About Christina Tung
Christina Tung Wai is a Hong Kong based contemporary ink feather artist, the founder of Cheer Bell Gallery and a curator. She is known for incorporating feathers and Taoist philosophy as recurring subjects in her creations tho represent the revelations in her life and her longing for freedom.
She started her endeavor in art by studying ceramic art under Ms. Janet Tso in 2010, and later, Chinese ink art under contemporary ink colour Master Lam Tian Xing and Lingnan school ink painting Master Lam Wu Fui, and Chinese calligraphy under Cheung Sing Kwo and Bai He. In 2019, she completed the “Contemporary Ink Artists Summit Program” at Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, and is now studying Chinese ink art under the tutelage of Master Liu Kuo-sung, Father of Modern Ink Painting.
In 2018, she made her debut and second solo exhibition at the Museum of Russian Academy of Fine Arts and Molbert Gallery, respectively, in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was then invited by the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Hong Kong and Russian Club Hong Kong to hold her third solo exhibition “Inspirations” in late 2018, where her work titled “Noble Aspiration” became a collection of the Russian Consulate. In 2020, Christina became one of the selected artists of “Chinese Contemporary Art Document”. In 2021, her fourth solo exhibition “Birds of a Feather” was held at Cheer Bell Gallery. In 2022, her fifth and sixth solo exhibitions “Odyssey of Feather” were held at Hong Kong City Hall and Fine Art Asia respectively. In 2023, her seventh solo exhibition “Odyssey of Feather” was held at the AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong.
Throughout her career as an artist, Christina has taken part in various international and overseas joint expositions and exhibitions such as Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l’Eau 2020 of Paris, Art Taipei, Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong and Thailand-Malaysia International Women Artists Art Exhibition. Collectors of her works include the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Hong Kong amongst others.
2020 has been a significant year for Christina’s art path. Her work “Anti-coronavirus” was featured in Beijing International Art Biennale “Fighting with Love” Anti-coronavirus Series (Hong Kong). Moreover, her work “Propitious Portent” was selected as 1 of the 500 ink masterpieces worldwide in Ink Global. Other than that, she was the award winner of Salvatore Ferragamo shoe design collaboration between Hong Kong Art Gallery Association (HKAGA) and prestige Italian brand Salvatore Ferragamo. The pair of Viva ballet flats, hand-painted by Christina, was then showcased at Phillips’ 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Famous Paintings, Design, Jewels and Watches auctions, and was collected by Salvatore Ferragamo then.
Christina Tung Wai is now the Chairman of “Cheer Bell International Art Association” and the Committee Member of “The 4-D Art Club” of Hong Kong. She is also a member of “The Hong Kong Artists Association”, “HongKong Guangzhou Arts Association”, “Hong Kong Modern Ink Painting Society”, “Contemporary Innovative Ink Painting Association”, “Shine Art Association” and “Woodland Art Association”.
關於董慧
董慧，生於1965年，香港當代水墨羽毛藝術家、盈鑾畫廊創辦人及策展人。以羽毛入畫構成意象，並引入道家哲學思想，展現她對人生的領悟、嚮往及自身體驗。
2010年起，董慧師從陶藝名家曹京學習陶藝，從而打開了她生命中的藝術之門。她先後追隨著名彩墨大師林天行以及嶺南派大師林湖奎學習繪畫，又師從書法名家張聖果和白鶴學習書法；2019年結業於上海視覺藝術學院舉辦的「當代水墨人才高峰班」，現師從現代水墨之父劉國松。
2018 年，董慧分別在俄羅斯聖彼得堡列賓美術學院博物館及當地摩伯特畫廊舉辦首次及第二次個展。其後於年底獲俄羅斯駐港總領事館及香港俄羅斯協會提名及邀請，於盈鑾畫廊舉辦第三次個人展覽《靈感》，其作品〈雲中白鶴〉獲俄羅斯駐港總領事館收藏。及至2020年，獲選為「中國當代藝術文獻」提名藝術家。2021 年，她於盈鑾畫廊舉辦第四次個展《羽翀翀．毛鬙鬙》。2022年，分別於香港大會堂及典亞藝博舉行第五次及第六次個展《羽遊天下》。2023年，她於香港亞洲國際博覽館舉辦第七次個展《羽遊天下》。
在藝術工作中，董慧不時參與亞洲各地的大型國際及海外展覽和博覽會，包括法國巴黎沙龍藝術展、台北國際藝術博覽會、香港Affordable Art Fair、泰馬國際女性藝術家藝術展等等。其作品被多間金融機構以及來自世界各地的藝術收藏家收藏。
2020 年亦為董慧藝術路上的一個里程碑。其作品〈斬妖除魔〉獲選入中國北京國際美術雙年展的《用愛一起抗》防疫專題系列 (香港特區專輯)；作品〈紫氣東來〉亦入選《全球水墨畫大展》500幅優秀水墨畫作之一。同時，她獲得由香港畫廊協會(HKAGA)及意大利國際品牌薩瓦托 · 菲拉格慕(Salvatore Ferragamo)合辦的鞋履設計大獎。這雙由董慧親自手繪的鞋履其後於7月展於香港JW萬豪酒店的富藝斯二十世紀及當代藝術、名畫、設計、珠寶和名錶拍賣會，並獲薩瓦托 · 菲拉格慕收藏。
董慧現為「盈鑾乙味國際藝術協會」主席和香港「四維彩墨畫會」理事。她同時亦為「香港美協」、「香港廣州書畫會」、「香港現代水墨畫會」、「當代創意水墨畫會」、「尚思硏藝學會畫會」以及「草木畫會」會員。
About Christina Tung's Works
Feathers have been a recurring subject in Christina Tung’s artworks to reflect her aspirations in freedom and experience in life. Having studied the Tao Te Ching by Chinese philosopher Laozi, Christina has come to realise the true value in feathers. Feathers do not strive for greatness, yet they achieve greatness. There is no inherent life-force to speak of in feathers, yet they embody the spirit of birds. It is an eloquent testament to Laozi’s notion of achieving greatness by not claiming greatness. Another belief pushed forward by Laozi is the wisdom in being soft. In his view, being soft does not mean weakness or vulnerability. Rather, it means being malleable and adaptable. Greatness often comes by in softness, as the essence of water does. Water flows downwards in nature while feathers upwards. This contrast is an interesting one and the underlying Taoist philosophy is what Christina incorporates into her works.
Apart from being a symbol of freedom and good luck, feather is also a perfect embodiment of coupling strength and gentleness. The feathers in Christina’s works come in many forms. Sometimes they are found to be fluttering freely in the sky. At other times, they stand stoic, floating nonchalantly, even in the face of adversity. That is what makes feathers remarkably noble and elegant - in the way that they fly so comfortably, no matter how vast the sky or how deep the ocean is.
Unlike many other artists who choose paper or canvas specifically used for painting, Christina chose the very delicate wrapping tissue paper, commonly found and usually disposable in everyday life, as medium. The feathers, with kaleidoscopic colours, came alive brilliantly on these tissue wraps, as if giving them a new purpose.
Christina has also further developed the Feather series with the use of leather as medium. In 2020, she earned the winning design for international luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo shoe design, which she then hand-painted on the brand’s iconic Viva ballet flats. After studying the material and techniques of applying paint on leather on her own, she found the durable and smooth nature of leather makes an unexpectedly ideal substrate. When combined with the soft nature of feathers, it exudes a classy and sophisticated appeal. To that end, she continues using leather as canvas in some of her latest works.
Art creation has made Christina realized how true happiness came from freedom of thought rather than wealth. By putting different leather artwork pieces together to make a complete one, Christina wants to convey that one has to break the rules to mould the world of tomorrow. As the I Ching (or Book of Changes) suggests, change, on its own, is perpetual. Similarly, the perpetuity of change is what life is all about in Christina’s world of art.
關於董慧的作品
董慧以羽毛入畫，展現出對人生的領悟及自由的嚮往。老子的名言「以其終不自為大，故能成其大」使董慧悟出「羽毛」的價值：沒有生命的羽毛、卻成就了鳥兒們的生命，是「以不為而達到有為」的典範；而老子推崇「柔弱」智慧，貴柔守雌、上善若水，水往下流，羽毛卻往上翀，構成巧趣對比，同時成為董慧羽毛畫作的中心哲學思想。
除了寓意自由和吉祥，羽毛亦完美地體現剛柔並重。董慧筆下的羽毛變化萬千，有的輕浮空中悠然自得、以柔制剛；有的滿載理想、超越時空自由奔放。不論是遼闊的天空或浩莽的大海，羽毛都顯得高雅飄逸。
有別於一般畫家以專業的畫紙創作，董慧選擇了一般市民經常接觸到、卻短暫即棄的輕薄包裝紙──雪梨紙，作為創作媒介，彩墨羽毛在雪梨紙上躍然活現，誠如為雪梨紙賦予新生命。
董慧亦把她的獨特創作，在牛皮上精彩展現。2020年董慧的羽毛彩墨畫作，獲世界著名時尚流行品牌 Salvatore Ferragamo（薩瓦托 ‧ 菲拉格慕）青睞，在品牌的經典女裝羊皮平底鞋上，繪畫其羽毛創作而獲奬，董慧自學並掌握在皮革上繪畫使用的素材及技巧後，發覺皮革柔軟耐用的肌理特質、碰上輕柔的羽毛，作品締造出強大張力，既雅致细腻、柔和清逸又帶有懷舊味道，因而啟發她於部分最新的作品中採用牛皮作畫。
在藝術創作的路上，讓她明白人類最祟高的快樂不是來自財富，而是來自思想的自由。而透過皮革作品中的切割表現方式，董慧想表達出人類必須要打破原有規則，才能迎接未來的新世界。在易經裏說變易才是永恆的，同樣地，在董慧的藝術世界裡，無窮無盡的變易本是人生。