Digital images of Cherie Cheuk Ka-wai’s artworks Lingering Clouds I and II, adorn the facades of a Hong Kong tram. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

This edition of Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK) is local artist Cherie Cheuk Ka-wai’s first time participating in the international fair. Starting today, it’s also the first time her work is being displayed in a huge format — namely, on the outside of a tram. 

Cheuk is one of three artists — along with landscape painter Stephen Wong Chun-hei and Chinese ink artist Sim Shum Kwan-yi — taking part in the Artist Tram Project, a collateral event of Hong Kong Art Week 2022. Commissioned by ABHK and co-presented by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, three special trams have been turned into moving canvases meandering along Hong Kong Island until May 29. 

Digital images of Cherie Cheuk Ka-wai’s artworks Lingering Clouds I and II, adorn the facades of a Hong Kong tram. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Adeline Ooi, Asia director of Art Basel, says the experimental project gave the artists a chance to work with a new surface. 

“It felt like a very natural step to invite local Hong Kong artists to respond to the iconic trams. In some ways, I ask myself, ‘Why didn’t we think of this earlier?’ ” she says, adding that the artists’ interpretations of the city pair well with the iconic mode of transport. 

“Now more than ever, collaboration with organizations in Hong Kong is key to creating meaningful connections in the city and across the globe. We’re so excited to be able to support a group of Hong Kong artists on this special project,” continues Ooi. “It’s part of our aim to celebrate the Hong Kong art scene, and be able to connect (local) art with a broader audience.”

Sim Shum Kwan-yi’s enigmatic Why You Always Be Here and Watch. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Originally scheduled for a showcasing in March — when ABHK would have taken place, were it not for the fifth wave — the pieces were commissioned in November. Following submission, the artworks were turned into a high-resolution image and digitally adjusted to fit the tram’s facade, taking into account windows and doors.

Wong’s contribution to the project depicts the Star Ferry surfing Katsushika Hokusai’s most iconic woodblock print. Shum executed a cryptic work created with ink, color and silver leaf on paper, titled Why You Always Be Here and Watch; while Cheuk applied two paintings from her latest ink-on-silk collection onto her tram. The series is themed around local bird species, and features retro Hong Kong details including a vintage toy and game as well as mosaic tiles typical of Hong Kong teahouses.

Stephen Wong Chun-hei playfully fuses the Star Ferry with Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

“The whole series looks at birds we often see in Hong Kong, such as the tree sparrow and red-whiskered bulbul, alongside silhouettes of local wildlife like a monkey, wild boar and buffalo,” the artist explains. “The line separating urban and rural is very thin in Hong Kong. Having these animals traverse the city on a tram symbolizes how close the city is to nature.”

Cheuk believes she was chosen to take part in the project for her prowess in injecting the techniques of traditional Chinese ink painting into her works. Her five-part series, Lingering Clouds, can be seen at the Alisan Fine Arts booth at Art Basel.

The Artist Tram Project continues ABHK’s tradition of running ancillary public events. For the third edition of the fair in 2015, mainland multimedia artist Cao Fei lit up the International Commerce Centre with images of retro arcade games such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Two years later, Hong Kong artist Kingsley Ng’s Twenty-Five Minutes Older created an altered version of reality whereby passengers on two public trams — repurposed as camera obscuras — were shown reversed images of the city during their ride.