Australian artists' sentimental strokes of China inspiration

Art-Lease primarily loaned assets to corporations. Nock wanted to expand upon those assets without having to invest heavily in new ones. He invited other art lovers to share their collections.

"We share the economics," he says.

He also set up The Nock Art Foundation, a scholarship and artists-in-residence program that commissions new works by artists he feels would contribute greatly to the Art-Lease portfolio. "I've endowed a scholarship in the name of art professor Jules Engel at CalArts," Nock says. He has two apartments in Hong Kong where visiting artists can stay for weeks at a time. Plus, there is a designated corner in his Aberdeen space where they can paint.

"I felt that no one had painted Hong Kong well. So I asked a few of my favorite painters to come here. I also took Peter and Euan to Guilin (capital city of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region). The key is that this is not a one-off exhibition. I imagine they would return to Hong Kong every 12 to 18 months. We would visit and paint other places in China."

He recalls the friendly competition between the painters during their visit to China. "We would go to the roof of their apartment to check out the view," Nock recalls, "and Peter would claim it for himself! He did a number of skyline paintings from the roof."

While Macloed, a New Zealand-born resident of Australia, prefers to paint in situ, Godwin prefers to sketch and then assemble the paintings in his studio. "Euan, on the other hand, will paint three or four canvases in a day. He's fearless!" Nock says. Macleod's Typhoon 3 captures the ominous energy of a summer storm as it crossed the harbor.

Working side-by-side with Godwin and Macloed, Nock has regained his passion for creating art. The exhibition is just as much about their China landscapes as it is about Nock's path home.

If you go:

Pao Galleries, 5/F, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbor Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

10 am-8 pm, April 2-21.

852-2525-6880.