Listen to
Image courtesy of Hanart TZ Gallery
Annessa Chan:
Why is this painting called Cubist Sea Shore? Other than the fish in the centre, nothing else in the painting relates to the beach. Instead, you see three clusters of geometric forms, arranged as still life objects on a tabletop, set against an orange and dark green background.
Geometric shapes, fragmented subjects, and still life compositions are hallmarks of Cubism. Decades after Picasso invented Cubism with French painter Georges Braque, the artistic movement continued to resonate around the world. This work is by Hong Kong artist Luis Chan, who taught himself about Cubism through studying art magazines. He offers his own interpretation of Cubism by combining still life with one of his favourite themes—fish tanks. Chan loved the fish tanks of Cantonese seafood restaurants in Wan Chai, where his studio was located. He made whimsical paintings of urban scenes that parallel the views in these fish tanks.
Let’s take another look at this abstract seashore. Perhaps its Chinese title offers more insight: translated, it means ‘Cubist painting of fish’. In many ways, Chan is leaving it up to us to imagine if this is an outdoor scene by the sea or if the taste of the ocean has been brought to you on the table.
NARRATOR:
Cubist Sea Shore is an oil painting created by Luis Chan in 1959. It measures approximately forty-one centimetres in height and fifty-one centimetres in width.
On a wooden board, Chan portrays an abstract underwater world using various colour blocks. Arranged with clear borders, these geometric blocks create a three-dimensional effect through the contrast of light and dark hues. Some blocks also feature thin, chalky white line drawings.
Above a central orange block is a stack of geometric shapes. One of them, dark green and near the centre of the painting, features a line drawing of a fish with its mouth agape. Beneath it, rows of wavy lines suggest the fish is leaping out of water. Wavy patterns are scribbled across different blocks, while a series of three triangles at the bottom centre contain a bubble pattern.
The central part of the work is dominated by blocks of yellow, white, and vermillion. These brighter hues stand out against the deep blue and dark green surroundings, which evoke rock formations found in the depths of the sea or inside fish tanks.
The artist’s signature and the year of creation can be found in the lower right corner of the painting.