EDDIE LUI FUNG NGAR (aka LV Fengya in Putonghua) was born in 1947 in Hong Kong, where his parents had settled some years earlier. However, while still a toddler, Eddie’s parents took him to their former rural home in Haifeng County, Guangdong Province, where he stayed until 1956 before returning to his place of birth to receive an education.
Growing up in a city where East meets West, Eddie was privileged to witness the sociological changes in Hong Kong and its one-of-a-kind metamorphosis from a light industrial port to a regional manufacturing hub; and then from a busy entrepot to one of the world’s leading financial service centres; and subsequently transforming into a sophisticated metropolis where art and culture could flourish.
In his late teens, having secured his livelihood with a nine-to-five job at a local bank, Eddie pursued his art studies by enrolling in a three-year part-time visual arts programme with the Extramural Studies Department (now SPACE, the School of Professional and Continued Education) at The University of Hong Kong. This uniquely structured institution, under the directorship of Jon A. Prescod (1925– 1994), utilised established artists, art critics and historians whose tutorials helped nurture a new breed of visual artists who became leading practitioners in the Asia Pacific art scene.
Encouraged by his experiences, Eddie chose to spend a further year taking a specialised Sunday programme in contemporary ink art at the same institution. That timely involvement in the developmental path of the contemporary ink movement, pioneered by Hong Kong’s leading ink painters, furnished him with a multifaceted approach towards the realisation of his unique direction in contemporary ink culture.
Eddie’s first one-person ink painting exhibition in 1973 was the catalyst to establishing his artistic career and taking a leading role in developing contemporary art in Hong Kong. That same year he helped set up the Hong Kong Visual Arts Society in partnership with other major players passionately preaching and spreading a unique visual art culture.
So began Eddie’s double-life of banker by day and art promoter and practitioner in every spare moment. His managerial and operations exposure with international financial institutions enhanced his career path and enriched his working life; it had in many ways expanded his vision on the role of art in the nature of life. He currently lives in Hong Kong, practicing visual art, 3-D design and working as a visual art consultant.
His artworks are included in the permanent collection of the Douro Museum, Alijo, Portugal (2022 & 2019); the Diaghilev Museum of Modern Art of the St. Petersburg State University (2019); the International Printmaking Centre of the National Taiwan Normal University (2019); the Muzeul de Arta Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2018); the Xishuangbanna Museum of Ethnology, Jinghong City, Yunnan, China (2018); the Gao Xiaohua Museum of Fine Arts, the Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu City, Szechuan, China (2017); Kinmen County Ceramics Factory, Kinmen Islands, Taiwan (2010); Jingdezhen Ceramic Art Museum, Jiangxi Province, China (2004); the Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China (2001); Ibrahim Hussein Museum and Cultural Foundation, Langkawi, Malaysia (2000); the Ceramic Art Museum, Foshan, China (2000); Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, Alberta, Canada (1993); And in Hong Kong, the M+, Hong Kong; The Hong Kong Museum of Art; The Hong Kong Heritage Museum; University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong; Hong Kong Arts Centre; The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; The MTR Corporation, Hong Kong; the Hong Kong Jockey Club; the Hongkong Land Limited and other cultural bodies and corporations and private collectors.
Artist’s Statement by Eddie Lui
Starting from “Close Encounter with Nature”
從《微觀穹蒼》講起 … 呂豐雅創作⾃⽩
My Work 作品
In my ink painting, I employ various skills of textural treatment as that had been rendered by the literati painters in depicting their spiritual tour of the countryside landscapes. I also have the habit of hammering my ceramic forms with plentiful of handmade physical texture.
Call it a happy coincidence whereby the painter of contemporary subjects and maker of wood-fired ceramic objects are having so much fun in creating negative space and lines from that chunks of dark splash and ink dots; and the painstaking way of coming up with the textural effect on the smooth surface of that big lump of clay.
我的現代⽔墨繪畫引⽤了很多中國⼭⽔畫𥚃的皴法，其構圖效果為我的畫⾯提供了豐富的肌理感覺。
My modern ink painting cites a lot of Chinese mountain water painting 𥚃’s cracking method, and its composition effect provides my picture with a rich sense of texture.
這種從⿊留⽩形成的皴紋與我在柴燒陶塑以⼿打造出來的粗糙質感相互呼應，亦是創作者有幸遊走於⼯藝製作到視藝創作的⼀點喜悅及收穫。
This kind of crackling pattern formed from black and white echoes with the rough texture I created by hand in the firewood pottery sculpture, and it is also a little joy and harvest for the creator who is fortunate to travel from craft production to visual art creation.