Eunice Cheung Wai-man is currently pursuing a PhD in Taipei. She received her BA and MFA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2008 and 2011 respectively. She also studied at the Beijing Fine Art Academy. Cheung practices fine-brush (gongbi) painting with an interest in creating modern animal fables that highlight the changing relationship between humans and nature.

In addition to holding five solo shows, Cheung has been included in numerous group exhibitions in Hong Kong, Taipei, Australia, and Germany, including Art Basel Hong Kong (2013-2018), “Giuseppe Castiglione - Lang Shining New Media Art Exhibition” (National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 2015; Basilica of Santa Croce, Italy, 2015), “Our Peaceable Kingdom” (Museum Villa Stuck, Germany, 2021) and the public art project “Hi! Flora, Fauna” (Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, 2021). She has been shortlisted for  Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Awards 2009, among others. Her works are mostly held by private collections. 

張惠文，現於台北就讀博士課程，香港中文大學藝術系學士（2008年）及藝術碩士課程（2011年）畢業，期間赴北京畫院進修。張氏專注於水墨創作，以工筆描繪現代動物寓言，從中反思人類和自然恆常變化的互動關係。
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張氏曾舉辦十次個展，並於香港、台北、澳洲及德國等地參與多個展覽及藝術計劃，包括「香港巴塞爾藝術展」（2013–2018），「藝域漫遊——郎世寧來華三百年特展」（台灣國立故宮博物院和意大利聖十字教堂，2015），「我們的和平國度– 李明維：禮物與禮儀」（德國慕尼黑維拉斯托克美術館，2021），以及香港動植物公園的公共藝術項目「邂逅！市中森」（2021）。張氏於2009年入選《香港當代藝術雙年獎》，作品廣為私人收藏。

Artist’s Statement 
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Every city is built of different cultural blocks.

I have been painting animals in the gongbi (fine-brush) style for more than fifteen years. In the past, I admired Song court painters for their realist techniques, and their depictions of animals, birds, butterflies, and other inhabitants of nature. Learning from their magnificent and colourful style, I have rendered natural forms and spirits in fine brushstrokes with multiple layers of wash and fur or feathers.

Court painting, as I understand it, was not merely superficial and sentimental. Many gongbi painters of the past enjoyed wandering the world and observing nature by painting from life. The work of Five Dynasties and Song gongbi masters such as Xu Xi (888–975), Zhao Chang (959–1016), and Yi Yuanji (active in the second half of the 11th century), which depicted natural landscapes and embodied the philosophical spirit of unity between the animals, nature, and the artists, had an immense influence on me.

The subjects of my works are fairly diverse. Sometimes, I offer my opinions on animals and matters of conservation, and at other times, I share my thoughts about the complex relationships between men and women or between family members, encouraging viewers to consider these issues as well. In 2020, I made a series that incorporated the distinctive styles, compositions, and colours of Guangdong porcelain into the paintings, depicting film and TV stars from around the world, including Tony Leung, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Chou, Hyun Bin, and Keung To.

This year, I started my Ph.D. studies in Taipei. Over half a century of Japanese rule left a profound Japanese influence on Taiwan’s environment and its artistic and cultural scene. This gave me more opportunities to engage with ukiyo-e (woodblock painting and print) from the Edo period. The fresh sense of life in the works really moved me. There are quite a few humorous paintings of anthropomorphic animals, and painters outside of court depicted the lives of ordinary people around them, so their viewers and collectors were figures in their works.

In examining the history of ukiyo-e, I discovered that Japan was influenced by Chinese painting and literature in different ways. For example, painters loved characters from The Water Margin and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Wu Song, Guan Yu, and other heroes leapt onto the page, becoming the protagonists of heroic ukiyo-e. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), a master of ukiyo-e, loved portraying cats and excelled at images of heroines. 

After years of trying, my older sister gave birth to a daughter last year. As a typical professional woman from Hong Kong, she has many responsibilities, and she is under a lot of pressure. I think that her story and how she manages life will resonate with many working mothers. In my opinion, they are the heroines of our cities.

In this exhibition, I want to offer a perspective on working mothers. They are composed like the tangrams in my paintings: even though the pieces have fixed shapes and sizes, every person makes use of their own wisdom, personality, and pair of hands to put those pieces together in a range of patterns that offer more possibilities for their families and cities. We must thank them for their efforts.

The works in this exhibition employ gongbi techniques to mimic the simple lines of ukiyo-e. In the colour pairings of the pieces, I put the colour scheme of ukiyo-e into practice. Compositionally, I have employed classic tangram shapes to portray different moments in the lives of busy working mothers, including falling asleep on the way to work or when pumping milk late at night, the ache that results from being in a strange position for too long, tending a garden in a mobile game as an escape, and occasionally meeting other mothers for a picnic. 

An Excerpt From a Conversation With My Older Sister
I asked, “Sis, what animal do you think represents you?”
Without thinking, she blurted out, “A dairy cow!!”
I continued, “What about your daughter?”
She replied, “A cute little rabbit?” 
As children, our favourite Japanese manga was Sailor Moon, and I think that my sister has always been like Sailor Moon herself, fighting for love.
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I am most concerned with whether my work moves the viewer, the subject, and the painter. On an artistic level, I am interested in whether the nostalgic style and content exploration in the paintings reflect the diverse ethical relationships between contemporary society, animals, and nature.



藝術家自述

每一座城市，都是由不同的文化板塊拼湊而成。
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我從事工筆動物畫創作逾十五年，以往在技巧上崇尚宋人宮廷繪畫的寫實主義，繪畫世界各地的動物、鳥兒和蝴蝶等大自然的居民。畫風華麗多彩，以細緻的筆觸，作多層渲染、絲毛，力求將自然萬物的形態和神態，呈現在作品中。
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我所了解的宮廷繪畫，並非只有風花雪月，歷史上不少工筆畫家也喜好暢遊於天地之間，透過寫生去觀察自然；如五代和宋時期的工筆巨匠徐熙 (888–975)、趙昌 (959–1016) 和易元吉 （約活躍於十一世紀後半葉），其作品表現動物、大自然和畫家之間物我相融的自然景觀和哲學精神，對我影響深遠。
我的作品題材較為靈活多變：有時為動物和大自然保育議題發表一些愚見，有時在複雜的兩性或家庭關係中疏理想法，鼓勵觀眾共同努力。二零二零年我嘗試了一系列結合廣東彩瓷獨有的風格、構圖和用色的繪畫作品，描繪世界各地的影視界「男神」，如梁朝偉、Robert Downey Jr.、周杰倫、玄彬和姜濤等。 
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今年，我在台北開始修讀博士學位。長達半個世紀的日治時期，讓台灣的環境和藝術文化氛圍，深受東瀛文化的影響。這讓我有更多機會接觸江戶浮世繪，作品中鮮活的生活感很打動我，當中也有不少以動物擬人的幽默畫作，那是屬於平民畫家描繪自己身邊的平凡人的生活，他們的觀眾和收藏家就是畫中人。
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若追溯浮世繪的歷史，您會發現日本也受到中國繪畫和文學的不同影響，例如畫家也熱愛《水滸傳》和《三國演義》的人物，讓武松和關羽等英雄一躍紙上，成為浮世繪中武者繪的主角，其中浮世繪師歌川國芳 (1798–1861)，既愛畫貓，也擅於描繪女英雄的身影。 
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我的家姐經過不斷努力，終於去年成功生下女兒。她作為典型香港的職業女性，在身兼多重角色責任下， 需要承受多少壓力，她又如何應付生活，我想她的故事會引起很多雙職媽媽的共鳴。我覺得她們是城市的英雄。
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我想在今次的展覽中瞭解雙職媽媽：她們就像畫中七巧板的構成，雖然板塊各有既定形狀和規範，卻透過各人獨特的智慧、個性和一雙巧手，拼出變化多端的圖案，為這家庭和城市帶來更多可能性。謝謝她們的付出。
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這次展覽的畫作嘗試以工筆畫仿效浮世繪的簡括線條，每塊板的用色配搭都是我對著名浮世繪色彩學的練習。構圖上以經典玩具七巧板，呈現繁忙在職媽媽一天中不同時段的光影，有上班打拼、深夜擠奶時總睡著，醒來肩膀因長期維持奇怪姿勢而酸痛；在手機遊戲中的花園逃離現實，偶爾相約其他媽媽野餐打氣。  

節錄自家姐和我的對話
我問：家姐，您覺得什麼動物可以比喻妳？ 
她不作思考道：乳牛吧！ 
我：那妳的女兒呢？ 
她： 可愛的小兔？ 
家姐與我童年最愛的日本動漫是《美少女戰士》，我想她也是一直為愛而戰的月野兔。
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我的創作最關心的應該是作品有沒有感動觀者、被畫者、畫家本人的心吧。 藝術層面來說，我關注的是畫中的復古風格和內容探索有沒有回應當代的社會、動物和自然界的多元倫理關係。