空/Emptiness: Emily Carr and Lui Shou Kwan

空/Emptiness is a pairing of the Canadian modernist Emily Carr with Lui Shou Kwan founder of the New Ink Movement in Hong Kong. The exhibition is constructed through a comparison of how each artist experimented with modernist movements and mysticism through their respective depictions of nature.

Born in Victoria, BC, Emily Carr (1871–1945) is widely recognized for her paintings depicting the forested landscapes of British Columbia. Born in Guangzhou, China, Lui Shou Kwan (1919–1975) is a renowned painter in the traditional and modern styles of Chinese ink painting.

The scenery of the Pacific Northwest Coast forest remained an essential subject of Carr’s paintings, and similarly, Lui’s landscapes cannot be separated from the islands of Hong Kong. The exhibition presents more than forty works representing varied techniques and styles that each artist utilized to investigate the shapes, colours and rhythmic changes in nature. Together the works of Carr and Lui share a vision of the natural world as a mystical dimension and a revelation that the action of painting, can achieve a sense of mindfulness.