Talk of the Town

For decades, Chu Hing Wah has captured scenes of everyday life in Hong Kong in his striking paintings. He's now 87-and has no plans to stop working

Chu Hing Wah's eyes sparkle when he talks about art. The 87-year-old is now one of the most celebrated artists in Hong Kong, where he is admired for his tender, delicate paintings that capture the small details of life in the city, such as shoppers in a wet market, the neon signs hanging above Portland Street in Mong Kok, or simply a row of shops closed for the day, their roller shutters down. These touching works are sought-after by both collectors and institutionsM+, Hong Kong's museum of visual culture, has 11 of his works in its permanent collection. But it has been a long and winding road to this point-he didn't start painting professionally until he was nearly 60, after a successful career as a psychiatric nurse.

Born in 1935 in Guangdong province, Chu moved to Hong Kong with his family when he was a teenager and lived on Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei. Growing up, he had an interest in art, but his first love was film. In the late 1950s, he landed a job working as an usher at Hong Kong's iconic, now defunct, Queen's Theatre, which sparked a lifelong passion for the work of director Alfred Hitchcock and actor James Dean. "He is my idol," Chu says of the latter.