Katie Cheung: Beyond Nature II

Opening Reception  |  Friday, February 3, 3 - 6pm

Meet the Artist  |  Katie Cheung will be in attendance

Radiance of life

Like petals scattered across the universe

Forming a beautiful movement of a symphony1

We are very pleased to present the work of gallery artist, Katie Cheung, in Beyond Nature II, her third solo exhibition at Art Beatus (Vancouver) Consultancy Ltd and a continuation of her solo exhibition, Beyond Nature, at Art Beatus Hong Kong in 2015. This exhibition features a selection of acrylic on canvas paintings, mostly of flowers, and although she does not subscribe to any one painting method or style, each of her works seem to exude a splendor and a playful lushness that is distinctly Katie Cheung. Always evolving through constantly experimenting and challenging herself as she approaches each new work, Cheung has not only matured into a master colourist but her paintings have a spontaneous and instinctive ease that has developed from honing her craft with a remarkably harmonious mix of experiential and experimental.

According to Cheung, “My enjoyment in gardening unexpectedly has routed me in picking flowers and apples as objects for depiction. The vibrancy of colours help in turning imageries into a series of dreams. The merging of my subconscious and non-subconscious minds motivate the progression of my works.” The artist does not paint from real life or still life as a reference point but the ethereal and seemingly boundless worlds that exist in her paintings are all of her own construction: “...I just want to paint and express myself freely on canvas, recording what is in my heart.”

Earnestly beautiful and delightful, this collection of artwork in Beyond Nature II creates a visually complex universe made up of impastoes, washes and glazes in bright splashes of sumptuous colours – some of which seem neat out of the paint tube – as well as vortices of dark, muted, primordial colours that are soulfully haunting. This master of flower paintings has created works that are bursting with vitality yet full of serenity, and lyrically symphonic yet ethereally mysterious.

Born in Hong Kong and having moved to Canada as a young adult, Katie Cheung studied fine arts at Langara College from 1991 to 1993 before graduating from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1996. Cheung has been exhibiting for over 20 years and her work has been written about in several articles and reviews. In 2000, she published a catalogue of her paintings and poems called, Apple from My Heart.

1 Excerpt from “Symphony of Life” by Katie Cheung. Cheung, Katie. Apple from My Heart: Paintings and Poems. New Taipei City: Growing Culture Enterprise, 2000, p. 40. Print.

Underground and street parking is available. Free admission.