REview - Luise Fong

Northart is excited to host a solo exhibition of innovative abstract artist Luise Fong.

Luise Fong is a Malaysian-born New Zealand artist. Fong was born in Sandakan, Malaysia in 1964 and moved to New Zealand as a child. Fong began attending Elam School of Fine Arts in 1986 and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in print-making, in 1991. On leaving art school, she soon established a reputation for herself as one of New Zealand’s most innovative abstract painters. Fong works primarily in the medium of paint, and has created a wide variety of unique and dynamic abstractions throughout her three-decade career.

Between 1993 and 1995 Fong worked as a Junior Lecturer at Elam School of Fine Arts, before relocating to Melbourne, Australia, at the end of 1995. Whilst teaching at RMIT, she continued to exhibit her work in New Zealand and Australia, as well as travelling and exhibiting internationally. Fong's work has been included in several important international exhibitions, including Cultural Safety: Contemporary Art from New Zealand, Frankfurter Kunstverein, 1995 and Trans/fusion: Hong Kong artists' exchange, Hong Kong Arts Centre and Auckland Art Gallery, 1996. In 2000 Fong returned to New Zealand, where she was appointed Lecturer in Painting at Elam School of Fine Arts. She remained there until 2005.

Fong has held a number of residency positions; in 1995 she was an artist-in-residence at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and in 1999 she was the Visiting Artist at the University of Canterbury. In 1993 Fong was the recipient of the Ida Else Painting Award, Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland, New Zealand and a Merit Award Winner of the Visa Gold Art Award. In 1994 she became the Premier Award Winner of the Visa Gold Art Award. In 2008 she was resident artist at the Colin McCahon House in Auckland. Her work is well represented in major public and private collections in New Zealand, notably in the permanent collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Luise’s work is also in private collections in Australia and Asia. Luise is represented in New Zealand by Antoinette Godkin Gallery.

"My starting points are generally intuitive responses to the world, to my state of mind, and to cultural aspects around me. I'm interested in basic, simple processes and finding poetry in simple things."

Opening event 3 pm on Saturday 5th of July, then show runs Tuesday - Sunday 10am to 4pm until 29th of July. The opening event of this exhibition will be accompanied by a speech from associate Professor of Art History at the University of Auckland Linda Tyler, see Northart's Facebook page for more details.

Image details: Luise Fong, Small Manifesto, 2017, Acrylic on Board in Artist Frame, 750 mm x 1060 mm .