The Canadian-Chinese Lee, who has lived in Hong Kong for more than 10 years, also did a live demo on a large, 120cm (4ft)-tall wall-mounted canvas on Saturday that was auctioned to raise money for a cancer charity.
Lee moved to Hong Kong in 2011 after turbulent times in the comics industry, which at one point saw his Canadian company filing for bankruptcy. Though he remains a part of the comic world, the kind of work he does has become more varied.
“When people think of comic books, they think of it as vintage. What I love about being in Asia, though, is I get asked to do all sorts of different things. I’ve done concept design for advertisement campaigns, music videos and games. I’ve done toy projects.” He and his brother are also working on a passion project about a samurai in an apocalyptic world.
The original illustrations being shown at Shout are becoming relics of comic-book history, as illustrators ditch ink and paper in favour of digital software that allows drawings to be done in a fraction of the time once needed.
“The comic book world is not what it used to be,” Lee points out. “After gaming became big, pop art became big, there are other avenues people have fun in now, and a lot of the work is now done on your iPad because you have a short window to produce. Speed is important, companies are trying to find ways to produce things faster – I’m working on a project now, and the deadline is a week to design all these characters.”
He gestures at a page he drew for a comic that is hanging on the wall: “This alone took 15 hours a day, for six days, with three people working on it.” The difference between this and something created digitally is negligible, he says, especially since most comics are distributed electronically anyway.
“Readership has shifted heavily into digital downloads. When I was getting into comics at 18, [publishers] would sell them in the millions, and an artist could become a millionaire off one comic. Nowadays, as a print publisher, you’re lucky to do 25,000 copies in sales.”
Samson Ko, director of Shout, says Lee’s works fit the gallery’s target audience of urban-art collectors, and could spark renewed interest in a “vintage” art form.
“Urban art is one of the fastest-moving categories in the art world now, and much of that movement is also through digital platforms and channels. With Pat Lee’s show, we wanted to allow people the opportunity to appreciate the intricacy of the work in an offline setting,” Ko said.“I’ve known his work for years, and people who know comics know his name, but what we wanted was for a new generation to see it in person – and to see him create these live in person is pretty awe-inspiring.”
Pages of Power: A Comic Book Illustration Exhibit by Pat Lee, Shout Art Hub & Gallery, 15 St Francis Street, Wan Chai, 12pm-6pm, Tue-Sun. Until March 14, 2021
