Chen Yan (former dean of Art Institute of Shantou University, deputy dean of Shantou Chinese Painting Academy)

    Today, there is a new art exhibition at Lingdong Museum of Arts. It is a specially planned exhibition of Lingdong Museum of Arts. The art works exhibited are oil paintings. The author has a deep knowledge. She is a Ph.D. from the study of art. As all we know, the academic knowledge of a doctor should be very strong. For fine arts, she studied the history of oriental art. Therefore, she should have a deeper knowledge. There is no doubt about her unique knowledge of art. But her writings are not like these paintings. The benefit of painting is because of simplicity. It is an art of color. For the painting, we can see at a glance what she is painting for and thinking of. It would not be that easy if we just read the article. After all, there is always a benefit of painting compared to writing.

    In addition, Ms. Siu has started to paint for seven years. During the period between 2011 and 2014, most of her paintings were more realistic and more decorative. From 2015 and onwards, her style has slowly turned into more abstractive. She has expressed an emotional feeling which is an art of blur. Through her paintings, we can walk into the painter's inside world and see her painting concept and personal style formed by her living environment, family background and cultural education. In her early paintings, regarding those decorative and realistic lotus ponds, she used the oil painting strokes to depict flowers and leaves in order to produce the effect of emboss, which is a way of strong expression. From 2015 onwards, she has expressed the moonlight of lotus pond with some poetic feelings at her relatively abstract and blurry paintings. I think these expressions and changes are full of modern sense. Because Hong Kong is also a city of modern international development, there are a large number of modern art exhibitions from various countries around the world every year. Besides, Ms. Siu's artistic background from her own family, her contacts with some artists, her insights, and the books she reads as well as her knowledge all can be displayed on her oil paintings. We can definitely feel them. Everyone can feel differently about the artwork. I thought she is a very outstanding person, an outstanding young person, and a very modern painter. Her oil painting has its own distinct style. She is still growing and she is still developing. She will have a promising future.

(Speech at the opening of "Step by Step - The Lotus Pond Series Oil Paintings Exhibition of Siu Fun Kee" at January 13, 2018)

    We can feel her living environment from her works. She lives in an international metropolis like Hong Kong. Every year, there are many large-scale exhibitions of modern works from different countries in the world which have some influence on her paintings. In addition, she has held a doctorate degree of art. Based on her knowledge and understanding of art, we can feel her interpretation of art through her paintings. Some of her works are more figurative and more decorative. The others are more abstract. Either those between figurative and abstract, or completely abstract, we can all see why the painter wants to paint like that. One is her understanding of the aesthetics of painting and the other is her feeling. Through those comparatively abstract pictures, she expresses a thought, a feeling, and an artistic accomplishment. With pictures of a large number of moonlights, water reflections, and lotus-shaped symbols, her works really show a modern expression of youthfulness and modernity as well as her very own unique pursuit.

    The most impressive are those almost blurry dotted lines like the moonlight and reflection, which are more often found in abstract paintings. The reflection of the lotus leaf in the water and the blurry moonlight are quite impressive on the semi-abstract paintings. The impression is more profound in some early decorative paintings, while the paintings of the lotus leaves are painted with some oil painting brushwork and the colors are piled up in a thick way. Although she has been influenced by Monet's paintings as a heuristic, it is still her picture with her own style. Monet basically belongs to some kind of realistic painting method from impressionism. While many of her works are relatively abstract and are considered as a way of expressing emotions. This kind of abstract emotional expression is relatively common in Chinese ink painting. She is a Chinese literary person. Her works are bound to be influenced by Western paintings, as well as the Chinese people's own homeland sentiments. All of these are revealed naturally on her works. She can create her own works only in this way. It is not that good if she just imitate Western painting completely. Since she has a lot of her own approach and inspiration, her works have become more personalized with comparative prominence.

(Media interview at the venue of "Step by Step - The Lotus Pond Series Oil Paintings Exhibition of Siu Fun Kee" at January 13, 2018)