Outsider Looks In, Simon Birch Contemplates The Hong Kong Art Scene; An Interview
Last week, UK Born Hong Kong based artist, Simon Birch’s personal Facebook rant about the practice of art and the education of it in Hong Kong, made the rounds… trending on social media. In the rant, Birch exasperatedly begins ominously with this phrase, ”I will leave by saying that Hong Kong, beneath the incredible, dramatic landscape, behind the energetic facade, and lovely people, is in trouble.”
He continues to state that Hong Kong is “heading even further to a rigid, conservative, narrow and boring city,” and that the city hasn’t “had a serious international cultural export since Bruce Lee.” We later learn reading on that Birch in fact turned to art non-traditionally, leaving home at an early age, quitting school by 21, and moving to Hong Kong, only to earn 7,000HKD a month working construction on the Tsing Ma Bridge, before eventually getting fired and then eventually selling art to survive after that. He doesn’t say it on Facebook, but in this 2010 interview with the New York Times, we also learn shortly after he discovered that he can actually make money selling his paintings, which he thought was merely a hobby, this self-taught artist, was immediately diagnosed with NK/T-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer he eventually battled through chemotherapy and a strict diet.
Before you think that his Facebook rant is a something of a sympathy-plea, he gets into his main point by discussing the seemingly “overprotection” of youth in the city. In the post he states that Hong Kong kids “are discouraged from pursuing their passions, are risk averse and pushed toward a security that makes everyone very insecure and lacking in empathy or kindness. Their inspiration is shopping malls, conservative culture and, worst of all, the wealthy. Unless this changes you won’t see another Bruce lee for a very long time.”
He also states that, “Hong Kong’s answer to Vivienne Westwood, Lorde, Yohji Yamamoto, Charlie Kaufman, Cai Guo Chiang, Tavi Gevinson, Ryan Gosling, Yoshitomo Nara, Kelly Slater, Pharrell, JK Rowling, etc….doesn’t exist.” This may be so. But we have Simon Birch.
SImon Birch’s group exhibitions are grandiose and showy by local standards. His Hope and Glory Exhibitions in Artistree Hong Kong and Beijing are self-proclaimed “Conceptual Circuses”. A large space is filled with a plethora of big sized mix media works from Simon and his collaborators, like Wing Shya, James Lavelle, Eric Hu, Douglas Young, Paul Kember, and Daniel Wu to name a few. This is a mixture of artists, filmmakers, architects, and designers who have in their own way, reached celebrity status. The graphics of the show itself is gold, shiny, bright, and bold, evoking a spectacle… and a theatrical experience. He follows up Hope and Glory with another show, Laughing with a Mouth Full of Blood, in the historic Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences, one of my first art posts on this blog, fill the historic museum’s walls with his large scale female nudes. In his defense, the choreography of the figures in relation to the space they were in really worked for that moment.
However, its exactly this kind of brave showy spectacle in a generally introverted introspective art landscape characterizing the Hong Kong art scene (and it doesn’t help that the show’s openings are filled with models, movie stars, cantopop stars, celebrity gazers, etc.), plus Simon’s generally abrasive personality in public events (to people he doesn’t know… I experienced this personally myself when he and I first met), can put a lot of people off. That said, after getting to know him more over the last couple of years, and seeing his process on Instagram, and knowing more about how he got here from where he was, I decided that Simon Birch is all three of these things: a social outsider (lived a relatively non-traditional life path), a Hong Kong expat outsider (not a banker), and of course (something he may be proud of as a self-taught artist), an outsider in Hong Kong’s own still formative “art scene”. Yet he has managed to make a name and a living for himself exactly because of those three aspects.
We immediately had an interview over Facebook Message (appropriately) regarding his rant on social media, and his other thoughts regarding his position as a working artist in Hong Kong, and why he will be taking his shows to New York and London instead of contributing more exhibitions to Hong Kong his home… right when everything is happening now in regards to the city’s booming art industry.
——————————-
theWanderlister+ Q+A with Simon Birch, May 2014
theW+: Thanks for chatting us here on Wanderlister.com, i’d like to ask you a few questions about your career and the state of Art in the city…. would you call Hong Kong a great place to practice Art?
Simon Birch: I would say it’s a challenging place to make art. Limited space to produce and exhibit, sky high rents, little patronage, poor institutional or governmental support. There are limited education opportunities, especially if you can’t afford it.
The glut of art activity here is commercial and imported, Art Basel, international galleries and auctions. Nothing wrong with that but you need the rest of the art landscape that is enjoyed by most thriving metropolises. So as a local artist one has a lot against you. But if you’re passionate and committed, as with anything in life, you’ll find a way. I certainly have.
theW+: In today’s context, are you “allowed” to say you’re a “Local Artist” ie. a Hong Kong Artist? or is it more politically correct to say you’re a British Artist working in Hong Kong? How do you identify/define yourself in relation to our “scene”?
SB: I would rather describe myself as simply an artist. It’s the 21st century and we’re all transplanted, migrated, exported, imported, mashed up…..identity just isn’t the clear thing it used to be. It’s not something I feel the need to champion or claim.
The world I work in is poly-cultural and poly-centric. My current project brings together architects, designers, film makers, musicians, etc., from all over the world who have all kinds of complex histories. I live here, was born in UK. My parents are Armenian and Polish. But my life as an artist started here in HK, flourished, and i am still here. My concerns are making the best art I possibly can, not branding myself in cultural, social, political or economic terms.
theW+: I think you do you know that you may have a “certain image” or reputation as an artist in Hong Kong? Let me know why you think this is… and is it self initiated image?
SB: Millionaire, artist, philanthropist, playboy? Ok, just kidding but I guess I don’t really care. I certainly don’t try to promote an image, I just try to make good work. I’m not interested in being anything, I’m interested in making something.
I’m sure some people have an opinion about me, I’m out and about often and have produced some pretty big shows with big audiences but, good or bad as those opinions may be, not many people know me personally. However great or small your public profile is, people always make a judgement. It’s easy to be mis-interpreted, I’m quite sure of that, but it’s really not my concern unless it negatively affects my efforts in the art world. People love to put you in a box.
The truth is I’m pretty much a struggling artist just like any artist in this city. I just have perhaps slightly bigger ambitions and dream of huge exhibitions, movies, books, buildings and on and on…. If I’m really any good at what I do, the work will stand up without me having to be charismatic, sparkling, or equally, being an asshole.
theW+: Obviously you teach art now and engage with Hong Kong students on a day to day basis. As a practitioner who “blossomed” within this city, what are the messages you pass on to new artists inspired to journey down your same path but within this constrained context?
SB: I don’t teach at all, I’m not qualified in any sense of the word. I just get invited to speak at a lot of schools and universities here and I see it as a social obligation, to give back to the city that allows me to live here. So I happily volunteer my time. My approach is probably the opposite of teaching in that I don’t really give out too much advice, I just tell my story and explain my process.
My life has been quite the rollercoaster, littered with bad decisions and mistakes along with love and adventure, success and failure. I always think the students should probably do the same, work it out for themselves and make their own mistakes.
My only message is to do your thing and do it well. Whatever your situation, make the most of it. And in HK, a town with a limited creative output, you have little competition stopping you becoming the next greatest cultural export. I think the last person HK produced that put us on the map was Bruce Lee. The opportunity is right there for someone to be the next big thing.
theW+: In the age of social media, the #selfie, reality TV, bloggers, and what not… people can be the next “Bruce Lee” as you say and contribute or represent HK culturally if they create something worth “trending”. Your work and medium is painting (some say static), but now you post your process on Instagram. How has your craft, its representation, and its the breadth of it evolved since say 10 years ago to now? You mentioned it briefly multi-disciplinary work earlier…
SB: All the rules are off now. Any medium, any process, any presentation can be legitimate. I now work in film, installation, performance and work with a diverse range of collaborators. I see no compromise here.
It’s all just different kinds of paint. Working in multiple media is an organic, intuitive process of development that happens with opportunity and circumstance. Working with cinema quality film just wasn’t affordable ten years ago. Now new media is so cheap and accessible, well, I just get excited about the potential of these materials and want to get my hands dirty. People see me as a painter and perhaps would rather I stayed in that box but that’s not my problem. I make whatever art I dream of, from whatever materials make sense, whenever space and resources allow.
I have a thousand ideas, not just art, that I just don’t have the space or money to allow me to realise yet. Of course I’m still in love with painting and to be connected to art history in such a tangible and direct way. Painting provides a brilliant yardstick for labour, technique and skill… a foundation from which all the other media springs.
theW+: Speaking of “when space is available”, space has certainly been available to you, with amazing venues in Hong Kong via ARTISTREE, this Historic Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences (where I first met you), and the G-Dot art space for the Hope and Glory space in Hong Kong… your adopted home has really embraced you and your work and are able to present it in such grand way. You mentioned the HK Government hasn’t been approving your latest collaborative work, so where will you be taking it… and what is it?
SB: It may seem I’ve had luck with space here but the truth is I had to fight very hard for every space I’ve used. This has been an exhausting, frustrating and debilitating process. I’m an artist but have had to become negotiator, marketeer, hustler and beggar, which horribly interferes with my creative process and sanity. Sadly many spaces we have used in the past are no longer available or were so problematic I wouldn’t want to revisit them.
These projects are also tremendously difficult financially. To stage them I’ve gone broke every time. People assume we get sponsorship money but that is just not the case. Contributions are often tiny and these days, non-existent, though we have had great support from Swire in the past and a couple of very generous friends. There is also no income derived from the projects, even if we wanted to sell large installation works there is no market here at all for that kind of work so it all ends up at the recycling plant.
My last 2 large project proposals, one for West Kowloon and M+ and another, a permanent non-commercial, private art museum in central (which would have solved the search for venue), have both been rejected. That’s 2 years of work at a dead end. It’s been a heartbreaking and draining process.
This is why we are now off to NYC where we are welcomed and encouraged. I am of course grateful for the opportunities I’ve cultivated thus far but man, it was really fucking hard work to make those projects happen at all and I’ve survived cancer, that was way easier.
It shouldn’t be this hard to make art in Hong Kong, maybe my ambitions are perhaps out of synch with the city. I was just reading about Christo, who also had the majority of his large scale projects turned down. It gave me a great boost to know how he has struggled but never gave up.
The project for NYC is The 14th Factory. It’s a massive multiple media installation, video, sculptures, performance and on and on, in a 250,000sq ft space in the middle of Manhattan. It is born of Sino-Colonial history and discusses the ebb and flow of civilisation and our own lives. It suggests we are facing a collapse but that that may well be a beautiful thing. We have an amazing group of people involved, including some giants of film, fashion and architecture, and we are all very excited about it. It’s essentially a Hong Kong project, we just happen to be building it in New York because it’s proven impossible to do so here.
theW+: Sorry to hear that venues in Hong Kong have not worked out as of late and that you had to go to New York city to continue doing the kind of work you want to do. However your theme on the ebb and flow I feel is exactly that anyway, you wouldn’t have had the dialogue you proposed now if the HK shows worked out perhaps.
I also feel with the rise of PMQ, WKCD, and CPS, art… the exhibition of it, the practice of it… has gone very very political, and now the government is involved whether it likes it or not, which makes the big group shows you used to put on in a bigger magnifying glass hence the resistance to support your future work. I too wonder if this is a good thing. Do you see yourself ever packing it all up and just moving your studio somewhere else in the world?
SB: I love HK for sure but I imagine I, along with my work, will spend more time away as the opportunity to make and present art here is limited. Overseas I am able to make the work I want to make and have it exposed and acknowledged. But i will always live in HK and continue to show here whenever possible. I feel indebted to this city and the freedoms it has allowed me and certainly indebted to the people who have supported me over the last 16 years here.
Not everyone considers me local but that’s their problem. I’ve put enough hours into HK, I’m proud of that, I feel passionate about HK’s development. I’m only saddened that we don’t embrace and support other people that come here from wherever in the world to stamp their mark here.
So many people just use HK as a stepping stone, if we showed a bit more love perhaps they would stay. I’ve committed here but I certainly don’t feel acknowledged by HK, I don’t think anyone would put me on the poster for HK ambassadors. Even after all my activity as an artist and citizen here I’m never invited to participate in HK art shows. But that’s ok, I don’t need it. In my little world I have wonderful friends and collaborators, organisations i work with, and people that buy my work and are keen supporters. There’s a unique collective energy that I’m part of that includes restaurants, shops, designers, writers, filmmakers and even bloggers like you!
We operate in a new zone that communicates in a very different and organic way. We represent HK in a very different way to the more formal creative environment most people see. Anyway, very grateful that I have that little world and can pay rent, so no complaints.
theW+: Who are the artists in Hong Kong that we should watch out for in the next 2-3 years? or better yet, whose works are really exciting you know around HK or Asia (either or).
SB: There’s a couple of local artists I’m a big fan of, Movana Chen being one. She did a great project at Artistree, a brave young woman. Prodip Leung from LMF, my brother for sure and an amazing artist. Tsang Kinwah is always consistent, as is Bovey Lee. Wing Shya is known as a fashion photographer but I’ve just seen a new personal art project he’s been working on for a year, it’s spectacular!
I have a ton of artists I love around Asia, Kohei Nawa, Motohiko Odani, Tokujin Yoshioka, Cang Xin, Li Wei….this could turn into a very very long list! But as far as ones to watch, I have been meeting a lot of HK kids locally and overseas that show a huge amount of potential, not just artists, designers, filmmakers, all kinds of interesting people. Gloria Yu (Yunotme), a HK fashion designer currently in NYC, amazing! Along with her friends, menswear designer Ximon Lee and artist Jes Fan. Locally, Florian Ma, super cool! Rocky Yip and Entendre Studios, solid! And Juno Mak, making serious moves in film. So the future may be brighter than the endless shopping malls and dismal government suggests…
theW+: Any last word for the readers?
SB: I’m not great at interviews, am better at painting I hope. Discussing the HK art scene is always frustrating, there are so many issues, and the same goes for the city politically. But I think after so many years I’m allowed to criticise my city.
For it’s stunning facade, it’s amazing landscape, Hong Kong is falling to pieces with social repression and corporate and governmental conservatism. For such a dynamic looking city, it’s becoming more and more rigid and the wealth gap is frightening. We that live here see this, though it wouldn’t be apparent to a temporary visitor.
It’s great that we have Basel, the international galleries and things like Duddell’s, all play an important role in the arts even though the other, grass roots part of the landscape is lacking. And that part doesn’t come from the government (just look at PMQ Police Married Quarters, a lovely shopping centre!). It comes from people making art. The government should stay well away from the arts other than giving up some space! Any run down old building will do thanks!
But personally, my life is tremendously positive. I make a living through doing what I love to do. I live a life of creativity and adventure and do what I can to help others along the way. I couldn’t be more excited about my NYC project and my solo show at Ben Brown Fine Arts in London later in the year.
—————————————
All images of the paintings above, c/o Simon Birch.
ARTIST Simon Birch
JJ.