Leung Kui Ting originally set out to be a carpenter but his plans were derailed when he learned painting from prominent ink artist Lui Shou Kwan and then studied design under celebrated artist Wucius Wong at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Leung travelled extensively in the 1970s and 1980s but eventually returned to Hong Kong to concentrate on Chinese ink painting, eventually developing his own 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 career in two phases: the earlier ‘cause’ phase, which saw the artist experimenting for decades with Chinese ink and graphic design, and the ‘effect’ phase from 2000 onwards, which is a culmination of those trials. Roaming Vision, which is part of ECKART ASIA’s The Juanita Collection is from the second phase.
Hanart TZ Gallery founder Johnson Chang, who in 2014 mounted Geometry of the Spirit: 50 years of Leung Kui Ting, a major retrospective of the artist’s works, labels Leung’s artistic journey of experimentation and study as ‘contemporary becom(ing) infused with the traditional.’
Leung’s ingenuity lies in his use of a new methodology to give a modern interpretation to traditional Chinese art forms such as landscape and calligraphy. The use of ‘broken ink lines’, a Leung signature, gives the look and feel of texture to the artist’s paintings, as evidenced in the work ECKART ASIA owns. The strokes, while not obviously calligraphic, are still based on 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 a honorary advisor to the Leisure and Cultural Service Department.
