Visual Arts

Following the success of the “Out of the Blue” solo exhibition in Seoul 2014, home grown painter Clementine Chan brings the artworks inspired by Korean culture back to Hong Kong.

The works in “Out of the Blue” were created from the experience and the places Clementine has visited in Korea during her 5 month artist residency at the Korea National University of Arts in 2014. The exhibition contains two parts: oil on canvas and prints of digital drawing. While the former works are more poetic and painterly, and the latter more humorous and cartoonish, both were based on an alter ego of her called Bluey, the little girl in blue who appears in each work whom she has initially created on iPad by finger drawing. Her vision of the world and her wit and philosophy reflect the inspiration and amazement Clementine had on this land where Yin meets Yang. The three main elements of the Korean language – Hangul (sky, earth, man) as well as the four trigrams of the Korean national flag Taegukgi (sky, sun, moon, earth) were embedded in the paintings. And the adventures of alien Bluey are illustrated in digital drawings with witty scripts.

Clementine’s debut exhibition in Seoul is accompanied by her first illustration book in Korea, titled “Bluey Seoul Happy”. Come see the city through Bluey’s eyes and keep her company in her adventure. She is having a great time, and so will you!

Clementine Chan is a prolific Hong Kong painter and illustrator actively engaged in group and solo exhibitions in Hong Kong, Florence, Rome and Chianciano Terme in Italy since 2002. Her oil on canvas paintings and illustrations have been featured in more than 18 books and other printed matters. Often hailed for their fairytale-like quality and mysterious ambience, her works have charmed viewers with their lovely colours and a sense of universal melancholy.

The oddball little girl Bluey and her sidekick chubby Penguin were first created in 2011 as a finger drawing whim on tablet. Since then, the wit, humour and poetry of Bluey have captured the hearts of both adults and children in Hong Kong and overseas. Clementine’s first illustration book The Story of Bluey was launched at the Hong Kong International Book Fair in 2012. The second book Bluey Seoul Happy is the result of her five-month artist-in-residence project at the Korea National University of Arts in 2014. Her debut solo exhibition in Korea “Out of the Blue” was held at the University in the same year, featuring both oil on canvas and digital drawings combined with photography. In May 2015, she launched the illustration book Bluey’s Book of Genesis in Taiwan and Hong Kong, followed by three solo exhibitions in Taipei and two in Hong Kong.