Au Hoi-lam

born 1978 Hong Kong
lives in Hong Kong
Au focuses on drawing and painting. She also likes exploring text art and installation art. Her work is gentle and calm, using the language of painting to express profound but subtle ideas and emotions, embodying the delicate relationship between the individual and the lifeworld. She devotes herself to introspective thoughts and craftsmanship: capturing the ephemerals; exploring the relationships between text, time and space; contemplating the ways artwork exists; practicing memento, reminiscence and forgetting. Depending on the subject matter, her works sometimes have unforeseen leaps in appearance, revealing undercurrents of paradox.

In 2004, Au obtained a Master of Arts from Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Master of Philosophy from the same university in 2009. She also studied at École Supérieure des Beaux-arts du Mans in France. Her awards include Alexandre Yersin Excellence Scholarship from French Consulate General in Hong Kong (2001), Hong Kong Arts Development Awards - Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) (2013), and Asian Cultural Council New York Fellowship (2019). She has participated in several residency programs around the world, including Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore; Fundaziun NAIRS, Scuol, Switzerland; Triangle Arts Association, New York. 

Over the years, she has held 14 solo exhibitions and participated in 50 group exhibitions in different regions such as UK, Germany, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Changsha, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Major exhibitions were at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Louis Vuitton Espace Hong Kong, and Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity Gallery, Hong Kong.

Her works were collected by New Hall Art Collection, University of Cambridge, UK; Hong Kong Museum of Art, M+, Hong Kong, and various private collections.

In 2025, Alisan Atelier’s group exhibition Spirit in Flux marks the gallery’s first collaboration with the artist. Currently works on view at M+ Lounge, Hong Kong


BIOGRAPHY
1978   Born in Hong Kong
2001   BA with Honours, Major in Fine Arts, Minor in Philosophy, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2001-2002   Studied at École Supérieure des Beaux-arts du Mans, France
2004   MFA, Division of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2009   MPhil, Division of Philosophy, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
  • Au Hoi-lam: Being Fictional, Its Preconditions, Pointsman, Hong Kong
2024
  • Au Hoi-lam: Painting, Its Reasons to Be, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
2016
  • Au Hoi-lam: Memorandum ( _____ ), Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2015
  • Au Hoi-lam, Start Art Fair 2015, London, UK
2014
  • Au Hoi-lam: My Father is Over the Ocean, Shanghai Postscript, Osage Gallery, Shanghai, China
2013
  • Au Hoi-lam: My Father is Over the Ocean, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong
2010
  • Au Hoi-lam Reading Room, Muji Atelier, Hong Kong
  • Definitions of Time: Paintings by Au Hoi-lam, Edge Gallery, Hong Kong
2006
  • Artists in the Neighbourhood Scheme III: When Words are Sweet…Paintings by Au Hoi-lam, Hong Kong Central Library; Experimental Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2005
  • Cotton in the Rose, Graduate House, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2004
  • Painting Journal, Cheng Ming Building, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2003
  • Every Little Thing, Cheng Ming Building, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2002
  • Gifted Young Artist Training Program Chapter 5: Au Hoi-lam Three Colours, Experimental Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
1999
  • Fleeing Memory, Lecture Hall Theatre Gallery, Shaw College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026
  • M+ Lounge, Hong Kong
  • Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2025-2026
2025
  • Print Art Contemporary Annual Fundraising: Medium Rare Medium Well,PMQ, Hong Kong
  • If there is a garden, where would I be?, 1a space, Hong Kong
  • Decode 2.0, Jockey Club Future Laboratory of Arts Tech, Hong Kong
    2024
    • Retro Hong Kong: Literature X New Media Art Experimental Exhibition, Pointsman, Hong Kong
    • Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    2021
    • Ze/Ro, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong
    2020
    • The Dimensions of Living: A House is, JCCAC Gallery, Hong Kong
    2018
    • Women in Art: Hong Kong, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • A Beast, a God, and a Line, Para Site, Hong Kong; Pyinsa Rasa Art Space, Yangon, Myanmar
      2017
      • From Ocean to Horizon, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, UK
      • Interval in Space, Contemporary Art Center NAIRS, Scuol, Engadin, Switzerland
        2016
        • Next Destination: Hong Kong Selling Exhibition of Contemporary Hong Kong Art, Sotheby's Hong Kong Gallery, Hong Kong
        2015
        • Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong
        • After/Image, Studio 52, Hong Kong
        2014
        • Time Traveler: Au Hoi-lam & Sara Tse, Espace Louis Vuitton, Hong Kong
        • Woman-Home: In the Name of Asian Female Artists, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
        • IV Moscow International Biennale for Young Art: A Time for Dream, Museum of Moscow, Moscow, Russia
        • Art Cologne, Koelnmesse GmbH, Cologne, Germany
        • Art Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
        • Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong

        SELECTED AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIP

        2019   New York Fellowship, Asian Cultural Council, New York, USA
        2014   Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts), Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2013, Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Hong Kong
        2001   Alexandre Yersin Excellence Scholarship, Consulate General of France in Hong Kong, Hong Kong

        SELECTED ARTIST RESIDENCY
        2020 & 2023   Triangle Arts Association, New York, USA
        2017   Fundaziun NAIRS, Scuol, Switzerland
        LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

        SELECTED COLLECTIONS
        New Hall Art Collection, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
        Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
        M+, Hong Kong
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