Colourful World

Since we first moved to Hong Kong, Craig and I have been searching for a special piece of art to commemorate our time here. We knew we wanted a piece that featured the famous Hong Kong skyline, but we did not want any cheap, mass-produced, available-in-any-market-stall kind of painting.

In my online investigations I discovered and fell in love with the work done by an Italian artist named Francesco Lietti. He traditionally paints landscapes from his travels all around the world. However, his bright and colourful representations of the impressive Hong Kong skyscrapers were exactly the artwork that we had in mind.

The problem was that Lietti's paintings are hard to obtain. Imagine our joy, then, to discover a local gallery near Craig's school with an upcoming exhibition of some of Lietti's paintings. We went along to Yan Gallery with three children in tow to preview the collection. I would like to go on record to say that I would have been thrilled to purchase any one of Lietti's Hong Kong paintings. Craig, however, felt that only one piece truly did justice to the amazing city in which we currently live. He bought the artwork on the spot, regardless of the price, and we are now the proud owners of "This is Hong Kong 2012". As the three-piece artwork measures one meter high by three meters wide, we will be on the hunt for a new house in Australia with a wall sufficiently large on which to proudly hang our beautiful painting depicting Hong Kong's skyline by night.

Craig attended the "Colourful World" exhibition at Gallery by the Harbour where he was blessed to meet artist Francesco Lietti in person. Here they are posing in front of our new painting.

Lietti told Craig we are the second family to purchase some of his work for display in an Australian home.

Amanda, you can probably tell that Lietti works in acrylic and oils on canvas, but also uses collage (like scraps of newspapers) to give his paintings texture and depth. He varnishes his finished works, which enhances the brightness of the colours much more than these photos show.

Craig found humour in the fact that numerous visitors to the exhibition stopped to admire and photograph "our" painting.

If you live in Hong Kong you should definitely view Lietti's "Colourful World" exhibition at Gallery by the Harbour, 2/F, Shop 202, Ocean Center, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui. It lasts until January 6, 2013.