Josephine Shuk-Fong Cheung: A Commemorative Exhibition

Alisan Fine Arts is pleased to present Josephine Shuk-Fong Cheung: A Commemorative Exhibition, dedicated to the late Hong Kong-born artist whose compelling body of work has remained largely unseen by the public for nearly four decades.
 

Despite her brief yet prolific career from 1981 to 1989, Cheung’s artistic practice demonstrates a constant evolution—marked by her fearless experimentation with form, colour, and composition. Her paintings deftly navigate the liminal space between abstraction and figuration, ultimately achieving a deeply personal and embodied visual language. As Professor J. J. Lee, Chair of Drawing and Painting at OCAD University in Toronto, noted: “Her use of colour became more layered and complex, figure-ground boundaries blurred, and her paintings took on an embodied presence.” 

Born in Hong Kong in 1954, Josephine Cheung spent her early years in Sheung Shui, a rural town near the Chinese border. She was raised in a lively community. Her father owned a neighbourhood frozen meat shop, and her childhood, as recalled by her sister Carol, was joyful and free-spirited. “In the 1960s, our neighbourhood was very safe, and we could hang out until midnight,” 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.”

Cheung began practising art relatively late, at age 19, after moving to Canada to attend St. Lawrence College. She soon transferred to the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University), where she formally trained in painting, drawing, and lithography. Her prodigious talent was quickly recognised—by her second year, she had received the esteemed Loomis and Toles Scholarship.

During her time at OCA, Cheung was initially influenced by the abstract expressionist movement that dominated the Canadian art scene. However, this soon gave way to a more humanist turn. Her time in New York, made possible by the competitive OCA New York Scholarship, exposed her to the vibrant street art of the 1980s—particularly the works of Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat. These influences catalysed her shift away from pure abstraction.

“I discovered that abstract art lacks what it is to be human—I wanted to express more than pure concepts,” Cheung 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.”

A pivotal chapter in her life unfolded in 1983 when Cheung began working as a social worker for Indochinese refugees. This period of profound engagement with displaced families in Canada coincided with her creation of Faces of Enigma, a figurative series that synthesised the emotional intensity of abstract expressionist brushwork with the psychological depth of human subjects. Her palette became increasingly vivid; her compositions more unified and confident.

Recognition of her work came swiftly. Between 1981 and 1985, her paintings were exhibited at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in New York, Artists Space and City Hall in Toronto, the Hong Kong Arts Centre, and the Fringe Club in Hong Kong. In 1986, she was represented by T. R. Gallery in Los Angeles and began travelling more frequently across Asia.

In the final years of her life, Cheung’s work grew more introspective. Between 1988 and 1989, she developed two intimately scaled series—The “I” Series and In Limbo—both rendered on 18-by-18-inch canvases. Characterised by heavy black lines, muted tones, and a contemplative mood, these late works reflect a deeply internal dialogue.

In 1989, Cheung was diagnosed with lung cancer. A non-smoker, the diagnosis came as a devastating shock. She passed away later that year in Toronto, at just 35 years old. Her paintings, some stored in her family’s home and others left in the Québec country house of her partner, artist Andrew Lui, faded from public view.

It was not until 2021, following the passing of Andrew Lui, that renewed attention was brought to Cheung’s work. This exhibition is the first comprehensive presentation of her paintings in decades.

As Jane Roos, Professor Emerita of Art History at Hunter College, writes in her essay for the exhibition catalogue:

“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… Coursing through the works is a powerful sense of integrity.”