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Konstantin Bessmertny 君士坦丁・貝斯梅特爾
Babel HK: The World According to Four Evangelists and HK Taxi Driver 巴別香港：四位傳教士和香港的士司機口中的世界
2015–2016
Born in Amur Oblast in the Russian Far East, Konstantin Bessmertny spent over two decades working in Macau before establishing a studio in Hong Kong. The history and culture of his adopted homes are sources of constant inspiration for him. Babel HK: The World According to Four Evangelists and HK Taxi Driver is the first work he completed in Hong Kong. It refers to the Tower of Babel which, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, was built by the people of the world as a way to reach heaven. God introduced different languages so that the builders were suddenly unable to communicate, and construction was abandoned. The story is a frequent subject in the history of Western art and is most famously depicted in a 1563 painting by the Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Bessmertny’s composition features iconic images from Hong Kong’s multilayered history, as a Chinese special administrative region, a British colonial outpost, and an international capital of finance. In a surreal, meticulously defined landscape, Bessmertny portrays Hong Kong as a chaotic city inhabited by figures from all walks of life, including politicians, monarchs, and exotic dancers. The work explores the position of Hong Kong in a transcultural context and examines the ambivalence and complexity of the city’s identities.
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