Art in focus
DESPITE HIS bob-length mop of messy hair, renowned photographer Wing Shya can't hide a severely sunburnt face. It looks agonising. Shya has just returned from a four-day trip to the southern border of southwest China, in Yunnan province, where, at an altitude of 3,800 metres, he felt the full effects of the sun.
But Shya was a man on a mission. A series of large-format negatives are the fruits of his toil. The 20 fashion shots he's taken for the next Shanghai Tang catalogue show why he's known as a master of detail and colour, juxtaposing a pale Slovakian model against a rural Chinese setting.
In the busy world of Shya-la-la Workshop, there's no time to look back. There are upcoming shoots for Lane Crawford department stores and On Pedder shoe boutiques, as well as a beauty campaign for Red Earth cosmetics. In between these jobs for big-name clients, Shya has contributed to a black-and-white exhibition called Wake Up! Photography is Art at the Art Statements gallery.
Of the eight local and four international artists taking part in the show (including Warren Leung Chi-wo, Ellen Pau, Patrick Lee, Andrew J. Loiterton, Erwin Olaf and Sam Samore), Shya probably best embodies the 'photography is art' message. Among his best known works are escapist stills of director Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together and angst-filled close-ups of In the Mood for Love, shot on specially hunted-down 1960s stock. His most recent collaborations with Wong are theatrical panoramic stills of 2046.
Like Wong, Shya has earned a place in pioneering Hong Kong's pop culture. From fashion to music, advertisements and even film directing, Shya's Chinese-meets-classicism-meets-beauty aesthetic is unmistakable. He was the guy who shot the tastefully naked photos of singer/actress Karen Mok Man-wai. He gave actress Gong Li a sharp edge for French Vogue. And, for a cinematic fashion-editorial spread for Louis Vuitton, he put actor Daniel Wu Yin-cho and Japanese model Ai Tominaga in an amorous moody drama.
For his Art Statements exhibition piece, Shya submitted a non-fashion and non-celebrity shot. 'It's a portrait of my friend, who's a hairdresser,' he says. 'This show is not about famous people or fashion. I deliberately submitted a very 'real' shot. To me, exhibitions are like cultural documentaries. The obvious, commercial side of photography isn't what showing in an art gallery should be about.'
The non-commercialist stance is what makes this new exhibition stand out. Few people realise that photography and video are the main mediums of art today, says Art Statements gallery founder/owner Dominique Perregaux. 'During the past 15 to 20 years, paintings have become less representative of Contemporary Art,' Perregaux says, 'but galleries keep selling them because they don't want to take risks and prefer to sell what people expect. It's time to wake up to the fact that today's biggest artistic stars are photographers and digital artists.'
Just look at Shya. The 39-year-old has been pushing the artistic edge of photography and creativity for 12 years now. Having studied graphic design at technical college with radio host Jan Lamb and actor/designer Eric Kot Man-fai, Shya went to Vancouver in 1987 to further his education. Returning five years later, he became a freelance art director at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency before joining Lamb as the design head at Commercial Radio. Soon after photographing Lamb's wife, pop singer Cass Pang, for her album release in 1996, and working with Kot at his Double X Workshop creative studio, Shya's career as a photographer, art director and director took off.
In 1997, he set up Shya-la-la, which also became a hub for graduate interns. 'For me, it was an opportunity to learn from and grow with these fresh minds,' Shya says, 'I know I have my creative limits, too.' Today, Shya-la-la has 14 staff, including recruits from Japan and Singapore. With business partner Marcus Savage, the company has three divisions: graphic design, television commercial production and, of course, photography.
Besides having a firm artistic relationship with film director Wong and ties to talent in Asia's fashion, film and music worlds, Shya's client list includes Lacoste, Motorola, Sony and Tiger Beer, and magazine exposure in the likes of British Dazed and Confused and i-D, as well as Japan's Men's Non-no.
So much work leaves little time for gallery exhibitions. 'I exhibit solo or in a group once to four times a year,' he says. 'But usually people approach me as I'm not so aggressive for such things. I like to think that shows and exhibitions are something I'd love to do when I'm 50.'
