Portraits of the Elegance - New Works of Kong Lapfung, will come to town soon. I am truly happy about it because in the past few years, I have witnessed the birth of this new series, and have understood about the sweat and tears behind them. The most joyful thing is, after years of repeated studies and refinement, Kong Lapfung has developed his own painting style and pushed his art to a new height. This is an important breakthrough, and also an ultimate goal in the artist誷 life.

　　Kong Lapfung started to like painting when he was small. While he was youthful and robust, he received painting education from Professors Yuan Hao, Yang Zhiguang, etc and devoted decades of years to copy and study masterpieces of ancient Chinese paintings, through which, he developed and consolidated his painting skills, in particular, line-drawing skills. In recent years, Kong focuses on the studies of portraits of ladies, using traditional fine lines to portrait the elegant Chinese ladies.

　　Lines form the outlines of objects in traditional Chinese paintings. Lines are variegated; at the same time, they form planes and shapes which are relatively flat and lack of the sense of dimensions. How to elaborate and bring the lines of character into full play, to grant them tactile texture and the sense of depth, and how to balance the two, are some toughest questions faced by the artist.

　　These years, Kong persevered with his studies and experiments, resolved the many problems involved in paintings and achieved stylistic breakthroughs. His new works contain and convey an oriental mood with a breath of peace, quietness, as well as elegance and modernity. His inspiration can be traced back to the old paintings, yet it is definitely different from the tradition. It is a new type created by Kong himself. In all parts of the world, past and present, the birth of a new art breed is the addition of another useful tile to the world art sanctuary; and behind every work, we see the artist誷 talents, wisdom, and his invaluable and respectable hard work.

　　Hong Kong is an international metropolis. We have the best talents and the most favorable resources to be the World City of Asian Arts. However, in this city full of hustles and bustles, though our artists are with international outlook and plentiful skills, they hardly survive. Their concern and status in the society is the lowest in China. Under such circumstances, Hong Kong artists still persist to respond to their calling. This must be out of their love of art and worthwhile to be respected.

　　Kong Lapfung exhibition Portraits of the Elegance is about to greet us soon, I would like to take this opportunity to call upon the government and all public of society to care for, cherish and support our Hong Kong artists. It takes our endeavor to make Hong Kong the World City of Asian Art. This would not only be our fortune but also our historical mission. Wan Fung, in these twenty years, support artists in actions; hereby, we appeal to and welcome all Hong Kong artists to showcase their talents and fruitful efforts with Wan Fung as the artistic exchange platform; together, we continue to contribute to the Art of Hong Kong.

　　Kwok Homun

　　President, Wan Fung Art Gallery

　　18 April 2007