Interview by William Chan
The Macao International Oil Painting Society hosted a seven-day exhibition last week to celebrate the publication of its “Album of the 2025 Joint Exhibition of International Famous Artists in Macau” (鏡海藝觀——國際著名藝術家澳門交流展畫冊) at the Macau UNESCO Centre in Nape.
The album showcases over 100 artworks by 129 artists. Ung Si Meng, the honorary chairman of the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (commonly known as Kai Fong, its name in Cantonese), was one of them.
The Chinese-language album contains most of the artworks displayed at the exhibition.
Ung, who served as a deputy to both the 9th and 10th National People’s Congress (NPC), told the Post that he included works by his late friend Chen Yufeng and Chen’s students in the album as a tribute to his departed friend. The Post also featured Ung in an article last year, which was about an arts event titled “Mountains and Rivers Bring us Together – Macau-Anhui-Fujian Art Exchange”.*
Now 92, Ung in April visited Guxi Xinghe (a famed Fujian mountain resort where Chen once lived), where he met some of Chen’s students and selected their works for the exhibition and album.
The albums were all distributed, free of charge, during the exhibition period. To review the album online, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aUgbKyiMr0
*https://macaupostdaily.com/news/21711
**Gongbi (工筆) is a detailed and meticulous style of Chinese painting, characterised by fine brushwork, rich colours, and precise, intricate details. Directly translated, the word means “work pen”. – DeepSeek
Ung Si Meng (centre) poses with his friends and family members in April in Guxi Xinghe (古溪星河), Fujian province. – Photo provided by Ung
Ung Si Meng poses next to Chen Yufeng’s painting “Portrait of a Maiden” last week.
Sun Dejing (vice-president of the Xingtai Academy of Painting in Hebei Province) comes from a family of calligraphers and painters. Specialising in gongbi** ink painting and seal carving, her work “Tide’s Rise and Fall” captures the vibrancy of a bountiful fishing harvest with meticulous brushstrokes, blending the rigour of Northern School gongbi with contemporary aesthetics.
Duan Yingping (a member of the Fujian Artists and Calligraphers Association and deputy secretary-general of the Fuzhou Artists Association) excels at seal engraving. A student of Chen Yufeng, her piece “Spring Mountains: Tea Fragrance in the Mist” merges bold and delicate strokes to evoke the essence of tea fields, reflecting a uniquely feminine artistic sensibility.
Chen Yufeng’s painting “Portrait of a Maiden” depicts a young woman glancing over her shoulder, her face half-veiled by gauze, as if whispering a story across time. Gazing at the artwork, Ung noted: “Art lives through heritage, but even more through dialogue.”
Calligraphy by Ung Si Meng. – Photos: William Chan
