Also thoroughly familiar with his work are most of New York's top advertising agencies and publishing firms. So what has brought him home? ''I thought it was about time I tried my hand at some Chinese subjects,'' says Tsui, ''but the real reason was because I'm afraid 1997 will change Hongkong and I wanted to see it before the transition.
''It hit me that in the 22 years since I left, I hadn't been back once.'' Three years ago, George Tsui finally made his pilgrimage and has stayed on, commuting regularly between Hongkong and his Long Island home.
''The transition has been pretty rough,'' he admits. ''When I first returned to Hongkong, I found a lot had changed and not for the better.
''I used to love swimming at the beaches, but now find them far too polluted. The people used to be nicer too, but then Hongkong was much less crowded when I was a boy. What keeps me here? I guess it's become a love-hate thing.'' That and the fact that George Tsui wants to paint; really paint instead of concentrating on the commercial work that has won him fame but not always personal fulfilment.
The local scene has proved an excellent incentive for the illustrator who trained at major art schools in the United States and Canada, and holds several prestigious awards.
''In the US, what counts is your portfolio. Nobody asks whether you hold a degree or gives a damn about prizes. If your work doesn't say anything, you won't get hired.
''Here, the freelancer has to provide an art service. Go to practically any advertising agency and you're expected to offer a full range for them to choose from - sketches, airbrushing, watercolours, magic marker.
Hardly anyone looks for individual style. Many art directors just flip through American Showcase (the commercial art catalogue), pick out something and say: copy that.
''You'll probably be given only a week - two or three days to do the work and the rest is given over to correcting it.
''In the US, the client will generally trust the judgement of the art director and artist. In Hongkong, clients have the say even if they don't know the first thing about art.
''As a result, a nice piece of work often ends up mediocre or quite terrible.'' George Tsui knows the score from personal experience. He cites a movie poster he recently presented for approval.
''At the meeting,'' he recalls, ''nobody breathed a word until the movie company boss said, 'Yes, that's good,' then everybody else hastily agreed.
''Then the movie boss said he liked it, but could I change this and that. One of the changes was to enlarge the typeface for secondary actors and I pointed out that was impossible because it would give them more prominence than the main cast.
''In the end he backed down, but I got the message: this is easy money for you.
''A good deal for a good price with the client calling the shots - that's the way it is here.
''Most Hongkong artists hate it, but they're afraid to say anything because they need the work.'' The result, says Tsui, has been a ''grocery store mentality'' which has effectively stopped Hongkong from producing distinctive, much less world-class talent.
What ends with the tyranny of the big buck at the professional level, starts at grass roots via the Hongkong education system, believes Tsui.
''I've lectured and taught a lot at high schools in the States,'' says the artist, ''so I thought it would be great to do something like that here.
''The response I've got in Hongkong has been revealing: very enthusiastic from international schools and complete rejection from Chinese schools.
''I couldn't even get past the secretaries. 'We have our own art programmes,' they said - that is when I didn't have the phone slammed down in my ear.'' His own schooling - at a Catholic boarding school in Shau Kei Wan, followed by St Francis Xavier College, Kowloon - was rigorous but enlightening.
''I was only seven when I became a boarder, which was tough because my parents had just divorced and I only got to go home two or three times a year, but I think I had a better education than most in Hongkong.
''The brothers were not only good teachers, but came from different countries like Italy and Spain, so their outlook was broader.
''My interest in art? Yes, it was encouraged at school, but everyone in my family can draw. My father taught me a lot.'' At 21, he left for the States. Studies completed, he joined a small outfit in New York and waited for a break. It came at a karate club.
''My sparring partner turned out to be the art director for a local TV station. When I told him what I did, he said, 'Really? Come and show me your portfolio.' ''I did and he was impressed, then said he didn't have any vacancies but knew of one going at NBC.'' The young Hongkong Chinese artist applied. So did 350 others. Two eliminations later, NBC made its choice: one of the shortlisted 12 to do the newspaper ads for a new project - and George Tsui for the key art.
He spent three years with the network, another year with an agency and has been freelancing ever since. Dick Tracy , Return of the Jedi, Barbarosa, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - Tsui can add others for major TV series, numerous book covers and a wide range of special events to his credit.
The 1984 Winter Olympics was one. Even more memorable was his commission from the American Actors' Guild to create the poster for the first Night of 100 Stars.
''They walked on a red carpet that stretched along Sixth Avenue from the New York Hilton to Radio City - at least three city blocks - and when they reached the end, each signed the poster's border,'' the artist recalls. ''Grace Kelly was among them. Her signature is on the right-hand side.'' Showing along with George Tsui's oil paintings and drawings - all originals of what millions have seen in cinema foyers and on book covers - will be one of the 100 prints made of the famous poster.
''The ABC network owns it,'' he explains. ''I guess it's worth millions.''
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