The legendary martial artist Bruce Lee once famously advised us ‘to be like water’. For Lee, emptying your mind and being formless and shapeless like water gives you the freedom to adapt and grow without being trapped in a certain mindset. In Hustle Strong, Johnny Romeo takes Bruce Lee’s philosophy and pushes it to its comically literal conclusion by transforming the kung fu master into water. Lee stares down at an unseen opponent outside of the canvas with his arm raised, ready to strike, while his reflection is refracted and distorted in the water below. Renowned for his near superhuman strength and hardworking training regime, Bruce Lee’s unwavering commitment to cultivating a strong body and mind is the very definition of ‘True Grit’. In contrast to the defeatist attitude of ‘True Quit’, Romeo’s Technicolour rendition of Bruce Lee reminds us to never give up and to find true strength within ourselves, a point further captured in the brash title Hustle Strong. A true pioneer of Pop culture, Lee hustled hard to shine a spotlight on Asian representation and cinema and bridge the gaps between the East and West. At the same time, Romeo uses the titular ‘hustle’ to reference the zany 2004 martial arts action comedy ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ and inject the painting with a humorously absurdist energy. As one of the most popular martial arts movies of recent memory, the rivers of ‘Kung Fu Hustle’s’ success all flow back to the legacy and influence of Bruce Lee.
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