Kongkee
Warring States Cyberpunk
Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong

Comics, illustrations, graphic novels, and animations are seldom exhibited at art museums, as many of these mediums still rely upon traditional narrative structures of storytelling. Likewise, although their discernable visual identity may capture viewers’ attention, most academically trained, institutional curators shy away from such “layman” approaches. While contemporary artists like Takashi Murakami’s and Roy Lichtenstein’s appropriations of anime and comic strips created an outlet for future artists to take inspiration from popular visual culture, still, few artists of the aforementioned practices have been able to present as more than supplementary additions to established exhibitions. One exception is the Malaysian-born, Hong Kong-based artist-illustrator Kong Khong-chang, or “Kongkee,” whose first institutional solo exhibition “Warring States Cyberpunk” debuted at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum in 2022. The exhibition then received its homecoming at Tai Kwun Contemporary under the co-curation of Abby Chen, the original curator in San Francisco, and Kwok Ying, senior curator at Tai Kwun Contemporary.