Francis Hamel’s painting the yellow mountain series was made over wo trips to Hong Kong and China between 2019 and 2020. It sets up a formal analogy between the vertical mountains of Huangshan and the skyscrapers of Hong Kong. 

By choosing to depict the Huang Mountain(s) (or Yellow Mountain), he follows a classic traditional Chinese painting. Granite peaks emerging from mystical vegetation and mist are subjects that have been depicted many times, but here Francis Hamel uses a mode of representation, colors and play of light more suited to a Western painting culture. Nature is also present in Hong Kong’s paintings, proving that modern forms cannot free themselves from their relationship with the landscape environment.