Leung Kui Ting originally set out to be a carpenter until he studied painting with Lui Shou Kwan and graduated from The Chinese University in Hong Kong where he studied design under Hong Kong artist, Wucius Wong.
In the 1970s and 1980s Leung travelled extensively and eventually returned to Hong Kong to concentrate on Chinese Ink painting where he developed his iconic technique using landscape art as a foundation. He spent many years experimenting with integrating Chinese and Western techniques to develop his own style.
Leung divides his artistic career in two phases – the earlier “cause” phase which are decades of experimentation with Chinese ink and graphic design and the “effect” phase from 2000 onwards which is a culmination of those trials. The Juanita’s “Roaming Vision” (2020) is from the second phase.
Johnson Chang, founder of Hanart TZ and co-founder of Asia Art Archive, who mounted “Geometry of the Spirit: 50 years of Leung Kui Ting,” a major retrospective for the artist in 2014, labels Leung’s artistic journey of experimentation and study as “contemporary becom (ing) infused with the traditional.”
The use of “broken ink-lines” is his signature and this method gives the look and feel of texture to his work as evidenced in the work we own. The strokes are not obviously calligraphic but they are based on calligraphy. Therein lies Leung’s ingenuity in using a new methodology in a contemporary interpretation of traditional Chinese art forms like landscape and calligraphy.
M+ Hong Kong owns some of Leung’s work and included him in “The Weight of Lightness,” a special exhibition on Chinese Ink in 2017. He is currently a lecturer at Hong Kong Polytechnic and the Director of the Hong Kong Chingying Institute of Visual Arts, as well as the Honorary Advisor to the Leisure and Cultural Service Department, Hong Kong.
