Cherie Cheuk: A Wrinkle In Time, Alisan Fine Arts
Hong Kong artist Cherie Cheuk skillfully incorporates contemporary visual culture into Chinese painting traditions in four distinct series, culminating in her long-awaited first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. A pair of walnut-wood Chinese screens is a fixture of the Gathering of Ten Fragrances series. Ballad of Seasons draws on Yuan Dynasty texts about 24 solar systems, and Mutual Reflections juxtaposes antiquities with contemporary objects. The latest Transcending Boundaries series features five new works that fuse traditional culture and materials with popular culture motifs, including Super Mario and Pac-Man, which are interpreted through vibrant Japanese ukiyo-e aesthetics and executed in meticulous detail with Chinese gongbi techniques. Cheuk’s paintings are rich with symbols and steeped in traditional techniques, but they never fail to exude a child-like wonder that uplifts once gazed upon.
When: Until September 6, 2025
Where: 21/F, 1 Lyndhurst Tower, 1 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central
Worlds Within: Art as Refuge Group Exhibition, Villepin
Villepin is brilliant at extending the atmosphere of paintings to their surrounding environment, creating exhibitions that engulf visitors in specific moments in time. When chaos feels inescapable in the every day, they have turned to interior worlds for refuge in their latest exhibition. Worlds Within unites the works of four visionary artists whose practices have been shaped by migration, giving rise to artworks that confront the complexities of belonging and reveal reflections on their own identities. This exhibition marks the inaugural showcase of Spanish-Filipino modernist painter Fernando Zóbel in Hong Kong, and offers a rich exhibit of Lê Phổ’s works from each major era of his career. This includes La famille dans le jardin (The Family in the Garden), which broke the artist’s auction records when it sold at Sotheby’s Modern Evening auction in 2023, and a rare coloured painting from Zóbel’s Saeta series. In Villepin’s newly-renovated and homely setting, now equipped with a bar and library, the works by Zao Wou-Ki and Kang Myonghi shed light on the sanctuaries one creates and ones that are housed within memory.
When: Until August 2025
Where: 53-55 Hollywood Rd, Central
Wish You Were Here, Ben Brown Fine Arts
The promise of escape, the simmering heat, the intoxication of summer—Wish You Were Here, curated by New York-based curator Jie Xia, reflects on the construction and consumption of paradise. Feelings of longing and nostalgia emanate from the works of leading postwar and contemporary artists, including Miquel Barceló, Gerhard Richter, Hilary Pecis, and Loie Hollowell. The iconography of travel, the sea, and the beach is explored in paint and photography through idealised lenses. As the exhibition note outlines, Wish You Were Here is ultimately an exploration of “what it means to go somewhere—and what we hope to find when we get there.”
When: Until October 25, 2025
Where: Ben Brown Fine Arts, 201 The Factory, 1 Yip Fat Street, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
More Bounce, More Hope by Novo, Touch Gallery
Korean artist Novo approaches paintings like collage works, combining cherished objects from scattered memories to form vibrant visual narratives. His canvases and installations pulsate with happiness, drawing on childhood motifs such as E.T., which was released during his birth year, and ball games, which he enjoyed as a kid. Simple pleasures, such as mini cup noodles, boxes of Pop-Tarts, and Chinese takeaway oyster pails, are transformed into subjects of interest, reflecting his warm gaze towards quotidian moments in life. Simultaneously, traces of intimate emotions are revealed through references to “Mother”—someone he treasured. The artist oscillates between paintings, tattoos, and performances, with a common language of happiness and hope that has fuelled his art-making from the past to the present.
Where: Touch Gallery, Shop 103, 1/F, Block 3 Barrack Block, Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
When: Until July 31, 2025
Metal Meets Canvas: Artistry of Dots, Lines, and Surfaces, Dawn Atelier & Academy
Geometric elements are fundamental elements that inspire creativity. At Dawn Atelier & Academy’s latest exhibition, they form the starting point for jewellery pieces, cheerful collages, paintings and mixed media works, exemplifying the flow of inspiration that exists between disciplines. The unique showcase encompasses works by painter Marco Szeto, who captures scenes of daily life with creative dexterity, and silversmith Yve Chan, who fuses metal craftsmanship with Chinese culture with his deep knowledge of both.
Where: Dawn Atelier & Academy, 1701, 17/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
When: Until July 13, 2025
Trevor Yeung: Courtyards of Detachments, M+
Growing up in Hong Kong, Trevor Yeung’s attachment to aquatic ecosystems began with his father’s seafood restaurants, pet shops, and his childhood pet fish. For his solo show representing Hong Kong at the 60th Venice Biennale, he explored this concept of attachment through notions of sentimentality, desire, and power dynamics. Yet returning to Hong Kong, it’s detachments that become the focus. In the adapted exhibition, Cave of Avoidance (Not Really) takes visitors to an abandoned fish soup, illuminated by purple light, with racks of empty fish tanks setting a sombre tone. Traces of what was are seen in the salts accumulated on the exhibition walls in Venice and clusters of fungi that signal both neglect and survival. Pond of Never Enough (Under Construction) was flowing with water in Venice, yet stands defunct, suspended in the past. Meanwhile, Rolling Gold Fountain is a construction of auspicious practices through stand-ins of wealth, glinting with not gold but a wink of irony.
Where: Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries, L2, M+, 38 Museum Dr, West Kowloon
When: Until October 12, 2025
Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900s-1970s, M+
Canton Modern brings together over 200 works from institutional and private collections, uncovering a deepy personal and incredibly rich Canton story told through works of art, photography, print, and cartoons from Hong Kong and Guangzhou. While post-war Guangzhou and Hong Kong embarked on divergent paths, their art and visual culture are traceable to a “shared modernist legacy”. They both straddled conservative and progressive artworlds, breaking away from classical ink paintings and depicting subjects ranging from leisure and labour to war and disaster. In conjunction, a participatory performance by Dai Guangyu titled And This Is This Land invites professional artists and art students to recreate This Land So Rich In Beauty (1959), a monumental landscape by Fu Baoshi (1904–1965) and Guangdong-born Guan Shanyue (1912–2000) who were commissioned to interpret Mao Zedong’s poem Snow. The painting was unveiled during the tenth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, with the two artists having to reconcile different painting styles. For the recreation at M+, each participant will be painting a segment of the artwork which will be slowly assembled over one month in the Focus Gallery.
Where: Main Hall Gallery G, M+, 38 Museum Dr, West Kowloon
When: Until October 5, 2025
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Editor
Karrie LamCredit
Lead Image: 'Transcending Boundaries V' (2025) by Cherie Cheuk via Alisan Fine Arts
