LUIS CHAN (CHEN FUSHAN, 1905-1995)

Born in Panama, Luis Chan moved to Hong Kong in 1910 and spent his early days working as a typist in a law firm and designing fonts for a ferry boat company. A self-taught artist who painted in his spare time, Chan learned through a correspondence course from the Press Art School in London. Chan’s art is an expression of his wild imagination; his paintings are teeming with childlike whimsy. Often times Chan depicts identifiable places in Hong Kong (the current painting likely depicts Stanley Beach) in a surreal composition with a kaleidoscopic range of fantastical colours, and real and mythical creatures.