LUAP takes The Pink Bear to Hong Kong in 2013, presenting Paintings at HK Contemporary Art Fair and creating a new body of Photography across the city.
In 2013, LUAP travelled to Hong Kong as Paintings featuring The Pink Bear were presented at HK Contemporary Art Fair. The trip also included HKC Budget Art Fair, marking an early international presentation of the work.
Outside the fairs, LUAP continued the project through Photography, taking The Pink Bear out into Hong Kong and working directly within the city. The response was very different from what he had experienced in Britain.
People approached constantly, asking for photographs and gathering around The Pink Bear. At times the attention became so intense that LUAP had to step away before continuing. What had previously prompted uncertainty from some people in the UK was met in Hong Kong with an immediate openness and curiosity.
That reaction became as important to the trip as the photographs themselves. The Pink Bear had begun as a recurring figure within LUAP’s Painting, but placing it into an unfamiliar city introduced chance encounters and reactions that could not be planned in advance.
The humour and spontaneity of the experience remained important. Rather than treating the city simply as a backdrop, LUAP allowed what happened around The Pink Bear to influence the Photography as it developed.
The Hong Kong trip became an early stage in a way of working that LUAP would continue to develop, taking The Pink Bear into real locations and using those experiences as the starting point for Photography and later Painting.
