17/12/2024
As Alan Chan reaches the age of 75, he has much to express and respond to regarding self, habitat, and culture.
During COVID-19, he rekindled his love for hiking and returned to nature, walking along trails in the city and countryside.
He also picked up the brush, capturing the memories and feelings of his ventures.
The seemingly dark and dense mountains quietly reveal steep paths in between. These are not realistic depictions;
rather, they reflect the ups and downs of his inner journey
in search of direction. Through moving his body and twisting his brush, he expresses his unsettled heart on canvas.
After experimenting with painting for more than a year since June 2023, Alan chatted with Karena Lam about their respective artistic explorations during the pandemic. From Karena’s handbuilt pottery, Alan saw textures of mountain paths. This seemed to remind him that there is more than one path in life, and that paths are forged by those who walk them.
As such, they opened up their own creative processes to each other. After Karena’s pottery went through initial firing, Alan would bring out the mountains with his brush – his oil painting merges with her clay. “Ink Forest” is not only a collaboration between good friends but also proof of seeing the forest within ink and vice versa.
Both pottery and oil painting reflect a journey of the heart,
much like encountering different landscapes along a hiking trail. Only after countless failures and restarts can they reach the scenery before them.
