Stephen Wong brazenly describes himself as “grasping.” The panorama painter is referring to his urge for food for absorbing as a lot surroundings as potential throughout lengthy and generally arduous hikes, which see him filling sketchbooks with impressions earlier than translating them into luxurious work.

Hong Kong, the 35-year-old’s dwelling, serves as a relentless muse. Its distinctive topography — a mixture of mountains, seashores, islands and vertiginous cityscapes, all in shut proximity to at least one one other — encourage fantastical interpretations of what he encounters alongside the way in which. He has created tons of of those placing works over the previous decade, turning into one among metropolis’s most celebrated and picked up modern artists.

The pandemic period has ushered in a brand new interval of creativity for Wong. Unable to journey final yr, he as a substitute produced “A Grand Tour in Google Earth” — large-scale work depicting locations like Peru’s Machu Picchu and Japan’s Mount Fuji, the latter unfold throughout 5 canvases. With out leaving his studio, he used satellite tv for pc photos from Google Earth and photographs combed from the web, in addition to his personal recollections of locations he had beforehand visited.

Now, in his subsequent bold endeavor, Wong has returned his consideration to Hong Kong, getting down to seize the 100-kilometer (62-mile) MacLehose Path. Famed for its sweeping views of the territory’s dramatic countryside, the stroll is damaged up into 10 levels, ranging in issue and ascent. Operating east to west by way of Hong Kong’s New Territories, it traverses iconic pure landmarks such because the monolithic Lion Rock and the Tai Lam Chung reservoir, higher generally known as “Thousand Islands Lake.”

Whereas the MacLehose challenge is one Wong had lengthy thought-about embarking on, Hong Kong’s speedy tempo of improvement drove him to “seize the prospect” and at last begin work in September final yr.

“I actually have the sensation that the whole lot is altering,” he says. “I can not ensure that the whole lot might be right here tomorrow.”

Bonhams’ Head of Trendy and Up to date Artwork Asia Marcello Kwan, who curated the exhibition, describes Wong’s creative language as surreal and really simple to know. However the painter’s incorporation of first-person recollections additionally makes his type very private, added Kwan, who thinks a current flurry of exercise in Wong’s profession — exhibiting on the Artwork Basel artwork truthful and outstanding native galleries within the final 18 months, all whereas zealously portray — comes by way of in his newer works.

“His coloration tone has modified utterly in comparison with (his) early years, from extra earthy to extraordinarily colourful,” Kwan mentioned in a telephone interview — a shift he thinks “is a conclusion of his creative achievement of the previous 10 years.”

Path impressions

Mountain climbing with Wong supplies perception into his meditative course of. From time to time he stops for five to 10 minutes to rapidly draw no matter catches his eye, a way he prefers to taking pictures.

“These days, particularly with know-how, we’ve got so some ways of very precisely capturing surroundings, by taking photographs on iPhones,” he says. “But it surely’s too quick for me.

“I prefer to memorize it by hand. Though it isn’t that correct, it actually helps me perceive the surroundings extra deeply.”

Hairpin bend in Tai Mo Shan Mountain, Hong Kong Credit score: Chunyip Wong/E+/Getty Pictures

The Excessive Island Reservoir in Sai Kung Nation Park, subsequent to pure hexagonal rock formations. Credit score: Chan Lengthy Hei/SOPA Pictures/LightRocket/Getty Pictures

The painter’s interpretation of Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong’s highest peak. Credit score: Courtesy Bonhams

On the Shing Mun Reservoir, the beginning of the MacLehose Path’s seventh stage, he fervently sketches Hong Kong’s highest peak, the three,140-foot Tai Mo Shan, in opposition to the skinny, wispy clouds. “I all the time like to precise the connection between the panorama and the sky,” he remarks, mentioning the distinction between the onerous mountains and smooth clouds.

Later within the hike he pauses to sketch tall, verdant timber that initially appear unremarkable, given their ubiquity alongside the path. However Wong is drawn to how this explicit cluster divides the surroundings in two — mountains to its left and the artifical reservoir and high-rises to the correct. “I actually like (these) varieties of conversations,” he provides.

Clouds cling low in Wong’s depiction of the second stage of the MacLehose Path. Credit score: Courtesy Bonhams

Sergio Koo, a buddy and collector of Wong’s work, joined him for about half of the MacLehose’s 10 levels. For Koo, mountaineering with the painter provides him the chance to find components of the panorama that he, as an avid runner, usually speeds previous.

“It is fascinating to see how he places (sure) experiences within the portray,” Koo says over the telephone, selecting out sights that they had encountered that made their manner into Wong’s work: a lone tree and the jagged define of catchwater that the pair, together with one other buddy, had walked alongside.

Usually, Koo runs previous the concrete channel, which marks the final stretch of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) path, as rapidly as potential.

“Now, even essentially the most boring a part of the path turns into fascinating.”

In the direction of the highest left of the portray of the MacLehose Path’s stage 10, the viewer can spot the jagged define of catchwater close to a blocky cluster of buildings and Citadel Peak. Credit score: Courtesy Bonhams

Constructing landscapes

Again in his studio, Wong recomposes components of the path utilizing his sketches and recollections from the hike. He makes use of his creativeness to fill in the remainder.

Shiny, vibrant greens and contrasting colours depict the whole lot from undulating mountain ranges to evocative pink timber with midnight-blue tops. His portray of the Sai Kung peninsula, seen from the MacLehose’s fourth stage, envisions clouds as cotton sweet mounds erupting in opposition to a mint inexperienced sky, offsetting a sundown that spills into the repetitious peach-colored brushstrokes of the lapping ocean.

Wong’s large-scale canvas of the MacLehose Path’s fourth part. Credit score: Courtesy Bonhams

The sandy seashores of Sai Kung peninsula in Hong Kong. Credit score: Ian Hunter/EyeEm/Getty Pictures

In addition to incorporating dreamlike hues, Wong generally modifications the orientation of key landmarks (just like the reservoir in stage seven that seems to the east of Needle Hill, as a substitute of the west), including to the sensation of the imaginary rooted in actuality.

“I am all for how I interpret nature, relatively than the accuracy of capturing the surroundings,” Wong explains. “For me it is identical to enjoying Legos. You construct the panorama by compositions, strains and colours.”

Whereas his canvases are remarkably immersive, the inclusion of miniature individuals — they’re depicted mountaineering, doing out of doors actions, like parachuting, and even portray — play “an essential position,” says Kwan, the curator.

“While you get nearer, you see tiny, tiny persons are truly contained in the work,” he provides. “That is essentially the most stunning half, for me.

Element shot of the MacLehose Path’s fourth part. “I feel in nature, people might be humbled… cured,” the painter says. Credit score: CNN/Stephy Chung

In his work, individuals might be seen doing out of doors actions, like mountaineering and, on this element, parachuting. Credit score: CNN/Stephy Chung

“After all, the panorama is fantastic. However in the long run, I feel it is about people. So though the persons are so tiny, each individual within the image counts as a vital component. It is about their journey. Stephen is different individuals, but in addition at himself as one of many individuals on this journey.”

Watch the video above to see Stephen Wong at work.