Hong Kong Arts Center, Wan Chai｜GLITZ — Exhibition at The Gallery of Hong Kong Art School

Description

Glitz examines the fluid condition of contemporary life. Glimmer, reflection, and translucency are treated not as surface effects but as a social grammar—where power, value, and identity are continuously refracted, obscured, and rewritten between visibility and invisibility.

By eschewing explicit cultural symbols and landmarks, the works echoes the convergence of contemporary urban landscapes. These anonymous architectural skeletons—columns, grids, shafts, and corridors—resonate with a universal urban experience, foregrounded here as support systems that choreograph the viewer’s gaze.

Within this framework, the exhibition stages two kinds of echo: the instant replay of reflective surfaces and the preserved resonance stitched into time through embroidery. By merging silk embroidery with spatial structures, the works translate traditional craft into contemporary discourse, while subtle feminine traces address the historical nature of women’s labor under patriarchal systems—bringing the socio-economic landscape back to intimate, bodily experience.

Artistic Style

Cheung’s new series investigates the unsettled nature of modern existence through the thematic lenses of glitz, reflexivity, and opacity. The works capture the inherent conflict individuals face as they navigate the complex and ever changing social and economic landscape. Trivial hints of feminine traces spread across the body of works add a layer of intimate, human detail to the broader social commentary, showcasing the dynamism of the contemporary state.

Bio
Cheung’s work focuses on painting and embroidery to explore the intricate dynamics between individuals and society. Cheung holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from RMIT University in partnership with the Hong Kong Art School, and a Bachelor of Social Science in Psychology from the University of York in the United Kingdom.
Cheung pursued studies in oil painting and the specialised technique of Lunéville embroidery in Tokyo and Shanghai from 2018 to 2020. Her experience of living and learning within varied and constantly shifting cultural landscapes has deeply influenced the artist’s creative approach, fostering an openness to experimentation and a drive to explore the boundaries of her chosen materials.