Currently a secondary school Visual Arts teacher, Alexis Ip practiced pottery and sculpture under the guidance of Mr. Eric Chan, Mr. Chan Chung Kong and Mr. Chu Tat Shing. His FOTOMO work “The Blue House” and his pottery work “The Old Memories” were selected in the Hong Kong Arts Biennial 2005. His FOTOMO work “Hong Kong Image, Fa Yuen Street” is the winner of Hong Kong Contemporary Arts Award 2009. Alexis works are collected by Hong Kong Museum of Arts and overseas art lovers. Artists influenced by Dadaism of the 1920’s turned out a large amount of photomontage. Readymades by Marcel Duchamp also included collages. Alexis Ip’s 3-dimensional Fotomo (i.e. photo + model) is contrary to high technology ; his creation is hand-crafted from a collage of numerous photographs depicting old neighbourhoods, street scenes and the celebrations of festivals. Trivial stories within a big city are contained in his model of micro-photos.

葉家偉 Alexis Ip，中學視藝科教師。先後隨陳國光、陳松江及朱達誠老師學習陶藝及雕塑。作品《藍屋》 及《舊記憶》入選2005香港藝術雙年展；攝影浮雕《香港影像：花園街》獲香港當代藝術雙年獎 2009 優秀作品獎。作品為本地及海外藝術愛好者收藏。受到1920年代達達主義影響的藝術家們創造了大量的蒙太奇照片，其中表表者就包括有法國藝術家 Marcel Duchamp 的攝影拼貼。而葉家偉的立體攝影浮雕 Fotomo (攝影 photo + 模型 model) 創作形式與⾼科技背道⽽馳，他的作品全是手工製作，將大量的攝影作品拼貼為浮雕，主題多反映香港舊區、老街及傳統節⽇慶典活動。 在這個大城市看似微不足道的故事卻在他的作品中看見。

先跟大家說說我的其中一件作品：《民園麵家》的故事。2005年夏季，位於香港中環伊利近街，屹立超過八十年的路邊牌檔民園麵家，因持牌人黃老先生逝世，被食環署勅令收回經營牌照。其親人要求署方格外開恩，將牌照轉讓，以保留此具本土地方特色的牌擋。原來連香港旅遊發展局，也在官方小冊子上向來港遊客推介這個特色牌檔。為了保留牌檔，倡議保育的區議員出手幫助，招來傳媒採訪報導，又舉辦簽名運動，鬧得沸沸揚揚。

綠色鐵皮牌檔依山搭建，街道旁開了幾張摺檯，食客就在人來人往的路上打牙祭。叫了一碟油菜，放在斜路檯上會自然滑走，要一手扶著、一面擦汗、一面大快朵颐。吃完麵後拿上照相機，怱怱拍了十多張照片，回家做了一幅Fotomo作品。細看構圖，才發現拍漏了右邊的幾檯食客，於是一星期後回去，打算補拍。

才不過一星期，牌檔已人間蒸發，原址只餘堆了些建築廢料的一塊荒地，站在白花花的陽光下，遠處彷彿傳來古巨基的《愛得太遲》……

－ 葉家偉

Let me first introduce to you the story of one of my works, Man Yuen Noodles. Man Yuen Noodles was a roadside food stall established for more than 80 years on Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong. In summer 2005, as the license holder of the stall Mr Wong passed away, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ordered the stall to return its operating license. Wong’s family members appealed to the department for clemency to transfer the license such that the stall with its distinctive local flavor could be preserved.

It turned out that the Hong Kong Tourism Board also recommended this special food stall on an official pamphlet handed out to tourists. For the preservation of the stall, district councillors supporting the conservation offered a helping hand and asked the media to report on the stall. Coupled with signature campaign they organized, the incident generated a lot of buzz.

Built with green metal sheet on a slope, the stall provided several foldable tables set up in the street. Customers could please their taste buds on a bustling street. The dish of vegetable you ordered was bound to slide on a table placed on a slope. You had to hold it with one hand and wipe your sweat with the other, all the while enjoying the gorgeous food.

After finishing the noodles, I took out my camera and made a dozen shots, which would become a Fotomo work after I got home. A detailed study of the composition revealed a few missing tables of customers, so I decided to return a week later to fill in the gap.

In less than a week, the stall had vanished. What remained at the original site was a waste land with a pile of construction materials under the bright sun. Leo Ku’s song “Love Too Late” seemed to be playing in the distance.

－Alexis Ip