Profile
Selected work, chronological
OPUS Archive
Books
Poems
Chronology
fly-in-love 飛天情書 (2023) Op.7
fly-in-love (飛天情書), produced in August 2023, on the occasion of “Desire to Fly” (想飛) an exhibition at GATE 33 GALLERY, AIRSIDE, Hong Kong (September 14 to October 31, 2023).
A poem written with 193 photographs in sequential order, fly-in-love is a variation based on a fictional photograph Lee made in 2010. A piece of original work created in the format of a book (428 pages, 8x10 inch, softcover). Distributed as a book-on-demand. Maximum print-runs of the first edition (Exhibition Edition) limited to fifty copies.
View a full version of this work at:
https://opus.leekasing.com/2023/01/opus7.html
To purchase this book:
https://books.oceanpounds.com/2023/09/fly-in-love.html
TERRAIN (2023, ongoing)
TERRAIN is an ongoing collaboration between the two artists, featuring
Lee Ka-sing’s photographs and Gary Michael Dault's haiku in response.
The collaboration is published as a daily column at oceanpounds.com.
Every fifty diptychs completed, will be compiled into a book and
available to the public.
[TERRAIN, Book 1] published May, 2023
https://books.oceanpounds.com/2023/07/t1.html
[TERRAIN, Book 2] published July, 2023
https://books.oceanpounds.com/2023/07/t2.html
[TERRAIN, Book 3] published September, 2023
https://books.oceanpounds.com/2023/08/t3.html
十人詩選之李家昇散冊潔本並序 (early poems, in Chinese, 2023 edition)
Browse a full version of this at books.leekasing.com
Or purchase a PDF ebook for your collection (US$5 each)
Diary of a Sunflower, Book Two (2022) Op.12
(book, as original, 176 photographs)
a piece of original work in the format of a book, 176 photographs in sequence
372 pages, 8x10 inch
View a full version of this work at:
https://opus.leekasing.com/2022/01/opus12.html
https://books.oceanpounds.com/2022/12/ds.html
Songs from the Acid-free Paper Box (2022)
(book, as original, 52 photographs)
An Installation-On-Paper by Lee Ka-sing, 2022. A suite of sixty photographs in sequence.
Fifty two Fragments of photo paper test-strips from the 80s-90s archive of Ka-sing and Holly’s studio. In addition, eight new photographs on Kai Chan’s sculptural objects. These test-strips included Cibachrome photographs, fibre-based silver prints, and Chromogenic colour photographs. The work was created, on the occasion of “2K 4.0”, the fourth collaborative exhibition in Toronto by Kai Chan and Lee Ka-sing.
Browse a full version of the original book
Purchase a PDF ebook of the original book
“That Afternoon” on Mubi, a dialogue: Tsai Ming-Liang and Lee Kang-Sheng (2022)
A poem constructed with sixteen photographs. The work appeared first in VOICE & VERSE, issue 65, June 2022. In November 2022, it was published as an original work in the format of a book.
CODA (2020) Op.11
CODA is an original work in the form of a BOOK, with 227 photographs in sequence
It was created in the Fall 2020, for the exhibition "On the Brink of
Borrowed Time: To Stay / To Flee". In this exhibition 12 visual artists
are in dialogue with 12 writers. Event organized by The House of Hong
Kong Literature, took place at the Pao Galleries of the Hong Kong Arts
Centre from October 30 to December 6, 2020. The book was presented as an exhibit piece in the exhibition.
Seeing CODA, an essay on Lee Ka-sing's book, written by Holly Lee
View a full version of this work at:
https://opus.leekasing.com/2020/01/opus11.html
https://books.oceanpounds.com/2022/12/coda.html
Five Poems (2018)
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Five Poems (2018) |
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| New Stories (2018) |
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Three Roses from New Stories series (an installation of
30 paired object+photograph, exhibition at GALLERY 50, Toronto, March
10 to April 8, 2018. This is part of contents from the collaboration
exhibition with Kai Chan). View 30 pieces of work at this link |
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| BIBLIOTHEKA #1 "Hong Kong. Two visits" (2018) |
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BIBLIOTHEKA #1 Hong Kong. Two visits, 2016, 2017 This copy contains 125 pages including covers, 119 pages with photographs and 3 pages in plain texts. Format: 8.5"x22" (216x559mm), printed on 192 g/m archival matte paper with colour pigment inks, hand-bound and unique. Produced in January 2018. View all pages at this link |
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| Time Machine (2017) |
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20171103-07350 (constellation), 2017 More
work from TIME MACHINE series |
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| A book on this series was published in 2021, with haiku by Gary Michael Dault. Eighty pieces from the series were included. |
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| Two Documentations: The Gallery, The Study (2017) |
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The Gallery is an open tuning love song |
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The Study with three windows |
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| I would have written a long poem (2017) |
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I would have written a long poem, 2017 An installation of large LCD display panel with diptych photographs looping continuously |
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| Negative Mirror (2016) |
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Bookshelf at the Candy Factory Loft (2003, a prologue) Negative is the new positive, when fake becomes real. 遠處近方黑白對倒。天地一線 More about the Negative Mirror |
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| A suite of 16 picture-haiku works I made in the year 2013 (2016) |
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A suite of 16 picture-haiku works I made in the year 2013 More about the picture-haiku |
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| I left my heart on the marble floor. Hong Kong, 2016 |
I left my heart on the marble floor. Hong Kong, 2016 |
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| MOVIOLA (2015) Op.9 |
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MOVIOLA series View more of this work at: |
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| Z FICTION (2009-2013) |
| The Z FICTION series was produced between 2009 to 2013, with a majority created in 2010. There are approximately seventy pieces made, all birthed with a fictitious approach - a continuation of my previous multi-layer photo-based works. The “after-image” text is an integral part of the work, which extends and expands the horizon of the ostensibly silent image. Ten limited editions are issued for each work in the Z FICTION series, in sheet size of 17x22 inch.
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| Mobile Poetry Lab (2012 to present) |
Mobile Poetry Lab series The Mobile Poetry Lab series began in 2012, as a continuation of my poetry writing activities which go back to the early seventies. The main difference is that this time, I am writing in pictures rather than using language in text. More than a dozen works were made in different scales and in a mix of horizontal and vertical formats. 5 editions for each. Some of them are exist as separate pieces and are presented like an installation: Mobile Poetry Lab series Mobile Poetry Lab series |
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| Light Readings (2014 to present) |
More than 400 of these LIGHT READINGS diptychs were made. Recently, I began to issue limited editions of some of these works. All were printed as Archival Pigment Prints, on heavy weight 12x22 inch paper (image size 10x20), in editions of 10. In 2015, I released a DVD of works from the first year of them: The Imagination Which Turns Blue into Pink. It contains a selection of 250 diptychs. Light Readings series |
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| Study 1: Zen Tao Journal (2010) |
Zen Tao Journal series
appeared in 2010 as a study of oriental subject matter and objects.
Approximately 20 works were made; some of the works can be viewed at
this page: |
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| Study 2: Mountain Song (2010) / Small Songs (2015) |
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The Mountain Song series was initiated in 2010, and was mainly about mountains, rocks, stones and trees. Fewer than 20 works were made, and solely in black and white. In 2015, I picked up the study again, and gave it a new title: Small Songs. It includes the early works from the Mountain Song series, as well as the new works in colour, his time not limited to stones and trees as subject matter. These works do, however, share a common ground: the images produced do not necessarily carry a strong, epic message. They can be, for example, just small studies of tree branches. Mountain Song series Small Songs series |
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| Toronto Myth (2009-2013) |
The original Toronto Myth project was to be a suite of 3000 images. Once they were finished, they were to be presented as moving images, in a never-ending loop. An individual image would now be similar to a small dot in a huge array of thousands of photos on the wall. Here, individual image might not be centrally important, but would somehow contribute to the texture and density of the whole thing undertaking. Toronto writer Gary Michael Dault saw some of the images in progress and suggested writing a brief text for each image. Once that began, the Toronto Myth project moved into a new chapter. On the other hand, I did come to abandon the aggressive 3000 images concept. Every few days, I would email Gary three images. Shortly thereafter, he would supply three prose-poem texts, and I would post them online. From 2009 to 2013, there appeared 117 pairs of images and texts. Toronto Myth |
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| The Second-read and other Negotiation Matters (2009-2010) |
Browse the series |
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| De ci de là des choses (2006) |
A selection of work from De ci de là des choses series - |
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| The Language of Fruits and Vegetables (2004) |
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| Hong Kong Arts Policy and Strategy at the Turn of the Century (2000) |
This was a series of 6 photographs in three pairs. They were originally produced for an exhibition at the Mizuma Art Gallery in Tokyo, as part of the event MORPHE 2000 (curated by Sabrina Fung). Thereafter, the series was shown at the Hong Kong Art Museum, for an exhibition of recent works from Hong Kong designers (curated by Kan Tai Keung). In 2008, the series was selected for the exhibition "Not about Truth: Chinese Conceptual Photography since the 90s" (curated by FAN Wanjen Anthea). Somehow, in the last moment, the art museum was not able to locate the original photographs (they were found some months after the event). My works were featured in the exhibition catalogue, but were absent from the exhibition. People thought, it was such a conceptual way to talk about the arts policy of Hong Kong. Two sets of vintage photograph were made. Some years after the work was produced, I decided to conserve only the first two pairs, and removed the third pair entirely from the series. Hong Kong Arts Policy and Strategy at the Turn of the Century |
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| Foodscape (1996) |
Foodscape was a major collaboration I worked with my poet and writer friend Leung Ping Kwan (1949-2013). The inauguration of the collaboration was an exhibition held at ARTSPEAK gallery in Vancouver in March of 1997, as part of the programme for CITIES AT THE END OF TIME: HONG KONG 1997, which brought together artists and writers from Hong Kong, Canada and the U.S. to present works that explored the cultural and social identity of Hong Kong. The show was mounted at the McIntosh Gallery in London, Ontario in the same year. After that inauguration, this collaboration project was further developed and exhibited in other cities: at the Goethe-Institut, Hong Kong (1998), at Rou-un-ki Aki-ex Gallery, Tokyo (2000), at Ruffini Kultur, Munich (2000) and in 2004, there was a larger exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum (with guest artist Millie Chen). In the first chapter of Foodscape, in two sets, ten works were made, each image being 30 x40 inches, in inkjet on canvas. Unfortunately, the exhibition set was somehow lost when returning from Canada after the exhibitions abroad. These early inkjet prints were not as archival as today's materials are. I am planning to issue a new set of editions in the coming days. In 1998, a small number of black and white gelatin silver photographs were also made, with support from AGFA, part of their help in producing diamond screen digital negatives. Foodscape series |
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| Forty Poems (1995-1996) |
The first stage of Forty Poems series was in a group exhibition in Hong Kong Arts Centre (1995). The completed series was shown at Tower Gallery in Yokohama in 1996, an exhibition curated by Iisawa Kotario. The show later toured to the Princz Gallery, Kyoto and to the Atrium in Fukuoka. Almost 20 years after the series was created, the vintage prints were finally on wall again. In 2015, the exhibition WALKING SMOKE at Gallery 50, showcased some of my early works in vintage medium. The original idea of the FORTY POEMS was to make forty 8x10 inch photographs as a suite. When all photographs are grouped together, it becomes a piece of completed work. As it happened, I didn’t made all 40 photographs, finishing only about 30 pieces. In 1998, when I was working on the monograph Forty Poems (with publishing grant from Hong Kong Art Development Council), I edited the suite down to 20 works. The whole work was a unified piece about Hong Kong. Forty Poems series |
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| Hong Kong Journal (1995-1997) |
Works in the monograph Forty Poems are in two parts, the second part includes a selection of 20 black and white works that I made between 1995 to 1997; they were grouped under the title Hong Kong Journal. These images were in fact, not really made as a series when they were originally produced. In 1998, however, when AGFA offered me the support necessary to produce digital negatives with their diamond screening technology, the Hong Kong Journal photos made up the selection I prepared for this new incarnation. A handful of direct contact gelatin silver prints were made, each 16 x 20 inches. On the End page of the monograph, I remarked on these images: "The black and white photographs are from two bodies of work. One being a documentation of Hong Kong in 1997, organised by China Tourism Press. The second belongs to the on-going FOODSCAPE Project. These photographs have been exhibited in Hong Kong City Hall, Goethe Institute, and Asian Fine Arts Factory in Berlin." Hong Kong Journal |
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| City at The End of Time (1992) |
City at the End of Time (1992) This image was originally created for the cover of CITY AT THE END OF TIME, a bilingual edition of poetry co-edited and co-translated by Leung Ping Kwan and Gordon T. Osing. It was published by the University of Hong Kong in 1992. This is a vintage photograph, printed in
early 1993 for a HKIPP members' exhibition. In late 1993, there was
another photograph printed (48x68 inch), made for my solo exhibition
THIRTY-ONE PHOTOGRAPHS at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. In 1996, the
curator chose four works from my show for ASIAN VIEW, an exhibition at
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. All four works were acquired
by the museum after the exhibition. |
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| Ask For A Brand Plastic Harvest (1991) |
Ask For A Brand Plastic Harvest (1991) The Japanese magazine FASHION NEWS
launched a Chinese edition in Hong Kong in 1991. In the inaugural
issue, there was a special feature on the Sixties and Seventies. I was
commissioned to do a spread-page image as the opening for that feature.
Ask For A Brand Plastic Harvest was created in the same year,
for HKIPP members’ exhibition. I used some of the visual elements from
the above mentioned assignment and developed them into a new work. |
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| Thinbit Studio (1989-2006) |
It all began with the idea of “rethinking photography.” Line-works are photographic images, but without the middle-tones. And of course a copying machine is one more type of camera, among many others. In 1989, with these concepts in mind, I began to create collage works by using a photo-copy machine. Multi layers of images were over-printed onto a single piece of paper. It wasn’t until the mid nineties, that I switched to using a scanner and working on computer for layering. From 2006 onward, I turned back to the camera instead of using a scanner. But I must say, all of these processes are intriguingly different, and exert different psychological effect on you while you are working. Walking Lines from the Thinbit Studio
is a title I made up while putting the works together with the pieces I
produced from 1989 to 2006. Over a hundred works of that type were
made during those years. They include the cover work created for IDN, a
digital arts magazine; The call-for-entry poster for Hong Kong
Designers Association Awards; a poster for a June Forth art exhibition,
Advertising for Hong Kong Telecom, the Cover of the Grant Application
Guide brochure for Hong Kong Art Development Council, a series of more
than a dozen book covers for Cultural Perspective of Ching Man; Wall
murals for Asian Legend, a restaurant in Toronto, and more. |
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| Thirty-one Photographs (1993) |
During the decade from the mid eighties to the mid nineties, only a thin line existed between my commissioned work and my personal work. Perhaps, it was due to the influence of photographers such as Irving Penn and others. People come to you seeking your visual language, and, at the same time, you try to maintain within your own work your personal aesthetic philosophy and heart. In 1993, I mounted an exhibition of works selected from my previous assignments. It was titled THIRTY-ONE PHOTOGRAPHS. Yau Leung of Photoart published the catalogue, Lilian Tang designed the publication, and the exhibition poster as well. Leung Ping Kwan wrote a long intro for the book, an essay he later turned into one of the Ten Chapters, of his book on Hong Kong culture. Some of works in this exhibition are archived in these two web pages- |
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| Polaroids (1986-1994) |
Some of the photo works I made 30 years ago, might still exist - as a sort of record - as Polaroids. Originally, these Polaroids were made only for the purposes of composition and light testing. But the Polaroid system is unique; it is quite different from photographs or prints that exist in editions. My Polaroids are also documents. They eye-witnesses to some of my works before they were finally created. Currently, a selection of these Polaroids are in an exhibition in Hong Kong, organised by Blindspot Gallery.
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| Xinjiang series (1986) |
A series 4 photographs, after a trip to Xinjiang. This series was in the exhibition OUT OF CONTEXT, an artist exhibition project at 15 Kennedy Road, Hong Kong. |
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| camera work (1980-1981) |
In 1981, my wife, photographer Holly Lee, and I had a two-person exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Those were the early steps we walked leading us into our personal works; we carried them on alongside our commercial studio assignments. In this exhibition, Holly showed her portrait series about artists and friends. I presented two bodies of work - a series of snapshots from various trips to China, and a suite of photographs taken with a 8x10 large format camera. There were approximately 15 works of 20 x 24 inch C-type prints. I photographed my personal objects. |
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| Commissioned work |
Five Senses, one of a series of 5 works as wall murals, commissioned by Asian Legend, a restaurant in Toronto (2003) |
One from a series of commissioned works for Hôtel The Peninsula Paris (2014) We maintained a studio in Hong Kong for
advertising and editorial photography assignments since the late
seventies, that existed up to 1997 while our family moved to Toronto.
Now, I am mainly on my own personal works. Sometimes, there happened
with big or small collaborations from art consultants, architects, or
designers. Commissioned works came to me for site-specific projects. |
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| Vintage Postcards |
Just recently, I have made some of my vintage postcards available at the POSTCARD HONG KONG website. Most of these cards were printed in the 80s and 90s. Approximately 50 cards were produced in that 15 years. If we can agree that Polaroids are expensive artifacts as original works, postcards, on the other hand, may be the most inexpensive photo-artifacts around. Lee Ka-sing’s Postcards at POSTCARD HONG KONG
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