment with my brush. Friends who have known me long enough know that I like to paint from childhood and it was a gift that had led me to study architecture. But as a habit to carry my painting tools on trips and even when I travel around locally, I only began since 2013 while taking a break recovering from operation and treatment on thyroid cancer. Thus it is not a long span of time to produce my present oeuvre which I would like to share with the public.
I call these work “glimpses” because they literally were the results of my fleeting glances whether from travel or leisure of a particular moment and gaze which I found appealing. They might range from the pink muhly grass on Jeju Island, the sunset on Westlake of Hangzhou, to the spectacle of the Eiffel Tower from across the Seine. More recently with the pandemic lockdown at home, my interests began to shift from landscapes to people and objects. Whatever the subject matter, they are the special moments of my perception crystalized through watercolours usually within half an hour or more.
I prefer watercolour as a medium not only because it is perfectly adept to perform this swift task of quick sketching but also because it uses water and brush very much like the oriental tradition of ink and brush, as I also practise traditional Chinese calligraphy. As my interest is on the actual scenery in front of my eyes, therefore my working method is very much like the Impressionists who would only paint – en plein air - while immersing in the real environment. The only exception is my painting of people and portraits, which is more difficult to get a model committed for even half an hour if it is simply a fleeting moment of the bodily gesture to be painted. Thus I use photographs instead.
The presentation of these glimpses on their own would be perfectly all right as visual art but I have attempted to add another dimension to the experience: a textual exigence of my visual work to help the viewing audience understand the circumstances that led to the paintings. I have always imagined that if Renoir, Monet or Van Gogh could write about their own work, it would give so much more pleasure to understand what was going on at the Moulin de la Galette, the Sunrise at Le Havre or the Starry Night in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The Horatian saying Ut pictura poesis (as in painting so is poetry) sums up pretty much my intention and aspiration towards an integral art form of word and image.
Desmond Hui
2020
序
作為一位業餘畫家，我經常都有衝動要用畫筆捕捉一刻的驚豔。認識我較久的朋友會知道繪畫是我從小的興趣，也是讓我選讀建築的一點天份。但作為我無論是到國外或在本地旅行時都會攜帶畫具的習慣，只是我從2013年在甲狀腺癌手術及治療後休養期間才開始的，故此我目前可分享的作品並非在很長的日子內完成。
我稱這些作品為《驚豔》是因為它們真的是在驚鴻一瞥下完成的，有的是在旅行途中，有的是在閒暇當中，對某個光景或凝視感到吸引，例如濟州的粉黛花海、杭州西湖的夕陽、或是巴黎鐵塔從塞納河隔岸的景觀。最近因為疫情封鎖居家工作後，我的凝視對象由風景轉移到人和物，但無論主題為何，這些作品都是我用水彩轉化結晶的獨特觀察，過程往往只需要半小時左右。
我選擇用水彩作媒介，不單是因為它適合作速寫，也因為它像東方水墨藝術用水和毛筆，我有時也會練習中國書法。因為我的興趣是眼前的實景，所以我像印象派畫家，必定要在浸淫式的環境下作畫，唯一例外的是人物和人像畫，因為捕捉人體在一瞬間的姿態是很難找到一個模特兒可以代替的，就算只是半小時的歷程。故此我會用照片畫人物。
作為視覺藝術，這些速寫完全可以獨立地展示，但我嘗試為它們加上了文字的注釋，好讓觀衆多一個維度去瞭解作品。我常常想像，假如雷諾瓦、莫内或梵高能書寫關於他們的作品，那我們會更高興及清楚在紅磨坊的舞場、勒阿弗爾的日出、或聖雷米的星夜發生了什麼事。羅馬詩人賀拉斯的名句《寫詩如繪畫》，正好縂結我對一種結合文字和畫像的藝術響往與追求。
許焯權
2020