Rouge Art – Behind the scenes of my latest group show
- Richard M Crosbie
- Jan 14
- 10 min read
How it all started.
I first met Eric Chin in May 2024 as I was exhibiting at the Affordable Art Fair. I was standing next to my wall display on the ‘Hong Kong Arts Collective’ booth trying to promote my artwork in some way to potential customers. I’m not sure how exactly one goes about promoting one’s work at an art fair, it’s not like I’m selling fish by pound at a local wet market, but I was there nevertheless.
I'm trying to be at least ‘on hand’ if anyone has any questions about my artwork.
This is when Eric approached me, asking questions enthusiastically about my art and myself.
“Great!” I thought to myself as I unleashed a torrent of facts, background information, and heartfelt musings about my inspiration for each artwork on display. It was then that I heard the phrase that I have come to dread at these sorts of events “Oh, really, well I’m an artist too!”. Then my hopes of making a sale to a potential customer vanished like a puff of smoke and a sinking feeling appeared in the pit of my stomach. “Oh really? That’s great to hear,” I said with my most earnest smile of forced appreciation and surprise.
I find this to be one of the most stressful things to happen at a commercial art exhibition. Each of the participating artists is hoping for the best and that they can sell their artwork. We put a brave face on things but secretly we hope beyond hope that everything we display sells. Most of us have invested a lot of money into sharing a booth or wall space, not to mention the cost of framing artwork and transporting it to the venue, or the time in man hours that has gone into creating it. To hear someone say that they are an artist too means that they have no interest in buying your art and are only attending the event to pick up ideas or promote themselves to galleries
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So I braced myself for what I was sure to be a one-way conversation about ‘his’ art and ‘his’ story, however, that was not the case. Instead, Eric expressed his desire to collaborate in some way. One idea he floated was to try going to the Affordable Art Fair in Singapore together and sharing the cost of a booth there. I thought that the idea was fine in principle for most artists, but my artwork is mostly Hong Kong-focused and I am not sure how well it would be received in another Asian city.
So instead I suggested that we possibly try having some form of group exhibition in Hong Kong first. We shook hands, swapped name cards and that was that. A pleasant if somewhat casual meeting and one that I thought would not really amount to anything.
An idea rekindled.
Sometime later I received a message from Eric asking if I would like to join him and a few others in a group exhibition at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. “For sure!” I said thinking that any chance to display my artwork in public would be good even if no commercial activity would be allowed.
Again some time passes and I am busy with my Christmas season events, which not only includes my art business but my hobbies of singing with both the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir and a mixed a cappella group. This busy season was condensed due to my trave l plans to visit my wife’s family in Vancouver for Christmas and New Year. Hence I was not paying full attention to my diary in the new year.
Only when Eric messaged me again to remind me of the dates of our group exhibition between the 10th to 13th of January did I suddenly realize that I was double booked and would not be present in Hong Kong until I returned from my holidays on January 11th.
This was when Eric offered to help me set up my artwork in my absence and move the official opening from the first day (Friday) to Sunday instead. This kind gesture was a good indication of Eric’s positivity and selflessness. With a plan to deliver my artwork to Eric’s office before I left town in place, we set about discussing the details of the exhibition.
The rest of the team: Eric
Eric Ming Yuen Chih to give him his full name, was born and raised in Hong Kong. At the age of 17, he went overseas to study in Perth Australia, and later on in Adelaide and eventually in Wellington New Zealand. Eric graduated from the School of Architecture in 1994 and has practiced as a registered architect in Hong Kong. He founded the company CHIH Design Ltd in 2004 and has been a director of the firm ever since.
Eric’s involvement in the world of art was not only practice-related but also through his teaching in architectural presentations in universities and art institutions. In 2020, when the world was in lockdown, Eric began sharing his love of watercolour painting online. The online sharing quickly grew to hundreds of people in several Asian countries. This struck a chord with me as it reminded me of my own ‘covid career change’ and I could see that we had a lot in common. Eric then held his first art exhibition in 2023 and is now committed to finding new directions for his watercolour paintings. Eric then introduced me to two artists named Tommy and Yafaa, with whom he had connected with and who would be sharing the exhibition venue with us.
The rest of the team: Yafaa
YaFaa (also known as Ciou Rong Chen) has 28 years of experience in painting and has been specializing in murals for over 7 years. After graduation from the National Taiwan University of Arts, she worked in design firms but soon realized that her love of art could not be totally satisfied within the constraints and boundaries of a corporate design job. In 2012, YaFaa resigned from work and took on her own commissioned projects that interested her, and at the same time, started to self-train and enhance her painting skills. Since then, YaFaa has received awards in numerous competitions and projects. Art is now part of her life. She has managed to immerse herself in a dream life and has achieved an extraordinary creative career, where romantic feelings and real-life difficulties overlap. Through the outline of her story, she tells the world: "Life and dreams are not two ends of the scale.”
The rest of the team: Tommy
Tommy is a local illustrator, who studied interior design in Newcastle and who is passionate about local Hong Kong heritage buildings. Like Yafaa, he found the repetitive and restrictive nature of interior work dull and started sketching as a release. His first series of artwork inspired by landmarks in Newcastle and Hong Kong was made in 2023. Tommy applies dense line style and digital techniques to depict numerous iconic buildings in Hong Kong. He also adds various elements to the storytelling i.e. historical stories, anime, games, movies, and memes in his works.
With the four of us on board we held group Zoom call meetings to introduce ourselves and discuss the exhibition details. We agreed that each of us would have 4 meters of space to show our own works but then also contribute one large A1 size artwork to combine together to create a centerpiece display. It was during these calls that I expressed my regret for not being able to be present for the show setup.
I was pleasantly surprised and touched when the group agreed to move the official ‘opening’ of the exhibition from the customary first day and instead host it on a Sunday so that I could attend. This really moved me and I expressed my gratitude.
Putting the plan into place.
So, with one week before my travel plans I set about the task of planning my wall space and selecting which of my artworks I should display. Since the majority of my artworks have a Hong Kong focus, I had an idea to create a visual journey from the streets of Kowloon, across Victoria Harbour and onto Hong Kong Island.
Using Microsoft PowerPoint, I was able to draft up a mock-up of the wall space in a real scale. This allowed me to place my framed work onto the wall panels in an arrangement that I thought would be the most optimum for viewing. I decided to place large A2-size artwork at the top of each of the four panels and then align smaller pieces underneath. In total, I selected 22 artworks, which is the most that I have ever displayed so far.
The next task was to frame my artwork and pack it up securely for transportation to the venue. It was only then did I realized how much space 22 framed artworks take up!. I would not be able to deliver them all to Eric’s office in one go by my usual mode of transport, a ferry ride and then a taxi. Instead, I decided to book a door-to-door delivery service, something that is further compilated by the area where I live, since no private cars are allowed into the village and extra charges would be incurred.
The next day I booked the delivery service using a phone app and when the van arrived, I loaded up the van and headed over to Hong Kong Island. When I got near to Eric’s office I sent him a message and he came to the street level to help me carry my artwork inside. When we got to his office I was immediately struck by the amount of artwork and also the size of his watercolour paintings.
To me, they seemed huge! The largest artwork that I have produced so far is A1 size and it took me the best part of 2-3 weeks to produce. That’s 2-3 weeks of not being able to post on social media which seems like an age in this time of content-hungry algorithms! Many of Eric's watercolour artworks were much bigger than this and were of great artistic quality. I was truly in awe as he seemed to be non-phased by the sizes and said that it was easy to work on. I felt that I was a student learning from a master! What also impressed me was the way Eric had incorporated his traditional hand-painted artworks into his interior design business, creating wallpaper patterns and scenes for real-world application. Truly inspiring!
We did discover one unfortunate surprise however when inspecting the frames that I had brought with me. Eric informed me that the hooks at the venue did not fit into the hanging brackets of standard IKEA frames and wire should have been used on the back of the frames instead. Again, Eric’s selflessness came to the fore when he offered to attach wires to my frames for me while I was traveling. And with this plan in place, I left Hong Kong for Vancouver, Canada.
The build-up and anticipation.
During my vacation, I would constantly check my messages from our WhatsApp group to see the progress that was being made with the exhibition preparations. Tommy was even able to digitally create posters for each of us to share on social media to help promote the event and I would try my best to share and promote as much as I could remotely.
With a day to go before my return, I started to receive pictures of the show setup process and the final result. To my delight, the displayed artwork looked fantastic and Eric and the team executed my display plan exactly as I had intended. With this great piece of news, I then started my journey back to Hong Kong which involved a 13-hour flight, leaving at noon on a Friday and landing at 6:30 pm on a Saturday. Skipping forward in time an entire day and moving halfway through the exhibition time.
The Show.
On Sunday, I finally attended the Artist Meet and Greet which was the name we gave to what should have been the opening ceremony. I took the Star Ferry from Central Peirs across to Tsim Sha Tsui, which is where the Hong Kong Cultural Centre is located. The area in front of the ferry pier was super busy with tour groups and visitors and it was a challenge walking through the crowds, passing the old Canton Railway Clock Tower and into the Cutral Centre itself.
Immediately the atmosphere changed as I walked through the cool, quiet lobby with its polished floors and into the interior atrium area which is a marvel of modern architectural design. In the distance along the far wall, I could start to make out the area that was housing our display. At 22 meters, It is by far the largest wall space I have seen allocated to a group of artists, and as I came closer I was impressed with the overall layout. In my absence, the team did a fantastic job in setting up all the artwork. I introduced myself to them and finally, we could speak and laugh face to face.
At 6:00 pm Eric picked up a microphone and spoke through a speaker to welcome the large group of guests that were in attendance. He introduced each of us as participating artists switching between Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, which I always find impressive. The next two hours flew by, which was full of conversations with guests, photo taking, and warm praise, which after all the doubts and fears before the show were a real boon to one’s self-confidence.
My feelings upon seeing our work on display in such a public venue were ones of accomplishment. Seeing my Hong Kong-focused artwork on display in such a renowned public space with so many local people viewing it was just perfect and is felt like the artwork was fulfilling its purpose. To be viewed and apricated by the people featured in it (so to speak).
Highlights of the evening were receiving requests for ‘selfies’ and further explanations about my artwork. Having people seem genuinely interested in what I had to say felt rewarding as compared to the hours of isolation that was experienced creating the art. Now it felt like my work was in its correct place and fulfilling its purpose.
Before I knew it, the time had passed and it was time to bring the evening to a close. Feeling severely jetlagged, I made my way home to sleep. The following day it was time to dismantle the exhibition and for each of us to take our artwork home. Which involved, packing up all my work again and using the door-to-door courier service in reverse. This reminded me again about how much physical work is involved behind the scenes of an art exhibition.
Final thoughts.
Even though this was not a commercial venture, I do feel it was worth it. As an artist, it felt rewarding to see my work on display and to engage with an audience. Whether it was worth it from an ‘exposure’ point of view or if the exercise has any positive benefit for my brand I am yet to see. But at least we did it! A group of strangers worked together and achieved an impressive result and became friends in the process, and that is no small fete. So, now it’s on to the next venture whatever that may be.
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