11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

BORN 1956, FUJIAN, CHINA LIVES+WORKS INHONGKONG A leading figure in Hong Kong art for four decades, Yeung Tong Lung is highly regarded for his nuanced portraits of daily life in the city. Born in mainland China, the artist’s family moved to Hong Kong in 1973 amid the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution. Yeung started his career in a toy factory during Hong Kong’s manufacturing boom, before finding work at one of the city’s famed art factories, churning out ‘trade paintings’ — generic hotel lobby art for global export — despite having little formal training. He began exhibiting his own work in bars and cafes in 1985 and co-founded the independent space Quart Society in 1990. Throughout his career, Yeung has maintained a cautious distance from the art establishment, funding his activities by freelancing as an illustrator and set painter, before attracting wider attention and acclaim in 2020 with the publication of a monograph surveying 40 years of his work. 1 Working primarily in oil, Yeung dedicated himself to abstraction in the 1990s, through which he gleaned an understanding of colour, texture and pictorial depth that then informed his figurative style from around 2000. Regardless of mode, he insists that his practice is first and foremost about painting. Yeung focuses on the less visible side of Hong Kong life, eschewing harbour city iconography in favour of migrant workers, housing estates, neighbourhood eccentrics and local flora. His canvases depict Hong Kong’s streets, stores, kitchens and residential flats with detail, wit and a vivid realism that incorporates fluid distortions, such as exaggerated facial features and, most notably, warped pictorial planes that exploit multiple viewpoints. These trademark perspectival shifts provide expansive context for his subjects, with intimate portraits set against freeway flyovers, dense greenery and apartment stairwells. Reflections from windows YEUNGTONGLUNG 360°+ (details) 2021–23 / Oil on canvas / 18 panels: dimensions variable / Courtesy: The artist and Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 208 — 209