Gordon Cheung
Images
Biography
Gordon Cheung's work interrogates the levers of power that govern our understanding of the world, and the role that visual culture plays within the construction of history. With focus on the transforming socioeconomic relationship between east and west, he questions the effects of global capitalism and reflects on the potency of historical narratives.
Cheung’s oeuvre is populated by disparate cultural symbols drawn from cartography, political propaganda, anonymous internet imagery and art history. Imagery itself is Cheung’s primary material, either co-opted in the creation of multimedia paintings or manipulated via digital algorithms. His recent paintings depict aerial perspectives of real and part prophetic landscapes, often relating to sites in China comprising the largest infrastructural project in human history. The sprawling cityscapes are rendered from satellite imagery, built up as reliefs on the canvas in hardened sand and pigment. The scenes’ relationship with reality is destabilised by the overall compositions, which feature floating cities below glimmering constellations that mark out future geopolitical orders.
Gordon Cheung (b. 1975) graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1998, completing an MA at the Royal College of Art in 2001. Selected solo exhibitions include The Garden of Perfect Brightness, The Atkinson, Southport, UK (2023); Gordon Cheung, Almine Rech, Paris, France (2022); Tears of Paradise, Edel Assanti, London, UK (2020); Cross Pollination, The Atkinson, Southport, UK (2019); Home, Galerie Huit, Hong Kong (2018); New Order Vanitas, Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, Florida, USA (2017); Gordon Cheung, The Whitaker, Rossendale, UK (2017); Here be Dragons, Nottingham Castle Museum, Nottingham, UK (2016); Lines in the Sand, Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2016); Altered States, Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona, USA (2010); The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK (2009) and The Promised Land at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, USA (2009). Group exhibitions include A Gateway to Possible Worlds, Art and Science Fiction, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Lorraine, France (2022); Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK (2020); 2219: Futures Imagined, Artscience Museum, Singapore (2019); Turkish Tulips, Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam, Netherlands; travelling to the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, UK and Horniman Museum, London, UK (2017). Cheung’s work features in numerous public collections worldwide, including Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, USA; Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona, USA; The British Museum, London, UK; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, USA; Hood Museum of Art, New Hampshire, USA; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, USA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; Speed Art Museum, Kentucky, USA; The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK and The Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA. Gordon Cheung lives and works in London.
Bibliography
'Gordon Cheung in conversation with Jeremy Epstein', 2016
'Here Be Dragons' by John-Paul Stonard, 2016
'Warp Speed' by En Liang Khong, 2016
'In Plato’s Cave' by Dr Satish Padiyar, 2012
'Hacking into the present: The Apocalyptic imaginings of Gordon Cheung' by Paul Hobson, 2009
'Signs Taken for Wonders' by Marilyn Zeitlin, 2009
'The Allegorical Impulse in the Digital Age' by Anne Ellegood, 2005
Works
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Augury of Ningbo, 2022
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Megalopolis, 2020
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Desert of the Real, 2020
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Tears of Paradise, 2020
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Home, 2020
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On the Horizon, 2018
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Plateau, 2018
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Great Wall of Sand, 2017
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Handstands on Chairs, 2016
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Lines in the Sand (Unknown Knowns), 2016
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Chairman Mao goes to Anyuan, 2016
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A Thousand Plateaus, 2016
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Living Mountain, 2015
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Forbidden City, 2015
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Journey to the West (Flowers for Aunty Betty), 2014
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Trembling Sunrise, 2011
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The Promised Land, 2009
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Lots of Love for Chairman Mao, (after Xie Zhiguang, 1955), 2016
Media
Gordon Cheung discusses his studio practice with the curator of M+ Museum - Sunny Cheung and Stacey Williams.
In Home Fires 01, Gordon Cheung discusses his installation 'Home', from his 2020 exhibition at Edel Assanti 'Tears of Paradise'.
Gordon Cheung in conversation with Mark Rappolt, Editor-in-Cheif, ArtReview on the occasion of his exhibition 'Tears of Paradise', 2020.
Gordon Cheung discusses his studio practice with Colart, 2018.
Gordon Cheung in conversation with Paul Hobson, Director, Modern Art Oxford, on the occasion of his exhibition 'Unknown Knowns', 2017.
Gordon Cheung discusses his show 'Here Be Dragons' at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery, 2016.
Exhibitions
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Gordon Cheung: Tears of Paradise
17 January - 18 March 2020Private View | Thursday 16 January, 6-8pm Edel Assanti is pleased to present Gordon Cheung’s fourth solo show with the gallery, Tears of Paradise. This exhibition is the latest in...Read more -
Gordon Cheung: Unknown Knowns
10 March - 13 April 2017Private View | Thursday 9th March, 6-8pm There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things...Read more -
Gordon Cheung: The Abyss Stares Back
9 October - 20 November 2015Private View | Thursday 8 October, 6-8pm He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into...Read more -
Gordon Cheung: The Solar Cry
25 October 2012 - 5 January 2013Of course the bull itself is also an image of the sun, but only when its throat is slit... the sun has also been mythologically expressed by man slashing his...Read more
Art Fairs
News
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Gordon Cheung in Colossal
'Bursting Blooms Link Modernity and History in Gordon Cheung’s Decadent Still-Life Paintings' by Kate Mothes 23 May 202323 May 2023 In 1634, during the Dutch Golden Age, an unprecedented financial phenomenon began in the form of skyrocketing prices for rare and fashionable...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Time Out
'A virtual mural has popped up for Chinese New Year' by Joe Mackertich 11 February 202111 February 2021 The future... is now! Andrew Wong is famous for being one of the nicest chefs to ever appear on Masterchef (and also...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at Para Site Annual Auction
'Para Site Annual Auction' from 12 November to 18 November 2020 12 November 202012 November 2020 Gordon Cheung is included in the Para Site Annual Auction, at Soho House Hong Kong. Gordon Cheung, Window # 8, 2018 This...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Artomity 藝源
'Gordon Cheung' by Margot Mottaz 1 May 202001 May 2020 Geopolitics. If a single word summarises the theme of Gordon Cheung’s latest series of works (all 2020) on display at Edel Assanti...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in ArtReview Asia
'Myth, Belt, Road and the Sublime' by Mark Rappolt 3 April 202003 April 2020 British artist Gordon Cheung’s paintings and sculptures dissect the imagery of a globalised world. Drawing on disparate landscape traditions, as well as...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in FAD Magazine
'The Top 5 Art Exhibitions to see in Mayfair and Fitzrovia' by Tabish Khan 24 February 202024 February 2020 Merging cities, dammed rivers and the imprisonment of the Uighur community. China is a country growing and changing fast. This transformation as...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Artforum
'Critics' Pick: Gordon Cheung 'Tears of Paradise'' by Daniel Culpan 11 February 202011 February 2020 “Tears of Paradise” traces the fault lines of China’s cracked map of utopia. (Note the ambiguous title: rupture as cause for trauma...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in the Londonist
'Thirteen Exhibitions that will Blow You Away Right Now' by Tabish Khan 3 February 202003 February 2020 Three cities are about to merge to form a megacity of over 110 million people — this isn't some sci-fi dystopia, it's...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Time Out
'Gordon Cheung: Tears of Paradise review' by Rosemary Waugh 23 January 202023 January 2020 Gordon Cheung’s landscapes are vast. Massive craggy mountains dominate the skyline, mega cities consume the plains, great swathes of ocean bite into...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in the Financial Times
'Critics' Choice: Tears of Paradise' by Jackie Wullschläger 11 January 202011 January 2020 The raw material of Cheung's collage paintings is the mashed up stocks and shares pages of this newspaper, on which he layers...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at Art Science Museum, Singapore
Solo exhibition '2219: Futures Imagined' from 23 November 2019 to 05 April 2020 19 November 201919 November 2019 2219: Futures Imagined is a thought-provoking journey into possible future worlds created through a series of immersive installations, meditative spaces, films, paintings...Read more -
Gordon Cheung acquired by Frank F. Yang Art and Education Foundation, Shenzhen
Frank F. Yang Art and Education Foundation acquires 'Valley' (2018) 27 June 201927 June 2019 Gordon Cheung's painting, Valley (2018) has been acquired by the Frank F. Yang Art and Education Foundation. The work will be on...Read more -
Gordon Cheung acquired by the Hood Museum of Art
Hood Museum of Art acquires 'Minotaur 2' (2009) 20 June 201920 June 2019 Gordon Cheung's painting, Minotaur 2 (2009) has been acquired by the Hood Museum of Art. The work will be on view as...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at Fy Foundation
Group exhibition 'The Evolution of Communication' from 24 March to 24 June 2019 18 March 201918 March 2019 Gordon Cheung will be included in the group exhibition The Evolution of Communication, jointly presented by the Design Society and Frank F....Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Assemblage Magazine
'In Conversation with Gordon Cheung' by Kim Booker 10 April 201810 April 2018 We meet on a February morning at Gordon’s studio – a red-bricked warehouse building in an industrial area of South Bermondsey. There...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Elephant Magazine
'Artists of the Year: 2017, Gordon Cheung' by Gemma Padley 18 December 201718 December 2017 From stock listings and maps to spray paint, sand and digital algorithms, British multimedia artist Gordon Cheung creates expansive and hallucinogenic vistas...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, West Palm Beach, FL
Solo exhibition 'New Order Vanitas' from 09 December 2017 to 04 February 2018 9 December 201709 December 2017 Gordon Cheung's solo exhibition New Order Vanitas is now on view at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach, FL....Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Elephant Magazine
'Studio Visit: Gordon Cheung' by Gemma Padley 22 June 201722 June 2017 “Most abstraction wasn’t really talking about the wider history of art, humanity and civilisations. It was an insular type of dialogue about...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in The Learned Pig
'Gordon Cheung: Unknown Knowns' by The Learned Pig 13 April 201713 April 2017 Unknown Knowns is Gordon Cheung’s third exhibition at Edel Assanti, London. The exhibition’s title is drawn from Slavoj Zizek’s observation that Donald...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Aesthetica
'Pictoral Deconstruction' by William Davie 13 April 201713 April 2017 Currently on view at Edel Assanti, London, is Gordon Cheung’s latest exhibition Unknown Knowns. It takes Slavoj Zizek’s observation that Donald Rumsfeld’s...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in ArtDependence
'10 questions: Gordon Cheung' by Dirk Vanduffel 29 March 201729 March 2017 Gordon Cheung is of Hong Kong origin and born in London 1975 where he lives and works. Cheung’s multi-media art capture the...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Vice
'Critic's Pick:The F*cked-Up Faces of Expo Chicago' by Kate Messinger 1 October 201601 October 2016 With harsh overhead fluorescent lighting and far too many opportunities for art selfies in mirror sculptures, the environment of a contemporary art...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Nottingham
Solo exhibition 'here be dragons'' from 30 April to 17 July 17 July 201617 July 2016 Gordon Cheung is a contemporary artist whose work captures the mood of the global collapse of civilization – or a dystopian, prophetic...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in The Economist 1843 Magazine
'Here be dragons: Gordon Cheung’s daring collages critique China’s authoritarian capitalism by subverting traditional artistic genres' by En Liang Khong 21 June 201621 June 2016 In his mission to render the history of global capitalism as a sequence of shimmering, troubled techno-vistas, the artist Gordon Cheung has...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in Frieze Magazine
'Here We Are: What does ‘Chinese’ mean as an artistic category in Britain today?' by En Liang Khong 24 May 201624 May 2016 In London recently, I sat through a public panel discussion between a mainland-born Chinese artist and a British curator, held for the...Read more -
Gordon Cheung acquired by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
The Asian Art Museum acquires 'Predictive Text' 29 July 201529 July 2015 Gordon Cheung's painting Predictive Text, 2014, has been acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Asian Art. Predictive Text (image right) will...Read more -
Gordon Cheung and Noémie Goudal in 'Vita Vitale', la Bienna di Venezia at the Azerbaijan Pavilion
From 09 May to 22 November 2015 26 March 201526 March 2015 Edward Burtynsky, Mircea Cantor, Loris Cecchini, Gordon Cheung, Khalil Chishtee, Tony Cragg, Laura Ford, Noemie Goudal, Siobhán Hapaska, Paul Huxley, IDEA laboratory...Read more -
Edel Assanti on State-Media
'Victoria Style' by Mike Von Joel 14 July 201314 July 2013 The excitement of 'pop up' culture was fun while it lasted. Although by no means a new phenomenon, it caught the imagination...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at Mima, Middlesbrough
Group exhibition 'On the Precipice' from May to September 2013 17 May 201317 May 2013 Curated by Kelly Richardson, On the Precipice is a stunning new programme of immersive film installations exploring - through large-scale moving image...Read more -
Gordon Cheung acquired by San Antonio Museum
9 May 2013The San Antonio Museum have acquired a recent work by Gordon Cheung for their collection.Read more -
Gordon Cheung - Wild New Territories
Curated by Ron Den Das and Kathy Kenny, 2012 19 December 2012Wild New Territories is an exhibition showing new visual art, media and performance works that explore the interplay between the urban and the wild. The...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at the Arizona State University Museum, USA
Solo exhibition 'Altered States: Paintings' from 09 January to 10 April 2010 9 January 201009 January 2010 British artist Gordon Cheung is featured at the ASU Art Museum in Altered States: Paintings by Gordon Cheung from the Stéphane Janssen...Read more -
Gordon Cheung at New Gallery Walsall
Solo exhibition 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' from 07 August to 01 November 2009 7 August 200907 August 2009 Gordon Cheung creates hallucinogenic visions inspired by a wide range of sources including science fiction, 18th century romantic painting, zombie films, cartoons...Read more
Events
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Gordon Cheung in conversation with Mark Rappolt
19 February 2020Wednesday 19 February | Gordon Cheung spoke with Mark Rappolt on the occaision of Cheung's exhibition Tears of Paradise. Gordon Cheung was in conversation with...Read more -
Gordon Cheung in conversation with Paul Hobson
4 April 2017Tuesday 4 April | Gordon Cheung in conversation with Paul Hobson Paul Hobson is Director of Modern Art Oxford. With more that twenty years in...Read more