There is a long commitment for Dr. Kan Kit-keung to concentrate on the depiction of surging water, may it be breath-taking waterfalls or robustly flowing water. With the Chinese idiom ‘the benevolent adore mountains while the wise adore waters', the energetic artist chooses the lively and potent waterscape over the stable and tranquil mountainscape that most Chinese painters prefer. In face of gigantic waterfalls or surging waves, Dr. Kan could see paintings from every vivid detail ranging from the tremendous turbulence to sprinkles of splashing water drops, thus making his motif of moving water fresh and complicated. Following the lessons of the ancient masters, a painter advances his art by understanding the Nature. It is no exception for Dr. Kan to capture the quintessence of water flows and translates his understanding of waterscape onto static paintings. Emphasizing on the power of the waterscape, he attributes the potency of billows to the rhythms of water current. The fierce waves might seem chaotic at first, however, being a part of the myriad Nature, they are also endowed with the order of Nature. The tides of oceanic waves, the streaming of rivers and the vigorous dash of waterfalls all oblige the rhythm played by Oceanus, which requires meticulous comprehension of the water current. Thus leading to the Chinese idiom saying only the wise could be capable of discovering the varying rhythms of water.
Dr. Kan manifests his understanding of raging waves and roaring waterfalls through threefold of ink paintings techniques. First, the artist constitutes the huge panels and their subsequent power bit by bit from the meticulous and time-consuming brush strokes, which also known as ‘cun' in Chinese traditional paintings. Spending much effort and time in careful brushes, Dr. Kan realizes the spirit of rushing rivers and the rhythms of the great waterfall through the fine details. Secondly, the artist builds the monochromatic gradients of waves and splashes of water through the accumulation of pointillism. The delicate gradients and layers of ink and watercolour embody the sense of depth as well as refraction of water to the works. Last but not least, the vastly unpainted space or known as liu-bai in Chinese showcases the artist's understanding of ‘painting through the unpainted'. The ingenious representation of foams using unpainted space reflects one of the major principles of Chinese philosophy ‘Wuji Bifan', which means the sublimation of matter when it meets the extreme. His careful coordination of both painted and unpainted areas also furnishes soul to the rise and fall of roaring tides.
Nonetheless, Dr. Kan does not merely represent the multifarious rhythms of water but narrates his contemporary abstractionism through the ensemble of waves. The close ups of rivers or waterfall allow not only a microscopic perspective but also an abstractionism favour to the water flow. Mimicking the reality with pointillist's strokes while endorsing a conscious composition without figurative structures of rivers and shore, the paintings in Thousand Layers are both objective and perplexing. The close up of water movement boldly blurs the dichotomy of realism and abstractionism, giving the works an oscillation between the scape in artist's eyes and his spiritual insights. The interplay of realism and abstractionism in Dr. Kan's works wittingly embrace the apparent and subtle power of two different, if not opposite, schools of aesthetics. Among the ever-changing waves in Dr. Kan's features of waterscape lie not only the vibrancy of nature but also endless wisdom and inspiration to art.
