Josephine Shuk-Fong Cheung

Josephine Cheung was born in Hong Kong in 1954 and passed away in Toronto in 1989 at the age of 35. Though her active years as an artist were brief—from 1981 to 1989—she worked tirelessly to push the boundaries of her practice, exploring new possibilities in color, form, and composition. “Her works reveal a sophisticated balance between abstraction and figuration,” wrote Professor J. J. Lee, Chair of Drawing and Painting at OCAD University in Toronto. “Her use of color became more layered and complex, figure-ground boundaries blurred, and her paintings took on an embodied presence.”

Josephine grew up in Sheung Shui, a rural town in Hong Kong close to the border with mainland China. Her father owned a neighborhood store selling frozen meat, and her childhood was, by all accounts, joyful. “In the 1960s, our neighborhood was very safe, and we could hang out until midnight,” her younger sister Carol recalled. “There were all kinds of street performances in our town, and we used to play badminton in the streets late into the night.”

According to Carol, Josephine did not practice art until the age of 19, when she moved to Canada to attend St. Lawrence College in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. A year later, she transferred to the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University), where she studied drawing, painting, and lithography. Her talent was quickly recognized. In her second year, she was awarded the prestigious Loomis and Toles Scholarship.

During her time at OCA, Josephine was deeply influenced by Abstract Expressionism, then the dominant movement in the Canadian art scene. She graduated in 1979 and entered a formative period of self-discovery and confidence-building. Several competitive scholarships—including the OCA New York Scholarship—allowed her to spend extended time in New York City. There, exposure to the street art of Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat helped her pivot away from Abstract Expressionism.

“I discovered that abstract art lacks what it is to be human—I wanted to express more than pure concepts,” she said in a 1986 interview. “I’ve reached a point where I don’t know what to draw on a blank piece of paper. What else is there for me to do? Maybe because I like relating to people, that’s why I turn to figuration.”

In 1983, Josephine’s work as a social worker for refugees from Indochina proved transformative. She assisted dozens of families as they rebuilt their lives in Canada. This period also saw the creation of her figurative series Faces of Enigma, where vigorous brushwork and textured surfaces embodied a synthesis of abstract expressionist techniques and humanist themes. Her work became increasingly ambitious, both intellectually and emotionally, marked by vivid color palettes and a deepened pictorial unity.

Recognition soon followed. Between 1981 and 1985, her work was exhibited at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in New York, City Hall and Artists Space in Toronto, the Hong Kong Arts Centre, and the Hong Kong Fringe Club. In 1986, she was represented by T. R. Gallery on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles and traveled extensively across Asia.

In the final years of her life, between 1988 and 1989, Josephine adopted an 18-by-18-inch format to create the “I” Series and In Limbo series. These works reflected a turn inward: darker tones, thick black lines, and a contemplative mood became prominent.

In 1989, Josephine was diagnosed with lung cancer. A non-smoker, the news came as a devastating shock. She passed away shortly thereafter, at just 35 years old. Her paintings were left scattered—some stored in her family’s home in Toronto, others in the country house of her partner, Andrew Lui, in Québec.

For over three decades, a comprehensive appreciation of Josephine Cheung’s work remained elusive. It was not until 2021, following the death of Andrew Lui, that her oeuvre began to receive the recognition it so richly deserves.

In an essay for a book on Josephine's work, Jane Roos, Professor Emerita of Art History of Hunter College, wrote, "I never met her, but I need to add that I have taken great joy and solace from spending this time looking closely at her artworks.  What I have discovered through the canvases is a person of huge talent and determination. Someone who demanded of herself that she keep experimenting, keep pushing the boundaries of her painting, keep looking, keep learning, keep deepening. Even though this exhibition comprises relatively few of her works, I found it impossible to miss the enormity of the changes that occur, as she became more accomplished, more astute in her painterly practice. Coursing through the works is a powerful sense of integrity.