DOUBLE DOUBLE
Writings/ Photographs/ Poetry/ Archives
A Holly Lee and Lee Ka-sing online magazine. Published on Fridays.
李家昇黃楚喬網上雜誌，逢星期五出版
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CURRENT WORK (1)
Sushi Grass in Paradise (A story)
written by Holly Lee
with photographs by Lee Ka-sing
(5) A Page in a Diary and an Image from a Funeral
The diaries in the library are not uniform in size, in fact they vary from B5 size to big and small notebooks. They are also not put in an orderly fashion. A few stand between books of similar height, others are stacked horizontally on top of each other. Different sizes are Jigsawed into shoe boxes. By preference most diary covers have dark colours, say black or deep brown. Occasionally a red, a pink and a tiny one with floral pattern. The further it went back in years, the more diaries took the form of notebooks, or even wire-bound yearly planners.
A page was ribbon-marked in the Diary of 2012, which is cocoa brown and made of stain proof high quality faux leather. It was written in cursive English with a gel rolling black ball pen.
"This headache has been hanging around me for several days. I just have little bit of time to lie down and rest my eyes. Joni's music suddenly fills the room. It is the song Down To You, which has long disappeared from my head. Recalling the book Joni Mitchell The Complete Poems and Lyrics I bought some years ago, I urge myself to get up and find it. There it is, on the shelf and squeezed between books - clean and still quite untouched.
It all comes back to me. Joni's music, lyrics, her beautiful minty voice has captured the hearts of many in the 70's and 80's. It would be wonderful if Joni could only know she has large followers in Asia...in Hong Kong, who loved and influenced by her music and poems since the beginning of her career.
At forties, Joni looks gorgeous on the cover. The picture was taken by Herb Ritts, an American photographer. I came to know the names of so many fashion photographers in the 80's and 90's and Herb Ritts was one of my favourites. However, I think the most memorable image Herb Ritts took was of Madonna, a stunning profile image of her on the album cover True Blue in 1986.
I have given up all Joni Mitchell's records to our friend Fai, who moved to Canada ten years before us. He was a music enthusiast. He'd renovated, single-handedly, half of his basement and dedicated it to listening music. When we were there busily flipping through his record collections, he would pull one out, and tell us some incredible story of how he got it. He would then lay the vinyl down on the record player, and with utmost care, swing the tonearm and place the needle on the groove to start playing. The next moment, when the music of Mahler's Symphony No 5. filled the air, he would start another ritual. Brewing black Ceylon tea leaves with evaporated milk and sugar. He was proud of serving his best friends the famous Hong Kong-style milk tea - a tea he excelled at making. This creamy, charmingly sweet and full-bodied tea is given the name 'pantyhose tea', or 'silk stocking tea' for a couple of reasons. First, it is often brewed in a large tea sock that resembles pantyhose; and second, which is quite obvious, for its remarkable smooth as silk texture. We never got tired of the tea and the wonderful time we enjoyed music together, from classical to jazz to pop. After completion of his music room, Fai would spend endless nights there, organizing and digitizing vinyls and work on his compilation of music, transferring them into cds and send out copies to his music loving friends.
Here and now Joni's music still lingers in the room. It came from one of those cds Fai put together for us. My thoughts are sad, Fai has left us, or has he? On the day of his funeral, he had a nice hair cut, dressed in a pink-based yellow stripes shirt, black leather tie, sienna suit jacket - a typical "Workshop" style as in his youthful days. Knowing it was impolite to photograph, I looked at him long and hard, trying to make a mental photograph - a farewell image of our dear friend."
"Sushi Grass in Paradise" is an on-going story. To read the last chapter please refer to the previous issue of DOUBLE DOUBLE.
To read the full length "Sushi Grass in Paradise", please use this link
CURRENT WORK (2)
Selected works from ISTANBUL JOURNAL (2018), a series of diptych photographs by Lee Ka-sing
Visit this link to view more of ISTANBUL JOURNAL series, with 198 diptychs - a long poem on the mixing layers of culture and religion; and the rhyme of conflict and harmony.
CURRENT WORK (3)
SCAPES, a suite of three photographs by Holly Lee
(work year 2018)
SCAPES is about abstractness. Imageries are everywhere. Sometimes they don't make sense and dance around until you make a move to acknowledge them. To me, these ordinary, banal surfaces have become serene. I filter through them in different dimensions.
World Map
Archival pigment print, in handmade frame
38.25" x 19.5"
XO OX Beach
Archival pigment print, in handmade frame
52" x 19.5"
Shore
Archival pigment print, in handmade frame
38.25" x 19.5"
SCAPES series (a suite of three photographs) was shown at GALLERY 50, Toronto. From "BOTH SIDES NOW" (January 13 to February 10, 2018), a solo exhibition of Holly Lee’s recent works.
OP EDITIONS
Ernst Logar
Sham Sui Po (#970442)
8"x10", gelatin silver photograph
(work of 1996)
OP Edition, with "OP editions" blind-stamp
Edition 5/20, signed, numbered and titled on verso
Featured in the OP EDITIONS catalogue, issue 9703 in 1997
Purchase this photograph at OCEAN POUNDS online shop
OP editions are limited edition photographs from the OP Print Program we organized since 1995. After we moved to Toronto, the Program was still in operation for the first five years. Over hundreds of artists have been included, with photographs released as small format limited editions, in 8”x10” fibre-based black and white or chromogenic colour photographs. We plan to publish here, a selection from the collection on a weekly basis.
PAPER TALK
He came in.
written by Holly Lee
I don't remember on what occasion. He came in, seemed nervous. He sat down, I don't recall a conversation. He sat down, and began to draw. He looked at me, and showed me the drawing. He looked at me, I forget my expression. He looked at me, and showed me the drawing. The boy in the drawing looked at me, I remembered I looked at the boy in the drawing. The boy looked at me and I liked it. The boy looked at me and the boy has green eyes and a small mouth. I looked at the boy and I liked the boy. I liked to buy the drawing and I asked the boy's name. The boy looked at me and he took back the drawing. I asked the boy's name, he flipped the paper and started another drawing. The boy in the drawing has big brown eyes, brown hair and thin lips. He wore a green sweatshirt. I looked at the boy and I called him Katty. Katty looked at the boy and added a small brown heart next to Katty. Hearty Katty never came back for a second time. I kept the drawing for ten dollars.
BOOKSCAPE
CULTURAL CHOP SHUI (1995, Fringe Gallery, Hong Kong)
An exhibition curated by Lau Kin Wai
Artists: Christopher Doyle vs. To Woon
Lee Ka-sing vs. Tsang Tsou Choi
Ellen Pao vs. Yam Kim Fai / Pak Suet Sin
Exhibition catalogue designed by Lee Ka-sing
Format: 10x10 inches, 24 pages
H+K COLLECTION
Yau Leung
Gelatin silver photograph, 11x14 inches
Work year 1968, printed in the nineties
Signed on verso by the artist
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DOUBLE DOUBLE
Issue 0301-2019
A Holly Lee and Lee Ka-sing online magazine. Published on Fridays.
Published by Ocean and Pounds and archived at oceanpounds.com
All rights Reserved.
Selective items in this publication are available at the OCEAN POUNDS online shop. For items featured in CURRENT WORK, VINTAGE, ARTIFACT, PUBLICATION, OBJECT, BOOKSCAPE and COLLECTION, please send a request to: mail@oceanpounds.com.
If you are a researcher or writer and want to use the material, please write us in advance. Some of the materials might have different level of copyrights involved.
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DOUBLE DOUBLE previous issues were archived at -
https://oceanpounds.com/blogs/doubledouble
leekasing.com is a portal website for current and earlier works. Apart from exhibitions, Holly and Ka-sing use extensively web platforms to display photography and writing projects. Contact us for a detail list of links.
Holly and Ka-sing currently live in Toronto with their daughter Iris, and their cat Sukimoto.
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