Tsang Kin-Wah () is a visual artist based in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. His earlier work, particularly his "wallpaper art", was known for its combination of beautiful illustration and painting, and for its use of profane or obscene words. More recently, he has explored topics related to politics and religion via large-form, multi-media installations that combine music, video and light projections.

Early life and education

Tsang was born in

Shantou Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative ...

, Guangdong Province, China, and moved to Hong Kong as a young child. He studied art at the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

and the

Camberwell College of Arts Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgra ...

in London on a

Chevening Scholarship The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarship ...

Wallpaper Art

His wallpaper art creates large-scale wallpaper installations that evoke the floral designs of William Morris in a style that has become known as word-art installation. It combines foul language with floral patterns (the text is arranged to form flowers and plants), highlighting the organic force intertwining nature and human; the surface being the text and the attached emotions as shouts to be discovered by the visitor.

Multimedia installations

Kin-Wah Tsang's most recent work explores topics in philosophy, religion, and popular culture through immersive multimedia installations. One of the first such installations was "Ecce Homo Trilogy”. The installation's idea is centered upon " Ecce Homo", a phrase that was both used by Pontius Pilate at the last judgment and as the title of a book by Nietzsche. By placing these two references together, Tsang questions the impartialness of judgment. The next major installation was "The Infinite Nothing,” a phrase also coming from Nietzsche. The installation consists of separate video installations that represent transformative journeys through stages in life. Following up on this work, his latest work "Nothing" continues to explore the idea of existence. It is the first commissioned exhibit of the $3 billion

West Kowloon Cultural District The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) is a large arts development in Hong Kong. Based on a Foster and Partners master plan and comprising , the district will eventually include 17 venues. The Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera, the Freespace c ...

Prizes and commissions

* In 2005, at the age of 29, Tsang won the US $25,000 Sovereign Art Foundation Prize. * In 2012, he was the first Hong Kong artist chosen to create a large installation for the new Hong Kong gallery of Pearl Lam. * In 2014, he was chosen to represent Hong Kong at the 2015

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. * In 2016, the Hong Kong government chose him again, to create the first solo show for the

. * In 2016, Tsang is part of a major group show of Chinese artists at the Guggenheim museum in New York. For example, see .

Museum and other collections

* A3 Collection, Kadist Art Foundation, USA * Burger Collection, Zurich, Switzerland * Camberwell College of Arts, the London Institute, London * CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands * Deutsche Bank Collection, Hong Kong * DSL Collection, Paris * Guggenheim Museum, New York * Mori Art Museum, Tokyo * Museum of Design Zurich, Switzerland * Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong * Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong * M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong * New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong * Sovereign Art Foundation, Hong Kong * The Sigg Collection, Switzerland * Thomas Shao Collection, Shanghai * William Lim's Living Collection, Hong Kong

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kin-Wah, Tsang 21st-century Chinese artists Hong Kong artists People from Shantou Alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Alumni of the University of the Arts London