Ho Siu-kee: A Chronicle of Mountain Making
何兆基：造山紀要

Sept 3 - 24, 2022

Opening Reception: Sept 3 (Sat), 2 - 6 pm

Grotto SKW - 2/f, East 17, No. 17 Main Street East, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong

11am - 6 pm, Monday - Saturday (Closed on Sundays and public holidays)
Viewing by appointment: info@grottofineart.com / +852 51181770

Artist Statement 

A Chronicle of Mountain Making
The Beginning
In October 2020, I wrote five pieces of text about “mountains” to consolidate the main concepts relating to the works of the mountain making series. Grouped under the main title of A Chronicle of Mountain Making, the five pieces are Pangu, The Five Great Mountains, The Three Mythical Mountains, The Kunlun and The Sumeru, and the story starts with the creation of land and sky. In the writing, I imagined myself travelling back to the very beginning when the universe was a void, where I witnessed the death of Pangu, whose body became the land, and I saw the first formation of mountains and rivers. The Five Great Mountains indicating the five directions of the world (east, west, south, north and the centre) were a wonder of creation, and they would become the goals of explorers and conquerors, and inspiration for poets and writers in the years to come. Mountains are not only part of the Nature, but also a testimony of history and the humanities.

An eminent man like Pangu could not escape death, so there is no possibility that the common man would live forever. That said, throughout history, many people journeyed to far ends of the world in quest of eternal life. Most were fruitless attempts and rarely did anyone find the answer. If any wise and enlightened man could follow the core of the Kunlun and reach the secret land of the Sumeru, he would see that the glamorous human world bears no comparison with the endless universe, and that all forms and sizes have the same beginning. When it is no longer necessary to differentiate what is big and what is small, the majestic Sumeru can be put in a mustard seed. The vast universe can also return instantly to the primordial origin, where time and space are again renewed in cycles.

To me, writing A Chronicle of Mountain Making is a journey through space and time unrestricted by physical obstacles. To say it in an enigmatic way, it seems as if I have witnessed the evolution of the universe in my writing, bringing back inspiration for my sculptural works of the mountain making series. In these tumultuous years, peace is not readily found. The mythical stories mentioned in the text have nothing to do with the reality, at least not directly related. I read and savour these stories in my leisure time. We are unable to have control over everything in a chaotic world but still, our heart needs a quiet place to take a rest. While I do not expect many to share the same, I am able to put my mind at ease when I recall what Yang Jiang (Note 1) writes in her Looking back on A Hundred Years of Life, “The world is our own and has nothing to do with others”.

西元二零二零年十月，以《造山紀要》為題，書寫五段與「山」有關的文字，用以爬梳《造山系列》作品的一些主要想法。五段文字分別為《盤古》、《五嶽》、《三山》、《崑崙》與《須彌》，由太初洪蒙盤古開天闢地講起，幻想自己神遊太虛，得見盤古死後化身成山河大地，天下初具五嶽真形，東西南北中，是造化之功，亦引無數英雄逐鹿、多少騷人詠嘆。山，既是自然景觀，亦側記人文歷史。

盤古神人尚且難免一死，凡塵眾生豈能與天地同壽，但古往今來多少求長生者，仍不惜勞師動眾尋找海上仙山，最後皆空手而回，真能得道者億萬中無一。若有神人聖者偶開天眼，沿崑崙主軸直探須彌秘境，才知浮華世界怎比宇宙無邊，最後從浩瀚太虛急速迴轉，須彌極大納入芥子毫端，真箇了悟大小無礙原為一體，一元復始又復歸洪蒙。

編寫《造山紀要》，於我猶如一場無礙於物、橫越時空之旅，說得玄秘一點，好像經歷了一趟宇宙生成演化，經歷過後，再作《造山系列》雕塑，大概別有啟發。世界多事，無一日安寧，而這些神話想像蓋與現世無關，至少並不直接相關，寄情於此，聊以自娛。外面如何紛亂，至使身不由己，但心始終要有個歸處，此心歸處亦不奢望有多少同道，或者正如楊絳在《一百歲感言》中所謂，「世界是自己的，與他人毫無關係」，也就沒有甚麽好介懷了。

[講座] 心性與物性：解讀何兆基「造山」作品

17. 9. 2022 (六 Sat)
3 – 5 pm
RSVP: info@grottofineart.com
2/F, East 17, No. 17 Main Street East, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong

講者：
歐陽憲 Henry Auyeung
余偉聯 Francis Yu
黃麗貞 Fiona Wong
岑愷怡 Debe Sham
李子蕊 Rose Li

主持：
何兆基 Siu-kee Ho

9月17日（六），我們將舉行講座《心性與物性：解讀何兆基「造山」作品》。
藝術家何兆基邀請了畫廊總監歐陽憲，藝術家余偉聯、黃麗貞、岑愷怡及李子蕊，一同討論及解讀他的「造山」系列作品。活動以廣東話進行。座位有限，請電郵留座: info@grottofineart.com

On September 17(Sat), join us for the talk “心性與物性：解讀何兆基「造山」作品”.
Artist Ho Siu Kee invited our gallery director Henry Auyeung, artists Francis Yu, Fiona Wong, Debe Sham and Rose Li to discuss and interpret his series of works “Making Mountain”. This event will be conducted in Cantonese. Limited seats, please RSVP at info@grottofineart.com