Marker on paper

45.3×79cm. 17 7/8×31 1/8 in.

PROVENANCE
Received as a gift directly by present Asian collector from the artist

Live to the Fullest, Disregarding Comments of Future Generations
“King of Kowloon” Tseng Tsou Choi

“As one visits foreign countries, one would realize the unique density and patterns specifically native to Hong Kong. For example, the immediately noticeable tall buildings as one raises one's head, the identical “match-box style” premises, the narrow alleyways trespassed by many. Undoubtedly, street artists are the people who knows Hong Kong the best.”

– Hong Kong Media Veteran Chan Ying Ying

Known as the “King of Kowloon”, Tseng Tsou Choi was the creator of the “Zeng Family Tree”. The artist was born in 1921 in Guangdong province and later moved to Hong Kong. He was organizing his family relics when he was 35 years old and found that his ancestor was awarded a piece of land in Kowloon during the Southern-Song Dynasty. Ever since, Tseng began writing Chinese calligraphy using the same font and structure form his family tree to retell the story of his family. He continued this practice for 50 years despite inclement weather and other hindrances. Although he had never received formal artistic education or training, he was able to make out the most aesthetic proportions to any object, the formatting of his calligraphy was always uniformed and he would complete a piece of calligraphy with just one attempt, no drafting required. Tseng's art was collected in at the Hong Kong M Plus Gallery, Tai Kwun, and more. In 2003, he represented Hong Kong and attended the Venice Biennale.

Calligraphy embodies the essence of “King of Kowloon” by conveying the way in which Tseng roots street art into traditional Chinese culture. On a piece of sizeable sheet, Tseng imprints his family tree, writing out the names of his ancestors, his wife, his children, and his grandchildren, the colonial history of Hong Kong and how the City has changed afterwards. On the top left of the artwork, the artist employs red ink to write out a flat quadrilateral word “King”, exaggerating the original character and contrasting the word with the other calligraphy. Thus, creating a deranged impression of his work, as if he was a maniac preaching his delusions. His work implies a sense of rebellion, an urge to revolt against the conventions of society, a war to gallantly defy formalities of the modern world, animating the famous saying of Tang Bo Hu which states, “The world laughs at my insanity; I laugh at the people's ignorance”. The underlying sentiment of Tseng's work is a mixture of self-deprecation with major gratification, disregarding the impression he leaves and the incoming comments of future generations.

Tseng enjoys producing street art during his artistic career. He ignores the remarks from other people and solely focuses on unravelling his ancestor's stories. There is a consistent theme and format to his artwork, but this unaltered formatting of calligraphy does not follow any traditional fonts or rules. He invents his own artistic vocabulary that displays a sort of majestic power that is just like historical inscriptions, representing the contemporary times and culture of which it was created.

Price estimate:
HKD: 30,000 - 50,000
USD: 3,900 - 6,400

Auction Result:
HKD: 132,000