Celebrating 35 Years: Interview with Daphne King Yao

Alisan Fine Arts gallery has been a pillar in the Hong Kong art scene since 1981, cultivating the careers of Chinese modernist painters who were living abroad, such as Zou Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun and Walasse Ting. Championing these artists was the gallery’s enthusiastic co-founder, Alice King, who curated the landmark exhibition “New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond” at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 2008. The exhibition presented alternative interpretations of ink art, with many works taking forms that moved beyond the brush and paper. In 2005, King’s daughter, Daphne King Yao took over as director of Alisan Fine Arts and has continued to promote Chinese contemporary art, particularly ink painting. On the occasion of the gallery’s 35th anniversary, ArtAsiaPacific sat down with King Yao at their location in Aberdeen, south Hong Kong Island, to speak about the gallery’s evolution. King Yao sheds light on Alisan Fine Arts’ early days, her mother’s vision and passion for the artists, and what visitors can expect to see at the anniversary exhibition, held in Hong Kong Central Library from December 2 to 8, 2016.

When the gallery first opened in 1981, it was considered the first professional gallery in Hong Kong. Can you describe what the art scene was like in the city back then? 

When my mother [Alice King] first started, she didn’t have a gallery space. People would come and look at paintings at our home. She also showed artwork at the bank Société Générale at the Landmark shopping mall, which had an empty space that my mother and her business partner Sandra Walters would use for their exhibitions. We were one of the first professional galleries in the Western sense. At the time, in the ’70s and ’80s, there were already galleries along Hollywood Road. There were serious collectors who were acquiring antiques and Chinese modern paintings from artists like Zhang Daqian, but not contemporary art.

The original vision of Alisan was to promote Chinese artists who have lived or worked abroad. Why was it important to bring their works to Hong Kong or back to Asia? 

My mother was educated overseas, and her father, my grandfather [Chao Yung Tung] was an arts patron. My mom was really close with him, and he would bring her on business trips, when they would visit artists. For instance, she met Zao Wou-ki through my grandfather. The other factor that influenced the original direction of the gallery was that in the 1980s, China was not what it is like now; it was just starting to open up so there was not much access to Chinese artists in the mainland. That’s why she started promoting Hong Kong artists and Chinese artists who were overseas. There were also some Western artists in the mix because of her American business partner, Sandra.

How has the direction of Alisan evolved since then?

I would like to think that our gallery was leading the evolution of the art scene in Hong Kong. Since my mom and Sandra split up in 1990, we no longer focus on Western art, and primarily show Chinese contemporary art. But my mom was very conscious of cross-cultural exchange. She supported the annual event French May in Hong Kong, which started in 1993. We still organize a few shows for Western artists, and bring French artists like Fabienne Verdier and Bernar Venet to Hong Kong. Since Zou Wou-ki and Chu Teh-chun lived in France, those connections made sense.

The gallery was early supporters of such as Zao Wou-ki and Walasse Ting. How has the representation of these artists changed through the years?

For us, it was always about education, since that component was really important for my mom. As we were preparing to celebrate the gallery’s 35th anniversary, I got in touch with artists and scholars who were close with her. Many wrote to me saying that my mom was not a “gallery dealer” per se, but acted more like an arts patron—like someone who was a champion of these artists. Before the gallery changed its name to Alisan Fine Arts in 1985, it was called Arts Promotion. Now that these artists are well known, they no longer need to be promoted, but we still have close relationships with them or their families, even for those who have passed away.

As Alisan Fine Arts celebrates 35 years, what have been some major milestones for the gallery?

We have had a lot of “firsts.” We were the first to hold a Zou Wou-ki exhibition in a gallery space in Hong Kong in 1993. He’s a household name now, but in those days, people didn’t know who he was or what he stood for. He left China [in 1948] and settled in France. One of the contributors of our 35th anniversary publication, the scholar Julia Andrews, wrote about the time my mom penned a letter to Zao Wou-ki sharing that a serious collector of Chinese paintings had come to look at his works. The collector had never heard of Zao Wou-ki and didn’t realize that there were Chinese artists who were developing in this direction overseas. I think people tend to forget that he too was once unknown; during that time what we were doing for him was a promotional effort, not “dealing” in his work. It was similar for Walasse Ting, whom we first held a show for in 1986. Through the years, we’ve done over 10 solo exhibitions for him.

Last year, I did a show for Lui Shou Kwan to celebrate his legacy in Hong Kong 40 years after his death. The exhibition explored his influence as a teacher, because many well-known Hong Kong artists were his students, among them Wucius Wong and Leung Kui Ting, so I also included artwork by a younger generation of artists as well.

Moving away from the gallery, and noting the work that my mother did, I see the exhibition “New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond” held in 2008 at the Hong Kong Museum of Art as significant. She was invited to tender an exhibition, with the stipulation that proposals had to include a significant number of works from the museum. The goal was to showcase their collection in a different light, and my mother won the bid. There were pieces that came in unconventional forms such as Wang Tiande’s installation Ink Banquet (1996) and Man Fung Yi’s pieces with burn marks. This show was really a moment in the overall development of ink art and my mom played a big role.

Where do you see ink art heading now, both in terms of the concern of artists and also in style? 

If we dig back deep, this new ink movement actually began in Hong Kong, and not in China. Lui Shou Kwan was the pioneer. If you look at his paintings now, they look contemporary even though he was doing this in the 1960s. I consider him the founder of this movement. As China opened up in the 1980s, there was a cross-cultural exchange between Hong Kong and China; mainland artists started realizing new possibilities in ink. But there is such a broad spectrum of ink art and even among the artists there are disagreements. There are artists like Zhang Yu, who is into installation and experimental art; he uses tea instead of brush or ink, but for him that’s still experimental ink art. Other artists are working within a different school of thought where they believe in combining the traditional with the new. Younger artists are having a difficult time developing in this medium because they don’t have the foundation, which requires patience and discipline to develop.

What I really appreciate about Alisan is the strong emphasis on education. You organize well-conceived shows that are non-selling exhibitions, such as your upcoming 35th Anniversary show at the Central Library. What can visitors expect to see in the 35th Anniversary show in December? Which works will be presented to the public for the first time?

I decided to choose artwork by 35 artists, which was quite challenging. The selection is comprised of important works that in private collections. The show will occupy three galleries in the Central Library. In the main section, I have highlighted diaspora artists who mostly work on canvas. It includes artists such as Chao Chung-hsaing, Zou Wou-ki and Chu Teh-chun. Another section will be dedicated to the New Ink artists both from mainland China and Hong Kong. Works by Lui Shou-kwan will be in this gallery, along with Wang Tiande and Wei Ligang. The third section will feature a selection of our archive material and also artists from the diaspora who create more figurative imagery.

What do you envision for the future of Alisan?  

We’re going to continue building on our strengths by featuring artists from the New Ink movement, but it’s also important to promote younger artists. In 2017, we’re going to open a new location in Central.

The exhibition " 35th Anniversary of Alisan Fine Arts" is on view at Hong Kong Central Library from December 2 to 8, 2016. 

Sylvia Tsai is associate editor at ArtAsiaPacific. 

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