The deeply atmospheric oil paintings of Szelit Cheung are painstaking studies of the fall of light in space. Intimate in scale and tightly framed, Cheung’s canvases depict unadorned architectural interiors glancingly illuminated by beams of sunlight. Using restricted palettes dominated by a single colour, Cheung works through intricate tonal gradations and theatrical contrasts to lend powerful impressions of space and volume to rarefied interiors. Drawing on the Zen Buddhist concept of Śūnyatā — the void as the origin of all things — Cheung imbues his careful evocations of light-fall with a profound contemplative aspect.

For the Asia Pacific Triennial, Cheung presents his paintings in a specially designed space whose ambiance and light-fall match those depicted on his canvases.