The Works：Collapse at the former Central Police Station, the 250-year old Alexander Hume Painting (1

In 2009, the Antiquities and Monuments Office assessed 1,444 historic Hong Kong buildings. The experts divided them into three grades according to their heritage value. Up to April this year, 85 more buildings had been added. But the grading doesn’t always guarantee conservation, and even when it does, accidents can happen. Three groups of buildings in the Central Police Station compound have been declared as monuments since 1995 under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance. Sixteen buildings in all are being subjected to conservation work as part of the new ‘Tai Kwun’ (大館) complex. Unfortunately, last weekend, part of that conservation plan suffered a severe setback.
Thanks to the arts of photography and painting, even in the face of relentless development, some of those buildings that cannot survive in physical form can be preserved in image at least. You can see some of Southern China’s oldest colonial buildings, these set in old Canton, in a 250 year old scroll - The Alexander Hume Painting “13 Hongs’ Foreign Factories” – that has recently been added to the collection of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.
The art of the Chinese paper-cut, or 剪紙, dates back to the sixth century. The oldest surviving example is some 1,500 years old. Not only are such paper cuts an art form, they are also a popular souvenir for tourists, most often with imagery of mythological figures or the natural world. Bovey Lee is a Hong Kong-born artist who now lives in Los Angeles. In keeping with tradition, her paper cuts do contain images of nature, but they are also juxtaposed with the conflicts and contrasts of the urban environment. You can see her work in the exhibition “Invertigo” at Grotto Fine Art until this Saturday (pls check for CW and rephrase if necessary).
To guitar lovers, we’re introducing a man who really needs no introduction. Pat Metheny has no less than 20 Grammys under his belt and more than 40 albums under his name. He‘s worked with jazz greats such as Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman and other musicians including Steve Reich, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, and many more. Pat came to Hong Kong last week for two concerts with a new quartet, playing classic jazz tunes, by himself and others, as well as new compositions. We caught up with him during rehearsals. We’ll end the show with Pat Metheny and his quartet.