Portraits — Cary Kwok

James Blake - Overgrown Tour 2013

Humphrey Bogart

2010
Acrylic and ink on paper
12 x 9 cm

Ash

2010
Acrylic, ink, PVA adhesive on paper
26 x 20 cm

Maryam

2010
Acrylic, ink, PVA adhesive on paper
26 x 20 cm

Medusa

2010
Acrylic, ink and 23 ¾ Carat gold leaf on paper
29.7 x 21 cm

Divine

2008
Ink on paper
16 x 11 cm

Audrey

2009
Acrylic, ink and 23 ¾ Carat gold leaf on paper
27.5 x 19 cm

The King Has Arrived

2015
Ink on paper
21 x 29.7 cm

Mina

2008
Ink on paper
29.7 x 21 cm

Reunion (Niu Lang and Zhi Nu 牛郎與織女)

2008
Ink on paper
76.5 x 56.2 cm

The story of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu 牛郎與織女 is an anicient Chinese Myth that has been told for thousands of years. Stars have been observed by many ancient cultures for millennia and their story is one of the legends that evolved from this.

The ancient Chinese called the Milky Way Tianhe, the Heavenly River. On one side of Tianhe is a constellation of stars easily visible on summer nights called Vega, Zhi Nu 織女. On the other side is Altair, Niu Lang 牛郎. And the constellation Cygnus is the site of the once-a-year ‘magpie bridge’, Que Qiao 鵲橋 which reconnects the couple Niu Lang and Zhi Nu

Zhi Nu was a granddaughter of the Mighty King of Heaven, she wove beautiful silk, creating ever changing colours to decorate the sky. Niu Lang was an oxherd. They fell in love and were blessed by the King. Zhi Nu was to be married to the other side of the Heavenly River. The newly married couple lived happily after their wedding, They were too much in love, they devoted every moment of the day to each other and began to neglect their duties in Heaven. The sky turned grey and dark.

Their lack of responsibility infuriated the King. He demanded that Zhi Nu return and would only permit their reunion once a year on the seventh night of the Seventh Lunar Month. The couple were now separated and there was a river between the two of them. But on that one night each year, magpies would fly from every corner of the world to form a bridge so that they were able to meet. Their tears created rain, so that time of the year became the rainy season.

No one knows how long this story had been told before it was written down. Apparently, the earliest documented version was written in the Western Zhou Dynasty 西周朝 (approx. 1046 – 771B.C) and already mentioned Niu Lang and Zhi Nu.

In the Jin dynasty 晉朝 (265–420A.D), the story was shaped into the one we know today, so I decided that I should give Zhi Nu a dress and hairstyle from the Jin dynasty.