Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) presents The Quest Game—Exhibition of Push Comic’s Works at the Experimental Gallery on the third floor of the Centre from 19 October to 20 November 2018. As one of the programmes of Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center’s “2018 Taiwan Arts Festival”, the exhibition will bring the 3D spaces by established Taiwanese sci-fi comics artist Push Comic to Hong Kong!

The opening ceremony was successfully held today (19 October 2018). Officiating guests included Ms. Hu Ching Fang, Director of Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center, Ms. Tse Ning, Ms. Connie Lam, Executive Director, Hong Kong Arts Centre and Push Comic, Comics artist.

Throughout the 33 years of his artistic career, Push Comic has attracted a wide readership among both the Chinese- and non-Chinese-speaking communities with his unrestrained imagination and compelling drawings. His Balézo is the first Taiwanese comics launched in Europe, its elaborate details and originality perfectly manifesting the unparalleled distinctiveness of his art style. Peppered with hidden codes and symbols that create a reading experience very much like playing a decoding game, his comics are enthusiastically embraced by his followers, including Masa, one of the members of the Taiwanese rock band Mayday. Push Comic’s works are read and re-read across time and space, and every read promises discovery of the wonders that he lays in the comics for us. That is, of course, why Push Comic’s Nine Lives Man and Balézo have been reprinted again and again since their debuts over the last 20 years.

Push Comic has crossed over from sci-fi comics into many other creative fields. He has designed art toys, and worked as an art editor for UFO Group and an editor for renowned contributing artists of Joy Comics, including Tsai Chih-chung and Chen Uen. Also engaged in visual design and commercial projects, he has done crossover creations with international fashion magazine VOGUE, popular brand STAYREAL, sports brand NIKE, and electronics brand SONY. He has also collaborated with Mayday member Ashin, actress Amber An, and Taiwanese writer Zhang Dachun.  His creativity is so wild that it transcends geographical and temporal bounds. It is certainly not an overstatement to say that Push Comic is the best person to represent the diversity and different facets of the cultural and creative industries in Taiwan.

Since its launch in 2006, Comix Home Base, a project initiated by HKAC, has endeavoured to promote comics as a creative art form, serving as an important platform for exchanges between Hong Kong’s comics scene and the world’s and for public showcases of works from different regions and of different styles. As the first exhibition following Comix Home Base’s return to HKAC from Mallory Street, The Quest Game—Exhibition of Push Comic’s Works incarnates Comix Home Base’s mission to encourage the “mix” of comics and other creative fields. The exhibition, with support from renowned Taiwanese comics artist Push Comic, presents the fantasy world created in comics, an art form that is full of possibilities, to the Hong Kong audience. The exhibition also marks a new chapter in the endeavour of HKAC’s Comix Home Base.  Concurrently, there will be an exhibition on Hong Kong comics touring in Shanghai as well as an exchange talk featuring German and Hong Kong comics artists. We are also planning to travel to France again to take part in an exhibition and observation visits. Stay tuned!

The Quest Game—Exhibition of Push Comic’s Works is Push Comic’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. In addition to the exhibition itself, there will be an opening ceremony, a public talk, and a living drawing demonstration, all of which will be attended or hosted by Push Comic.

The Quest Game—Exhibition of Push Comic’s Works
Details: https://hkac.org.hk/calendar_detail/?u=_sarxwCgirU
Images: http://ftp.hkac.org.hk/MDD/Exhibition_of%20Push_Comic's_Works/

Presenter: Hong Kong Arts Centre, Comix Home Base
Co-presented with: Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center
Authorised unit: AH TUI – PUSH COMIC©2018

Exhibition
Date: 19/10–20/11/2018
Time: 10am–6pm
Opening hours may change if Shouson Theatre has day-time performance.
Venue: Experimental Gallery, 3/F, Hong Kong Arts Centre (2 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong)
Free admission.

Talk: The Perspective of Comics Artist on Hong Kong and Taiwanese Cross-media Creations
Date:  20/10/2018  (Sat)
Time: 3pm–4pm
Venue: Eric Hotung Rehearsal Studio (LB, Hong Kong Arts Centre)
Speaker: Push Comic
Language: Mandarin
Quota: 40
Online registration required. First come, first served. http://www.hkaconlineregistration.com/event.php?lang=&en=NDMx
Free admission.

Live Drawing Demonstration
Date:  20/10/2018  (Sat)
Time:  4:30pm–6pm
Venue: Eric Hotung Rehearsal Studio (LB, Hong Kong Arts Centre)
Participating artist: Push Comic 
Language: Mandarin
Age: Aged 5 or above
Quota: 40
Online registration required. First come, first served. http://www.hkaconlineregistration.com/event.php?lang=&en=NDMy
Free admission.

About Established Comics Artist Push Comic
Push Comic (Ah Tui), moniker of a celebrated Taiwanese comics artist, is a man of many roles, including working as the comic section editor for the Chinese Times, art editor for UFO Group, BBDO Taiwan advertising designer, exhibitions curator, and assistant professor at Shin Chien University. Now, he is engaged in multimedia creations and art toys, as well as illustrations and anything that is related to comics or popular street culture.

During the 1980s, he worked as the editor for the Joy Comics, issued in Taiwan. He was responsible for editing works by famous Taiwanese comics artists, such as Tsai Chih-chung, Ao You-xiang, Chen Uen, Zhu De-yong, Tseng Cheng-chung etc.

In 1985, he published his first book The Symbol of Taichi, and then went on to be the author of over 20 comic books, including Nine Lives Man, Balézo (The first Taiwanese comics launched in Europe in the 90s, serialised in French comics magazine KAMEHA), and Promised Island 1.2.3 (published by per questa edizione Edizioni BD in Italian), many of which are licensed overseas. In addition to comics, he designed and created over 20 art toys.

In 2012, 2013 & 2015, he was the representative artist at the Taiwan Pavilion of the Angoulême International Comics Festival. In 2012, he was invited to France to stage his solo exhibition at NmK Festival Les Nouveau Mangakas in Montpellier, and was awarded “Prix Special du Jury” of the year as selected by Montpellier Journalists Association; and Chambéry’s International Comics Festival. In 2014, he became Hsinchu County Affairs Advisor. In 2015, he released his long-awaited new work Wild Star after a 16-year hiatus, followed by Bamboo Windy Towns in 2016. He won the Gold Award at the 12th Golden Dragon Award in China for his comics work Pin Bom Dog.

Push Comic’s works have inspired many people and are well-loved by artists, including members of the Taiwanese rock band Mayday: Ashin and Masa, illustrator Jimmy Liao, celebrity Wallace Chung, model Lin Chi-ling, Malaysian comics artist Keith Chong, etc.

Presenter:
Hong Kong Arts Centre – exhibits multiple arts, pulls in creativity and inspirations
Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) is a multi-arts centre that fosters artistic exchanges locally and internationally, bringing the most forward creations to Hong Kong and showcasing homegrown talents abroad. HKAC stimulates innovation and promotes creativity. Being Hong Kong’s only independent non-profit multi-arts institution, HKAC offers exhibitions, screenings and performances, connecting the arts of Hong Kong to the rest of the world through programmes and collaborations.

Dedicated to promoting comics and animation arts and culture in recent years, HKAC has presented a diversity of animation- and comics-related programmes in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, France, Belgium, Japan, Finland and beyond. HKAC was the operator of Comix Home Base, the first arts community for comics, animation and related media in Hong Kong, from July 2013 to July 2018, during which it breathed new life into Hong Kong by fostering the city’s comics and animation culture.  www.hkac.org.hk

Comix Home Base
Comix Home Base returned to the Hong Kong Arts Centre from Mallory Street in Wan Chai in August 2018 to extend the range of local comics and animation art project that the Centre has presented since 2006. Apart from providing an important exchange platform for local and overseas comics and animation lovers, industry players, and artists, Comix Home Base regularly presents comics- and animation-related programmes, such as exhibitions, talks and performances, to promote local and international comics and animation to everyone in Hong Kong and other parts of the world.