Image: Contemporary by Angela Li, Sheung Wan
Contemporary by Angela Li will open 'Lightness of Being', a group exhibition curated by Leung Shiu Kee, at its Sheung Wan gallery on 13 August 2026. The opening reception is scheduled for 5 to 8 pm at G/F, 248 Hollywood Road, and the curator together with the eight participating artists are expected to attend. The exhibition will run until 12 September 2026.
The gallery describes the show as bringing together eight recent Fine Arts graduates from Hong Kong institutions, each offering a distinct perspective on human existence. Contemporary by Angela Li, founded in 2008, says it is dedicated to promoting contemporary and avant-garde artists from China, Hong Kong and beyond, and has positioned itself as a long-running fixture in the city’s contemporary art scene. In this exhibition, that institutional platform is being used to introduce emerging voices at an early stage in their careers.
The featured artists are Chau Sze Ling Aki, Chiu Kar Man Karman, Chung Cheuk Wing Kathryn, Heung Lok Ping Angela, Lau Ting Fung Nick, Leung Lok Yi Janice, On Tsz Tung, and Tse Yuen Shan Angela. The selection draws from Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Art School, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, reflecting the breadth of training within the local art education landscape while keeping the focus on a shared generational moment rather than a single stylistic school.
According to the exhibition text, the works move from depictions of everyday objects to emotional and subjective viewpoints, from photographic and abstract explorations to constructed imaginary worlds and surreal cityscapes. The gallery frames these approaches as reflections on life, memory, space and human vitality. That range is illustrated through examples cited in the announcement: Chau’s still lifes of daily objects, Tse’s first-person oil paintings rendered through blurred or trembling scenes, Lau’s charcoal drawings of hometown life, and Chiu’s transformation of street photography into abstract painting.
Other artists in the show extend those inquiries in different directions. Chung uses life drawing and observations of recreational spaces to produce surreal paintings in which floating scenery probes the relationship between behaviour and space. Leung’s 'Breathing Pores' series builds eerie architectural spaces that leave room for respite along intersecting paths. On’s mineral-pigment series uses the theme of 'emergency exits' to suggest an anxious desire for escape, while Heung’s ceramic work combines painted and formed elements to convey play and vitality.
The gallery’s artist notes provide a fuller picture of the participating practices. Chau’s oil painting is described as examining the relationships between everyday objects and the tension between oppositions such as soft and hard, transparent and opaque, and natural and artificial. Lau works mainly with charcoal in a realist mode, preserving traces of memory and emotion through black, grey and tonal gradation. On and Heung both work across painting and ceramics, while Leung’s practice includes painting, printmaking and moving image, with recent work addressing placelessness and psychological homelessness. The exhibition continues through 12 September 2026 at Contemporary by Angela Li, G/F, 248 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan.
