Artist Chan Wai-lap has spent the past five years making meticulous, grid-like drawings of swimming pools that have enraptured critics, curators, and collectors in Hong Kong and around the world. Now, he is expanding his creations off the page: he is building his very own swimming pool outside the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui, on the edge of Victoria Harbour.
“It’s a very Hong Kong location. When people think of Hong Kong, they think of that view of the harbour,” says Chan. “This is a very good opportunity to let me show Hong Kong, and the world, my swimming pool and its story.”
Chan’s own story begins in 2016, when he found himself stuck in a creative rut. He had graduated from art school in the UK in 2011 and subsequently returned to Hong Kong and formed an artist duo, named Dirty Paper, with Yau Kwok Keung. But after five years of collaboration, the pair decided to explore solo projects. Chan initially struggled to work alone. He found himself languishing in the studio, at a loss for ideas. So, one day he decided to distract himself by learning how to swim.
“I remember when I was three years old, my father bringing me to a swimming pool,” he says. “It was fun, but not real swimming. I had some lessons at secondary school, but I didn’t enjoy it. I never properly learnt.” Too self-conscious to sign up for swimming lessons at the age of 28, he decided to teach himself by watching videos on YouTube. “I’d go every day and spend more than an hour at the pool. I’d escape the phone, escape the TV, escape the news – I’d escape from the world. After a summer, I’d finally learnt how to swim.”
