Hong Kong Backdrops

Recently I have been working on these photos from Hong Kong taken between 4th and 17th December 2011. I’m interested in how the construct of the city or the urban can grow into a backdrop – all that is natural becomes blocked out.

I have edited these photos with photoshop, I straightened the lines to formalise the man-made element as a simple recurring structure. Even so, the natural creeps in and can be seen in and, I think, comes through in these images. The chaos of the distortions added by the reflections, the way in which the people occupying the towers arrange their stuff, or the seemingly random arrangements of the air conditioners.

One of the things that fascinated me about Hong Kong was how the towers get literally wrapped in intricate structures of bamboo and rich green fabric that jostles in the breeze – they become almost natural again. Often, due to lack of space buildings have to be made taller which leads to only the top half of the building getting wrapped – really emphasising the idea that the building is growing.

I like these images because they are psychedelic. They are not scenes, but structures and shapes. I find them somehow monolithic and impenetrable. In the studio I have been mounting them on to coloured cards in natural grays, greens and browns. This brings out the colours to surround the image making it more striking.

I would like to see them very big or as paintings as I think they have a painterly quality. I would like to stand in front of one so it seems to surround me and put me back into that place.

Welcome

Welcome to my new website, it is currently under construction so anyone who might stumble upon it at this point will have a chance to follow my progress. Enjoy!

Matt Cook