Bouie Choi: Fable-Like Paintings of Solitude

Description

After three years since her last exhibition at Grotto Fine Art, Bouie Choi returns with Those warm and unwavering existences, a new body of paintings on wood that expands her speculative visual language. Curated by Joyce Wong Hei-ting, it draws on fragments of biography, dreams and everyday life, the works explore ideas of kinship, safety and comfort through open-ended visual narratives shaped partly by the grain of wood and washes of colour.

In “A new haven,” a solitary figure rests in a karst cave bathtub with a goose companion, sheltered from a storm in a fable-like nod to prudent rest. “Under the table” shows another seeking skyward guidance, met by a mysterious hand wielding an ambiguous magical fan from Journey to the West — rescue or ruin unclear. These works blend surreal refuge and uncertainty.

Choi is a Hong Kong-based painter whose practice centres on painting on wood. Using wood as both surface and conceptual framework, she explores what she calls fragile existence. While her earlier works distilled collective memory and urban imprints, her recent paintings have shifted toward more intuitive and introspective imagery. Her works have been exhibited across the world, with recent group shows include Hybrid Nature in Alisan Fine Arts New York (2025), Three Tired Tigers in Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2024-25) and Stanford University (2024). Her work is held in the permanent collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

There is an opening reception on 14 March, from 14:00 to 18:00. A special programme, Like Water Like Shadow, takes place on 21 March 2026 at 16:30, featuring New York-based composer Bun-Ching Lam and the artist in collaboration with the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.