Johnson Chang
My painting is inspired by the famous War and Peace by Hendra Gunawan, painted in 1950. Hendra Gunawan was part of some artist-solders called the Pelukis Front. His job was to paint the war while being centred in the war himself. This war was part of the Indonesian Revolution, an important part of history. I decided to turn my painting into a historical event that affected the lives of me and all Chinese people. So may I present: China reunited.
My painting, China reunited, is a painting inspired by a historical event as well, the day of October 1st, 1997, the day when Hong Kong and China got pieced together again after being torn apart by the British after refusing to trade with them and starting the opium war. The Chinese Emperor lost the opium war and had to give both Macao and Hong Kong - two small islands - to Britain, so I decided add a bit of 'sorrow' to my painting. The dark splashes around the numbers 9 and 7 represent the 'injuries' that China and Hong Kong themselves suffered in the 100 years that they were torn apart, and that until today, Hong Kong and China are still suffering from the damage and broken relationship that Britain has caused them. The numbers 9 and 7 represent the year that Hong Kong got returned to China. The mountains in the background represent that Hong Kong and China- even though torn apart- are still beautiful together, and that mountains are a prominent part of China, because there are many mountains there and that is a part of the Himalayas is in China. The tallest person represents a father from China, and the right represents a mother from Hong Kong, and the darkest kid in the middle represents the beauty that China and Hong Kong can still make, and how happy they are now that China is now one again. The bubble wrap behind the numbers adds a little contrast to the background behind the numbers and the Chinese words 中 and 香 represent how good Hong Kong and China are together now.
The colour palette I used was very unique, with the painting consisting of different shades of yellow and red alone. I mainly used paint for my painting but also used a bit of texture paste for the heads of the Father and Mother. I also used some cardboard and wooden sticks to bring out the mountain landscape, therefore making the painting more attractive, and also use white and a bit of yellow to add some kind of semi-transparent looking texture outlining the numbers. I finally used glue to piece the mountain together with the painting.