Joey Leung Ka Yin

Last updated
Joey Leung Ka Yin
Born1976 (age 4445)
Alma mater Chinese University of Hong Kong
OccupationVisual artist
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 梁嘉賢
Hanyu Pinyin Liáng Jiāxián
Yale Romanization Lèuhng Gāyìhn
Jyutping Loeng4 Gaa1-jin4

Joey Leung Ka-yin (born 1976, Hong Kong) is a contemporary gongbi artist in Hong Kong. Trained in the meticulous style of traditional Chinese fine brush painting, Leung's works combine tradition with modern subject matter. Leung's work is subjective and personal as she uses her art to comment on urban city life and its related issues in a witty and imaginative way. Leung's works reflect her strong desire to confront conventional habits and beliefs in order to present new perspective and provoke alternative interpretations of modern life.

Contents

In most of her paintings, the combination of the subject (which is often a girl), the scenery (which is usually related to nature) and the rhythmic doggerel evokes a poetic space for imagination in the viewers. The girl, which is a dominant motif, in Leung's paintings is imbued with agency to freely interact with the other objects and the environment. It is a reversal of the long-held notion of women taking a backseat and are often the objects to be looked at by men.

Early life and education

Joey Leung received her Bachelor of Arts (2000) and Master of Fine Arts (2007) from the Department of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

At the University, she started to pick up gongbi painting from 1998. Although this realistic technique of ancient Chinese painting is generally considered unimaginative and inexpressive, Leung imbues in it a modern spirit through her choice of subject matter, media and format.

Style

If gongbi painting that often depicts birds and flowers is generally looked upon as uninspired and rooted in the nostalgic, Joey Leung has provided a new twist to it as she integrates tradition with popular culture in her works. Drawing upon her personal experiences of city life, her artworks often represent an ironic twist to mundane everyday happenings.

The juxtaposition of words and images in Leung's paintings recalls both the Chinese art form of Lianhuanhua (picture story book) popular in China in the 1920s as well as the pop art of Japanese comics (manhua) in Hong Kong prevalent in the 80s & 90s. Using the sequential structure, it provides a strong narration in her paintings whereby the viewer can derive meanings from both text and images. To comprehend Leung's paintings, it is important that viewer understands the riddle-like doggerels that she writes in Cantonese, the vernacular language to Hong Kong.

Leung also expands the art media in her painting to include Chinese ink, gouache, acrylic, pencil, colored pencil, ball pen, drawing pen and markers.

Works

Leung's most recent works include Goddess of Luo River《 洛神》, Fragments of Time 《時間的碎片 》and The Listless Lion《獅子沒精神》that she completed in 2017. In her Pool of Muscle 《人間肉池》(2016), it comprises a series of three paintings titled Dream Balcony, Scenery of the Moment and Firework is Everywhere.

In 2015 Leung produced six paintings: Something that Mr. Chow didn't Mention《周公沒說》,Worrywart And The Cat with Bell《 自尋煩惱的人與掛鈴貓 》,Expired Memory: Weeping Willow And Octopus 《過期的記憶:垂柳與八爪魚 》,Transient 1 《無常她 1 》Transient 2 《無常她 2 》and Wait a Moment《等等 》.

In 2014, her works include Romantic Encounters Happen Only in Movies 《浪漫偶遇只在電影發生 》,Oil fish Melon Soup with Egg Drop 《牛油魚瓜蛋花湯 》,The Despised Monday《被嫌棄的星期一 》, Chicken Stock is Powerless to Help 《鷄汁無力救 》.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Joey Leung won the prestigious Y.S. Hui Arts Award for her mixed media work in 2000 upon her graduation. In the same year, she held her first solo exhibition Idling Away a Second in Galerie Martini, Hong Kong. From 2008 to 2014, Leung held three solo exhibitions in the Grotto Fine Arts, Hong Kong and one in Aquvii Tokyo in Japan. Her exhibition Beyond Presumption 《 那些人我以為的事》(2008) is about imaginary stories presented in the first-person or third-person narrative to express her feelings about the world she lives in. Leung's paintings in Cloudy Fairy-tales《陰天的童話》(2010) were inspired by figures from famous fairy tales in the Western world like Snow White, Cinderella as a way to comment on her observations of city life and its people. This is followed by her Garden of Hesitation 《猶豫園》 (2012) and Unpoetic Poems 《不詩意詩集》 (2014) at Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong.

Joint exhibitions

Joey Leung is active in many joint exhibitions held both in Hong Kong and overseas.

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2001

2000

1999

Publication

Book

2012 HONG KONG ARTISTS - 20 Portraits, Edited by Cordelia and Christoph Noe, Published by Verlag für moderne Kunst, pg122-129

Periodical

2013 Wang Ruosi, Covering Danger with Poetic Veil. Art and Design February 2013, Issue 158. pp 70–77

2011 Lai Tsz-yuen, The Logic of Sense: A Review on Joey Leung Ka-yin's Drawings. Twenty-First Century. December 2011, Issue128. pp 88–91

2008 劉浩敏,「似是而非」的現代工筆。C for Culture. September 2008, Issue5. pp 40–41

Collection

Hong Kong Museum of Art

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University (UK)

Related Research Articles

Li Huasheng was a Chinese artist from Yibin in Sichuan province. He received his first art training in one of Chongqing's culture halls. He met Chen Zizhuang in 1972, and studied traditional Chinese painting under him, mastering his style in just four years.

Liu Kuo-sung is a Chinese artist based in Taipei, Taiwan. Liu is widely regarded as one of the earliest and most important advocates and practitioners of modernist Chinese painting. He is also a writer on contemporary Chinese art.

Fang Zhaoling Chinese painter

Fang Zhaoling, also known as Lydia Fong, was a Chinese painter and calligrapher.

Irene Chou was a Chinese artist, one of the most influential exponents of the New Ink Painting movement in Hong Kong. A leader in the New Ink Painting Movement, Chou was at the forefront of reinventing traditional ink paintings into a contemporary art form. Her contribution to ink paintings has made an impact both regionally and internationally, making way for modern ink paintings in the global art scene.

Wong Sau-ching (王守清)is a Hong Kong visual artist from the Art Of Nature International Company Limited.

Lai Cheuk Wah Sarah is a painter from Hong Kong. Her paintings are often sceneries and objects recreated by a signature pale palette.

Au Hoi Lam is a Chinese painter. She has won several awards including the Nokia Arts Awards (2000) and the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2013 – Award for Young Artist.

Wong Chi Hang Sara is a Hong Kong-based visual artist and landscape architect. Wong graduated with a BA degree in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1992 and an MA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Hong Kong.

Doris Wong Wai Yin, is a Hong Kong born artist, working with various types of media such as paintings, sculpture, collages, installations, videos and photography. Through her works, she explores her internal conflicts, raising and answering questions about the journey of motherhood, her fears, and her struggle with self-doubt.

Chow Chun Fai is a Hong Kong contemporary artist specialized in visual art. He is a chairman of Fotanian Artist Village in Fo Tan, in Hong Kong and one of the few artists who are actively engaged in politics. In 2012, he ran unsuccessfully for a cultural post in the Hong Kong legislative council election in the Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication constituency.

Jerry Kwan is a Hong Kong artist, Born in Xinhui, Guangdong in 1934, in southern China, Kwan moved to Hong Kong in 1949. He started painting during the 1960s and the 1970s. While Kwan did not work with just one single style in his artworks, his main focus was on oil paintings.

Wilson Shieh Ka Ho is a mid-career Hong Kong artist. His studio is in the Artistic Community in Fo Tan.

Eddy Chan Kwan Lap is a modern Chinese ink painter. He finished a certificate course in modern Chinese ink painting and was awarded a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in fine arts. His works are in the collections of both local and overseas museums and art institutes, such as the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Shanghai Foreign Culture Exchange Association (China), Daegu Culture and Art Centre, and the 1997 Mountain Lake Collection.

Winnie Siu Davies is a Hong Kong-born artist specialising in sculpture, oil painting, Chinese painting and Chinese calligraphy. She received her BA from the University of Hong Kong, majoring in Fine arts and received an MA in Design from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Later, she moved to Italy to study the art of marble sculpture. Her works have been exhibited locally and internationally in places such as Hong Kong University Museum, Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Italy and Canada. At present, she is a founding president of the studio Joy Art Club and President of Hong Kong Oil Painters' Guild (HKOPG) and Founding Chairman of Club 4 Art.

Wong Xiang Yi

Wong Xiang Yi is an artist from Malaysia, born in 1987. She graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), finishing her bachelor's degree of art in the Fine Arts Department in 2010. In 2016, she completed her master's degree of Fine Arts, majoring in Chinese Ink Painting, in Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA).

Ivy Ma Hong Kong visual artist

Ivy Ma is a Hong Kong visual artist specializing in mixed media works. Her works were featured in the Hong Kong Art Biennial in 2005 and the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Awards in 2012. She was the winner of the Young Artist Award category of the 2012 Hong Kong Contemporary Art Awards. She was one of the fifteen artists included in the online Artshare exhibition entitled Resistance dedicated to Hong Kong artists, curated by art writer Caroline Ha Thuc. Recipients of the FCO Chevening University of Leeds Scholarship from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council, she participated in various artist-in-residence programs and international artist workshops in Bangladesh, Finland, Åland, and the USA from 2005 to 2009. Her works are in the collection of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and is part of the Hong Kong Legislative Council Complex Art Acquisition Project commissioned by the Hong Kong Legislative Council Commission.

Holly Lee, born 1953 in Hong Kong, is an artist-photographer, best known for her portraits project, the Hollian Thesaurus. She was one of the pioneers of conceptual photography in Hong Kong, experimenting with Photoshop to create composite photographs that were reminiscent of oil paintings. Her work has been collected by the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and M+ Museum.

Wesley Tongson

Wesley Tongson was a Hong Kong artist with family roots in Guangdong Province. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 15 and started painting at age 17. From that time till his death, Tongson dedicated himself to explore various painting techniques with ink, ranging from Chinese brush painting, splash ink painting and eventually, finger painting.

Department of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong fine art school

The Department of Fine Arts of the Faculty of Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, was founded in 1957 as part of New Asia College.

References

  1. "「潛行.夢空間」展覽探索夢與現實關係(附圖)". 2015. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  2. "具香港特色的水墨藝術於上海世博公開展出(附圖/短片)".
  3. "'The Pivotal Decade' exhibition, various artists, 30 June - 23 September 2007". CFCCA Library and Archive catalogue. Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art . Retrieved 2018-09-08.