Islands and Birds

This painting of a sea island is one of many such vistas of Hong Kong Bay that Chang made during the 1970s. A low island with flying sea birds above arched shrubbery occupies the center of the composition. Chang sharply defined the birds and shrubbery but rendered the sea in light gray tones that give atmosphere to the entire picture and heighten the fore- and backgrounds, giving the island's surroundings a hazy look. This painting is notable for its appealing wide-angle composition. The mass of birds rendered in a variety of ink tones in different sizes, serves to quietly build spatial depth, producing the impression that the painted surface is not flat and that the subject actually recedes into the distance.