Master and Apprentice

EVENT DESCRIPTION

We are pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition “Master and Apprentice”. The exhibition showcases the works by Hong Kong-born American photographer Tseng Kwong Chi and American photographer Christopher Makos from the Sansiao Gallery collection, and unveils new works by the Hong Kong visual artist Rachel Ip.

In theory of master-apprentice relationship, master represents the establishment – matters that are defined, secured and certain; apprentice symbolises revolution – matters that are open to interpretation, mutable and uncertain. This uncertainty, however, breeds changes and innovations. Master offers experiences and knowledge to apprentice, and apprentice creates experiments and new ideas.

When photography was introduced in the early 19th century, many people thought painting would be dead soon. However, painting has instead evolved philosophically and transformed aesthetically throughout the modern era to the contemporary days. The new technology of photography encouraged innovation and creativity in the traditional art form of painting, with both art forms blooming since then. This is not that an apprentice must replace a master, but it is possible for both to develop together. This development demonstrates a fascinating concept of master-apprentice relationship: by bringing together the inherited knowledge and experience from a master and innovations of an apprentice, this will evolve into something completely new.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Tseng Kwong Chi (1950 - 1990) was a Hong Kong-born American photographer who was active in the East Village art scene in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1966, his family immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. He received his formal art training in Paris and graduated with honours in 1975. Shortly after his arrival in New York City in 1978, he became friends with Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Sex, Kenny Scharf, Bill T. Jones, and other contemporaries documenting luminaries of the downtown scene. Tseng is internationally known for his photographic series “East Meets West” also called “Expeditionary Self-Portrait Series”.

Christopher Makos, born in 1948 in Lowell, Massachusetts, is an American photographer and artist. He apprenticed with photographer Man Ray in Paris and collaborated with Andy Warhol. Since the early 1970s, he has worked on developing a style of boldly graphic photojournalism. Makos has been a seminal figure in the contemporary art scene in New York. He introduced Warhol to the work of both Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Warhol called Makos the "most modern photographer in America".

Rachel Hiu-Yin Ip is a Hong Kong based visual artist. She graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) with a BAFA degree in photography in 2009. She studied in the Master of Fine Art program in RMIT and complete a Master degree of Cultural Studies in Lingnan University in 2014. Her photographic works were held in numerous exhibitions in Hong Kong, the UK and mainland China, and acquired in many private collections. Rachel is a keen promoter of the arts and a founding member of The Upper Station, a gallery focusing on contemporary photography. She has been an educator on film and photography in The Hong Kong Art School and The School of Creative Media of The City University of Hong Kong. Currently, she is a lecturer for Hong Kong Metropolitan University (The Open University of Hong Kong).