Bouie CHOI
蔡鈺娟

 

Pushing the possibilities of urban imagery, Bouie CHOI is interested in giving shape to the perishing impressions of a city through interweaving fragments of memory in her painting. Her creative process is like searching for light under overcast skies. The landscapes she paints often remind us of humanity’s insignificance through juxtaposing the visible and the invisible, the artificial and the natural, the scattered and the gathered, micro and macro beings; their coexistence reflects the artist's state of mind. If a painting is a manifestation of infinite borrowed space and time, Choi attempts to negotiate within the gap between the tangible and the intangible, and indescribable space and time with the light of hope and the power of urban imagery. In recent years, Choi has familiarised herself with wood and explores the definition of freedom with multi-perspective and layered temporalities, imbuing the material with her state of mind through the repetitive processes of preserving, sanding, washing, and sprinkling.

Choi holds a BA in Fine Art from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2009), and an MA in Fine Art from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of London (2012). Her previous solo exhibitions include Crossing the lines Filling the nights (2023), borrowed space_borrowed time (2020), The Breathing Room (2015), and Comfort Terrace (2011) at Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong; and she has participated in various group shows in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and London. CHOI

蔡鈺娟一直專注拓展城市刻畫的可能性,透過於繪畫中編織不同回憶碎片,塑造及保存各種消逝中的城市面貌與印象。她的創作過程就像在晦暝的陰天尋找光芒一般,作品經常透過對照可見與潛藏的、自然與人造的、分散與聚合的,以及微小與龐然的都市物象,帶出人類的渺小,投射自身的心境。如果一張畫盛載著無數「借來的空間、借來的時間」,蔡氏除了設法拼湊在當下不斷逝去的城市印象,也試圖從時空的虛實、不協調、不由自主之中尋找彼此的縫合點。她近年常以木材及回收舊木為繪畫「夥伴」,透過保存、打磨、洗刷及潑灑的反覆過程,將自身的精神思想狀態注入物料之中,從多視角及層疊時空的城市描繪中尋找自由的定義。

蔡氏在2009年畢業於香港中文大學藝術系,後於2012年獲倫敦切爾西藝術與設計學院碩士學位。藝術家此前個展包括於香港嘉圖現代藝術舉辦「彼月此日」(2023、「如是_偏安一隅」(2020)、「屏息——蔡鈺娟個人展覽」(2015)及「康福臺——蔡鈺娟個人展覽」(2011);她亦曾參與香港、臺灣、日本及倫敦各地群展。

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Borrowed Space Borrowed Time 如是_偏安一隅, 2020

The Breathing Room 屏息, 2015

Comfort Terrace 康福臺, 2011

Selected Works

Under the table

  • Bouie CHOI 蔡鈺娟
    Under the table
    2025
    Acrylic on wood
    151.5 x 60.4 cm

  • When poured pigments settle into the wooden surface, the interplay of wood grain and positive-negative space reveals a table emerging at the center of the composition. This forms a hidden vista beneath the tabletop, where light and shadow converge.  


    Under the Table fuses contemporary environmental crises with the Journey to the West mythos—evoking the Flaming Mountain ordeal where heroes quell flames with the Palm Leaf Fan. Responding to global wildfires, this work reimagines the legendary act of overcoming adversity as a stark metaphor for humanity’s challenge, bridging ancient resolve with modern fragility.

Crossing the nights, filling the lines

  • Bouie CHOI 蔡鈺娟
    Crossing the nights, filling the lines
    彼月此日
    2022
    Acrylic on wood
    94 cm x 460 cm (triptych)

  • Sometimes I paint the day as night and the night as dawn. So ‘the moments’ are migrated into a carrier trapping time.’

    ‘Imagine time as a series of lines: like alternating bars of light and shadow; like the first stroke of charring on carbonized wood; like the crosswalk at an intersection; like the line differentiating day and night on an infinite timeline...Confronting these demarcations, I think I can try to fill the gaps between the red lines.

    有時我會將白天畫成黑夜,將夜晚畫成黎明。因此這些片刻像被移種,成為困住『時間』的載體。

    試想像時間是一道道線。像光與影黑白相間,像在碳化木上落下的第一筆,像十字路口上的斑馬線,像日與夜在時間線上的載線……然後在當世這些紅線下,我應該可以試著填補這些線隙。

Spoonbill the Dream

  • Bouie CHOI 蔡鈺娟
    Spoonbill the Dream 夢鷺
    2025
    Acrylic on wood 
    151.5 x 60.4 cm

  • Colors cascade onto the wooden board, revealing the image of a black-faced spoonbill through the wood grain and the interplay of positive and negative space. This scene brings back memories of the artist’s childhood, when Choi played an animal character on an educational television program. Choi remembers struggling during filming because the peacock headpiece she wore kept slipping, preventing her from moving freely like the other young actors.

    In the painting, a figure balances a black-faced spoonbill headpiece on their head, and the most tense moment lies in the spoonbill's beak, where it clutches a needle. If the headpiece were to fall, the entire theatrical scene would come crashing down.

    色彩傾瀉於木板之上,透過木紋與正負空間的交錯,勾勒出一隻黑面琵鷺的身影。這一幕喚起了藝術家的童年回憶,那時她曾在一個教育電視節目中扮演動物角色。蔡氏記得拍攝時十分艱難,因為戴著的孔雀頭飾總是不斷滑落,使其無法像其他年輕演員那樣自由地活動。

    在畫中,一個人物頭頂頂著黑面琵鷺的頭飾,最緊張的時刻藏在琵鷺的喙中——那裡夾著一根針。如果頭飾滑落,整個戲劇性的場景便會瞬間崩塌。

Here and There series

  • Acrylic on upcycled pew
    再造教堂凳塑膠彩
    42.5 cm dia. each

  • Here and there
    This is a continuing project that interweaves ‘place’ with emotional identifications and interpretations at different points in time. These 20 hexagon panels, crafted by master carpenter Mr. Lam Che with upcycled teak beams, were completed between 2022 and 2023. I imagine, with faith and hope, that this project will continue, and perhaps after I am gone, these scattered panels may reunite one day and rebuild that place we call ‘home’ in all its beauty and ugliness.

    明日在彼
    這是一個將會繼續進行的計畫,以情感縫繫不同時間的地方感。這 20 幅六邊形作品完成於 2022 至 2023 年間,木板由木工師傅林池用教堂舊棟梁的柚木再製而成。
    我想像這個計畫會一直進行下去,或許在自己死後,這些年分散了的小傢伙終於重新拼湊在一起,重構那個我們又美麗又醜陋、稱作「家」的地方。

An uphill walk after two pints

  • Bouie CHOI 蔡鈺娟
    An uphill walk after two pints
    2024
    Acrylic on wood
    40 x 29.3cm



Land slider

  • Bouie CHOI
    The Land Slider
    2023
    Ink and acrylic on wood
    92 x 62cm

Publication

Crossing the nights Filling the lines 彼月此日

  • This book follows Bouie Choi’s creative journey from 2019 to 2023, encompassing two solo exhibitions — 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦_𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 and 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 — along with the work developed in between. Through these chapters, Choi explores the shifting realities of Hong Kong, mapping the city’s emotional landscape and her own evolving reflections.

    Co-published by Bouie Choi & Grotto Fine Art
    Foreword by: Henry Au-yeung, John Batten, Izumi Nakayama
    Designer: Kaisinai Design

    Translator: Cen Yuan

    Copy Editor: Joyce Hei-ting Wong
    Photographer: HO66.Studio
    Printer: Colham Printing Co., Ltd.
    Year of Publication: 2023
    Specifications: 265 × 210 mm, full-color printing, 108 pages
    Binding: Open-flat Smyth sewn binding
    Language: Chinese and English

    此書收錄蔡鈺娟自2019年至2023年間的創作,涵蓋兩次個展「borrowed space_borrowed time」與「Crossing the nights Filling the Lines」,以及其間的延伸作品與思考。作品聚焦於香港近年的社會變遷、城市面貌與個人情感,以畫筆記錄個人與城市的心理風景。


    出版:蔡鈺娟及嘉圖現代藝術
    前言作者:歐陽憲、約翰百德、中山和泉
    設計:西奈
    翻譯:岑元
    校對:黃熙婷
    攝影:陸陸影工
    印刷:高林印刷有限公司
    出版年份:2023年
    書籍規格:265 × 210 mm,彩色印刷,共108頁裝訂方式:平攤線膠裝訂
    語言:中英雙語

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