128 Below the Lion Rock: The Spirit of Hong Kong 獅子山下：香港精神

LAU Chak Kwong 
Title: Below the Lion Rock: The Spirit of Hong Kong

Artist’s postscript: The Song lyrics of Below the Lion Rock in small-standard script against the backdrop of the big Chinese character “shan”, or “mountain” in oracle-bone script in the pictographic form of three triangles.

Chinese calligraphy / oracle-bone script & small-standard script

Ink on paper 
45cm x 45 cm
2024

劉澤光
標題：《獅子山下：香港精神》

書法家後記：融合甲骨文山字（以象形元素三個三角形表示山字）和小楷《獅子山下》歌詞，渾然一體！

中國書法 / 甲骨文、小楷
水墨紙本 
45cm x 45 cm
2024

Artist Statement

Artist statement: My unique artistic approach is characterized by the synergy between tradition and the contemporary.  Advocating a revival of calligraphic antiquity, my works embody an harmonious integration of the austere brushwork of  the ancient stele inscriptions of the Han and Wei periods and contemporary ideas. (我的書法作品探索了融和古今的藝術創作途徑——將漢魏碑刻的古樸書法風格，轉化為我作品中渾厚而靈活多變的線條；在植根於傳統的書法美學、技法、筆墨中注入跨藝術媒介的視覺元素及當代的思想和內容。)

Biography
Chak-kwong Daniel LAU (PhD in Chinese art history, University of California, Santa Barbara & M.Phil. in Chinese art history, The University of Hong Kong) is Associate Professor of the Academy of Visual Arts, School of Creative Arts, HKBU (Associate Director of Research, Academy of Visual Arts, 2020-24). He has served as a Visiting Scholar at Peking University and at Academia Sinica, Taipei. Before joining HKBU, he taught at the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and the University of California (UCSB) where he received the GSA Outstanding Teaching Award Honorable Mention in Humanities and Fine Arts.  At HKBU, he is currently the Supervisor of Postdoctoral Fellow under the Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDFS) of Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), and of PhD students under Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) of the RGC. He is the recipient of Faculty/ School Performance Award in Teaching (Hong Kong Baptist University, 2012), and Faculty/ School Performance Award of Outstanding Young Researcher (HKBU, 2011). For many years, he has been serving as the Examiner of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Member of the China Calligraphers Association, and Council Member of China Calligraphers Association Hong Kong Branch. He has served as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Macau, Arts Advisor (Arts Education) of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Member of CDC-HKEAA (One) Committee on Visual Arts (Senior Secondary) under the Curriculum Development Institute and Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority of Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government.

Lau pursues research as both a scholar and an artist. He is an art historian specialising in Chinese art, Chinese calligraphy, seal engraving, art and identity in late imperial China, and Hong Kong calligraphy, with focuses on social and cultural implications of Chinese calligraphy, as well as modes of expression and representation in Chinese calligraphy, calligraphic materiality and multimodality. He has been serving as the Principal Investigator of many projects funded by major research grants (including 3 General Research Funds (GRF) from the Research Grant Council (RGC) of Hong Kong SAR: “Calligraphic Materiality and Multimodality: Modes of Expression and Representation in Chinese Calligraphy and their Dynamics with Contexts of Use in the City of Hong Kong”, “Social and Cultural Implications of Chinese Calligraphy in Public Venues in Hong Kong”, and “Chinese Calligraphy in Twentieth-Century Hong Kong: Viewing Art from Cultural, Social, and Economic Perspectives”), totally over HK$2.3 million. He has published more than fifty research outputs, including monographs on Chinese calligraphy and seal engraving, book chapters, refereed articles in international journals and conference proceedings, and exhibition catalogue entries on Chinese art, including contributions to  Encyclopaedia Britannica,  Against or Away: Proceedings of the Symposium on Artworks by Ming Loyalists in Early Qing Dynasty,  and  Double Beauty: Qing Dynasty Couplets from the Lechangzai Xuan Collection I & II.  His works have been recognized with research awards such as Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies (2019). His academic leadership role includes being the Reviewer for Cambria Press’s publication of a major refereed monograph on the history of Chinese calligraphy. He was invited to serve as Associate Editor of The International Journal of Arts Theory and History  (2014). He was also invited as the Session Chair for refereed paper presentation at the International Conference on Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies (2019).

Lau is an established artist whose practice encompasses Chinese calligraphy, seal engraving and large-scale site-specific and site-responsive performances of Chinese calligraphy at historic monuments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eIidr0z1aI , and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of0jg_DJvZQ ) and in public spaces organized by major museums such as Hong Kong Museum of Art (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb5Qsho6qYY ) and Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZeuIUb7LVg ) , also in natural landscapes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHmIoBBB-cg ). He has held 9 solo exhibitions in the United States, Hong Kong and Macau and participated in numerous influential group exhibitions at local and international museums and galleries, including the 4 (juried) Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibitions. His calligraphic works and seal engravings are in public collections, including those of the Art Museum of the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong

藝術家簡介
劉澤光（美國加州大學聖塔芭芭拉分校博士、香港大學哲學碩士，主修中國藝術史），現任香港浸會大學創意藝術學院副教授。2020-2024年任浸大視覺藝術院副總監（研究）。他曾擔任北京大學及台北中央研究院的訪問學者。加入浸大前，他曾任教於加州大學聖塔芭芭拉分校和加州州立理工大學聖路易斯奧比斯波分校。在浸大，他是研資局博士後研究員計劃下的博士後研究員導師及研資局香港博士研究生獎學金計劃下的博士研究生導師。他曾獲香港浸會大學頒發學院教學表現獎(2012) 及學院傑出青年研究員獎(2011)。現為香港藝術發展局評審委員、中國書法家協會會員、中國書法家協會香港分會理事。曾任澳門大學駐校藝術家、香港藝術發展局藝術顧問(藝術教育)、課程發展處及香港特別行政區教育局考試及評核局轄下視覺藝術（高中）委員會委員。

劉氏以學者及藝術家的雙重身份從事研究工作。他是藝術史學者，主要研究領域為近代中國藝術、書法、篆刻、近代中國藝術與身份認同以及香港書法，着重中國書法的社會和文化意蘊，以及中國書法的表達和表現方式、書法的物質性和多模態。他曾擔任多項主要研究基金資助項目的首席研究員（包括三項香港研究資助局的“優配研究金”：「書法的物質性和多模態：中國書法表現及再現模式及其在香港城市使用語境下的動態」、「中國書法在香港公共場所裏所展現的社會及文化意蘊」和「二十世紀香港書法：從文化、社會和經濟視角看藝術」），總計超過230萬港元。他發表了50多篇研究成果，包括關於中國書法和篆刻的專著、書籍章節、國際期刊和國際研討會論文集上的文章，以及關於中國藝術的展覽圖錄的條目。其中包括《大英百科全書》、《豪素深心 : 明末清初遺民金石書畫學術研討會論文集》、以及《合璧聯珠二：樂常在軒藏清代楹聯》。他的作品曾在國際社會科學及跨學科研討會(2019) 獲得最佳論文獎等研究獎項。他的學術領導工作包括擔任Cambria出版社出版關於中國書法史的重要專著的審稿人。他應邀擔任《藝術理論與歷史國際學術期刊》的副主編 (2014年)。他還受邀擔任國際社會科學及跨學科研討會(2019) 論文報告會主席。劉氏是位知名藝術家，其創作包括中國書法、篆刻，並且獲香港藝術館(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb5Qsho6qYY )、孫中山紀念館 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZeuIUb7LVg ） 等主要博物館等邀請，並在不同的歷史古蹟 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eIidr0z1aI 和https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of0jg_DJvZQ ) 和公共空間進行大型場域特定和場域回應的中國書法表演。他曾於美國、香港和澳門舉辦過9次個展，書法作品4次入選當代香港藝術雙年展、並參與了眾多在本地和國際博物館及畫廊舉辦的有影響力的聯展。他的書法和篆刻作品被美國加州大學聖塔芭芭拉分校美術館、香港藝術館和香港大學美術館等多間國際美術博物館收藏。