Lawrence Fung
Kraken Still and Film
Spring 2021 Studio/LAB Artists-In-Residence
LAWRENCE'S BIO
Raised in the concrete jungle of Hong Kong and the American Southwest, the presence of contrast has been a common theme in the dance works, films, and photographs that Lawrence creates.
The self-taught photographer and filmmaker has a particular interest in finding details and patterns in his worldly encounters. Inspired by the vastly diverse landscapes, urban architectures, and environments we live in, Fung finds purpose in uncovering the hidden layers and stories beyond what meets the eye. He uses visual language to draw his viewers attention to an encapsulating storytelling experience by exploring the theories of composition, color, scale, and choreographed camera movement all in relation to dance.
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As a choreographer and movement artist, Fung is constantly exploring the integration and similarities between ballet and breaking, bringing the opposite disciplines into a free flowing harmony that exists in a new dimension without contextual boundaries. Modern masculinity, self-discovery, and religion are themes that gravitate Fung’s curiosity in his dance-making.
LAWRENCE'S WORK
Curiosity is my muse. I question beyond the surface of our environment, because I know there is more than meets the eye. I look beyond the mundane and uncover hidden perspectives through moving bodies and landscapes. Dancing and exploring the varieties of our environments, bringing new views upon existing perceptions. I am curious about movement. I dance to explore the possibilities among bodies, time and space, finding intricacies and rawness flowing out from simplicity. Through diversity and collaboration, I aim to achieve style fluidity. Like water, we flow in unity. I can freeze or capture a moment; painting pictures with a camera and moving bodies as I explore the world and journey across the seven seas. It is the variety and diversity that I seek within different environments and sites. I edit movements, still images, and moving pictures to create surprising perspectives and to tell engaging stories. I satisfy the urges of knowledge seekers, because I believe this world needs more artists instead of followers. I aim to provoke your curiosity, through performances, films, photography, teachings, and collaborations.
WHAT IS AT THE CORE OF YOUR WORK?
The core of my work investigates personal curiosities towards philosophic concepts, religion, and modern masculinity by using the cross-pollination between various dance disciplines and the visual mediums where dance is presented. My narrative is told through a movement language that blends my background in breaking with my later discovery of ballet, contemporary, and contact elevation. Excerpts of my stories are then translated into live or visual components like the proscenium stages, galleries, and film theaters.
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