Hong Kong artist Brendan Fitzpatrick finds inspiration everywhere—from K11 Artus to a powerful typhoon

The art-inspired Hong Kong property has hosted several creative mavens as part of its new Artist in Residence programme

Welcoming talented creatives to the luxury serviced apartments of K11 Artus, the property’s new Artist in Residence initiative saw filmmaker Man Lim Chung and writer and illustrator Sophia Hotung reveal individual pieces of artwork inspired by their stay. Most recently, figurative portrait artist Brendan Fitzpatrick has joined their ranks.

In the hope of shaping new realms of creative discovery, Fitzpatrick, a Hong Kong-based painter, found inspiration in the warmth and intimacy of the Artus residences, producing a three-piece canvas trio to be showcased inside K11 Artus.

You studied as a draughtsman and printmaker, and then studied the brushwork of the old masters at the Charles H Cecil Studios in Florence. What drew you to that?
I find myself entranced and fascinated by the ritual of depicting stories and subjects in paint and drawing. And for as long as I’ve loved this technique, I’ve wanted to do it too.

Mindfulness has become something of a phenomenon in the past few years—and romanticising the mundane is something that inspires you. How do you weave this into your art?
I think the very act of spending time with your subject and painting is a mindful practice. Taking the days and months to refine and observe as your art slowly gets revealed—that’s romance in its purest form.

The word Artus blends the English word “art” with the Latin term for “home”. Working between London and Hong Kong, what does “home” mean to you?
For a long time I’ve felt like I have no roots, but any time I feel up in the air, I remember that home is the connections that we make.

As a figurative portrait artist, your work revolves around humans. So what was it about K11 Artus that intrigued you?
The opportunity to recuperate in its sumptuous surroundings encouraged me to just be myself and let the ideas flow out of me.

Above Brendan Fitzpatrick at K11 Artus (Photo: Courtesy of K11 Artus)

Above Fitzpatrick’s trio of paintings (Photo: Courtesy of K11 Artus)

Brendan Fitzpatrick at K11 Artus (Photo: Courtesy of K11 Artus)

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Can you tell us about your experience at K11 Artus?
Initially my partner and I burrowed and nested. While I squirrelled myself away in the nooks that the building offers, I started to make sketches and studies of the things that fascinated me: colours, textures and interactions. Like a reporter jotting down notes, I made preparations for when I’d be inspired, so I’d be ready to leap into action.

You curated a trio of paintings illustrating your view of Victoria Harbour from inside your residence at K11 Artus. Tell us how this piece reflects your personal experience with the property.
My moment came when we were caught with the most dramatic view of a typhoon: on the apex of the harbourfront, looking out to sea while the water and wind lashed at the floor-to-ceiling windows. I was compelled to step out onto the balcony and started to make some oil sketches and studies. I painted how the light disappeared behind the sheets of torrential rain; how the sea formed frothy peaks from the high wind, wave-like patterns emerging from the impact points of the droplets on the water; and how the ships in the night stayed their course, stoic in their journeys. It was incredible to behold.

Tell us about your idea of treating your stay like an open studio.
An open studio can mean the initial visit by one of my models—a sitting. This consists of the initial face-to-face encounter, in which I fuel my painting with observations, conversations and atmosphere. Almost always I’ll be making something, whether it’s a simple charcoal sketch to think about the blocking of the composition or sketching in oil paint thinned with turpentine directly onto the canvas, building the foundations of the portrait with the silhouettes and shadows.

I find compositions come to me at the mundane hours of the day, when things are quiet and you have a moment to let your mind wander—showering, walking without music, chopping an onion. I’ll then take the ideas and try and put them to paper so I can investigate further. I’ll make sketches and colour studies until I have something I want to work with and take to the next level.

As the programme’s third artist in residence, what kind of perspective do you hope to bring to the collaboration?
I hope to bring a hands-on craft: to make something that can be touched, to see the personal touches in the surface of my work, from the raking marks of thick paint, to the soft, diffused layers of meditative glazing; from an old-world, Old Master approach to a new world.