Meet Hung Kei Shiu, February’s featured artist
As part of our ongoing 40th anniversary celebrations, we are featuring a different CE artist and logo every month of 2023! Read more about our 40th anniversary and our featured artists ▸
Hung Kei Shiu works on his art in the CE studio.
Thoughtful, considerate, intentional. These are some of the words staff use to describe one of CE’s very first artists, the enigmatic Hung Kei Shiu.
Hung Kei is known for the tiniest of marks — often a small hatched line segment, miniscule circle, or a short block of color. But gradually, these unassuming marks accumulate, alter size subtly, and are assembled into stunning abstractions and transformations of specific objects. With his natural ability to layer paint, Hung Kei patiently builds fields of delicate color around and within his marks until the finished artwork echoes with a deep sense of space.
“He is the absolute abstract artist,” says Studio Director Paul Moshammer. “You give him a picture of the Eiffel tower and he will make a beautiful abstract rendering. He never says no to any suggestions: he tries any photo or source material his teachers will give him and works from there.”
“He doesn’t talk, but his eyes say it all.”
Hung Kei’s use of line and color to delineate space is remarkable in its proficiency. In contrast to other abstract artists at CE who surrender to innate rhythm or flow, Hung Kei’s more analytical works are colored by deliberation, each mark placed with intention and forethought. In the studio, he deftly navigates many different mediums, translating his abstract marks from acrylic paint to ink with ease and a metered approach.
What some might not know about Hung Kei is that as strong as his 'yes' to all things art-related is his 'no' to all things food related! In the CE studios, it’s common to see artists and staff sharing food, like donuts or pizza or cake. But Hung Kei will always decline with a friendly hand motion and smile.
“He brought a home-cooked meal in his thermos that his mother prepared, and he doesn’t need anything else.”
An in-progress drawing of Hung Kei Shiu’s from February 2023.
Hung Kei enjoyed field trips at CE for many years, including one to the Asian Art Museum, where he spent much time with a piece compiling revolutionary quotes. Teaching artists describe him as courteous and considerate, but with a mischievous side.
His interactions are brief—calmly waiting for your notice, then a wave, smile and single word of greeting—but, taken together, over months and years, an endless conversation accrues, one small gesture at a time, that mimics the complex, layered patterns of his work.
Hung Kei joined Creativity Explored as one of our very first artists. He then pursued other activities for a number of years, and re-joined the studio in 2006 with his sister, Ka Wai Shiu. In a group picture of CE artists from the 1980s, Hung Kei looks just the same as today!
Hung Kei’s work has been exhibited in shows nationally and internationally and has been used by CB2 for both a rug and a pillow.
