Frieze Masters

Alisan Fine Arts is delighted to announce its inaugural participation in Frieze Masters, 2026. Featured in the prestigious Spotlight section, the gallery will present the pioneering diaspora artist, Fong Chung-ray – key member of the Fifth Moon Group in Taiwan and Asian Cultural Council grantee. Our selection will highlight the artist's early works, specifically those from the 1970s and prior. Fong’s abstract paintings – characterized by dynamic layering of ink and color, rhythmic calligraphy brushwork, and ethereal atmospheric depth – embody the very essence of innovation within Chinese modernism.

Born to a family of scholars in Nanyang, China, Fong grew up amid the Chinese Civil War and secured passage to Taiwan in 1948. He studied fine arts at a newly established military academy in Taipei and, in 1959, he represented Taiwan at the São Paulo Biennial. Two years later, he joined the Fifth Moon Group, a prominent art collective that advanced modernism while retaining a clear Chinese identity. Our presentation focuses on Fong’s works from this period, including fresh takes on traditional ink painting and the expressive, abstract acrylics on canvas for which he became known.

Fong viewed abstraction as a way to shed the limits of the physical world and gain freedom for individual expression. His paintings toured internationally in the 1960s, including in the American exhibition The New Chinese Landscape. After moving to the U.S. in 1975, Fong suffered a personal loss and withdrew from painting, pausing for nearly a decade before he resumed. Despite early acclaim, the career interruption blunted his momentum, and his pioneering mid-century abstraction remained under-recognized outside specialist circles. Our presentation aims to rediscover those formative years.

This milestone also marks a highlight of our ongoing 45th anniversary celebrations, offering international audiences a rare and focused look at Fong's transformative practice, which bridges Eastern philosophy and Western abstraction with unconventional techniques, rich textures, and unparalleled vitality.