Stephen Wong

Driven by his love for exploration, Stephen Wong paints through an amalgamation of travel photography, rough sketches, memory, instinct and imagination. Bird’s-eye views of sweeping landscapes and archaeological landmarks distinguish his practice. By combining elements that are both real and imagined, he creates liminal places that can only be visited through his immersive depictions. Vividly rendered in a prismatic palette of sharply contrasted and saturated hues, Wong references the works of David Hockney and Felix Valloton, drawing inspiration from their organic structures and simplicity of forms. 

With a strong visual language, Wong uses the spontaneous painterly approach of plein air painters to capture the effects of nature. Equipped with a sketchbook and paint, he embarks on long hikes and invites the viewer to join him in a vibrant world of low-lying hills, valleys, streams, waterfalls and distinctive landmarks surrounding his hometown of Hong Kong. By painting from memory and preliminary drawings, Wong allows himself freedom of interpretation and gives the viewer a glimpse into his mind and creative process. As a stylistic approach, his loose brushwork is rooted in capturing a moment in time, such as the way the evening light adorns a mountain peak or the abrasive crashing of waves on the shore. 

Unable to travel during the global pandemic, Wong took to virtual travel via Google Earth. The artist was able to visit and paint various recognisable locations such as the Dolomites, Mont-Saint-Michel and Mount Fuji, all without leaving his Hong Kong studio. The Google Earth series unites the artist’s twin passions for travel and expanding his toy car collection. Envisioned as a collective road trip, each of the compositions is accompanied by a toy car that sits atop the frame as an integral part of the work. The same model is painted into the scene at a barely visible scale for the viewer to discover. In doing so, Wong transports the viewer within the paintings, as a sojourner embarked on a trip around the world.

As water and land take centre stage in his compositions and minuscule travellers blend seamlessly into the elements, Wong appeals to our universal pull towards nature. Evoking feelings of awe and wonder, these landscapes showcase the Earth’s natural wonders, often coexisting harmoniously with human feats of engineering. The hinted human presence throughout adds a contemplative and serene quality to the works, while highlighting the relative insignificance of mankind against the magnitude of nature. The artist explains: “what interests me is the intervention of humans in nature. For example, hikers walking on trails far away in the distance or tunnels appearing between two mountains”.