About
HO, CAROL OI YAN 何藹恩
Lives and works in Hong Kong & London, UK
Carol Ho's work examines how modernist forms in East Asian pop vocabularies collide in the construction of contemporary Asian identity - treating the painted figure less as likeness than as a surface where cultural memory, kitsch, and art-historical authority overlap.
Her ongoing series Modernism Stuck in My Head (2016-present) literalizes this collision: figures are impaled or overgrown by fragmented modernist sculpture, the face becoming the place where canonical Western form meets the graphic register of East Asian subculture. The painting occupy a grotesque, fantastical mode that both celebrates and critiques the authority of modernism it inherited.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Education
2001 MA (Fine Art), Printmaking, Royal College of Art, London, UK
1998 BFA, Painting & Printmaking, University of Calgary, Calgary, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
• In the Flesh, Anita Chan Lai Ling Gallery, The Fringe, Hong Kong
• Skin Deep, Mufei Space, The Pottery Workshop, Hong Kong
2021
• Vacant Premise (with Mark Pearson), London, UK
• Curious Case (with Celia Ko), Gallery Lara, Tokyo, JP
• When Parallel Worlds Collide (with Celia Ko), Arthome, Hong Kong, HK
2020
• Picture Palace, Transition Gallery, London, UK
2019
• Narration/ Dialogue, The Muse Gallery, Hong Kong, HK
2018
• Shamal, il Vento Creativo, Ottovarte, Tuscany, IT
• RCA Secret, Royal College of Art, London, UK & Dubai, AE
2017
• ACAVA Open Studios, London, UK
• Reduction to Body, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong, HK
2016
• Funderland: Painting On & On, Chai Wan, Hong Kong, HK
2015
• Anonymous Drawings, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, DE; Rome, IT; Braunschweig, DE
2014
• S’i Fossi Foco, Ex Chiesa San Nicolao, Bellano, IT
2012
• Imaging Images, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC), Hong Kong, HK
(A comprehensive exhibition history is available upon request.)
Awards, Residencies & Grants
2019 Visiting Grant, supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (ADC) for the 58th Venice Biennale
2015 Mentor, Julu Culture, Hong Kong, HK
2002 Artist in Residence, London Print Studio, London, UK
2000 Travel Award, Cité internationale des arts, Paris, FR
1999 Visual Arts Study Grant, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, AB, CA
1999 Independence Thought Award, University of Calgary, AB, CA
Press
2017 Tang, Stella Ying Sze. “Carol Ho’s Feministic Paintings.” Ming Pao Monthly, October issue.
2012 Feature, “The Works,” RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong).
2012 Exhibition Review, Wen Wei Po, Hong Kong Economic Journal, and Arthongkong.net.
2010 Agnew, Mary. “Stretched Connotations", review. Time Out Hong Kong.
2009 Interview, ArtAttack, ChooChooTV.
Curatorial Projects & Professional Appointments
2017 Project Artist, ‘Studio Hopping – Sparkle! Neo Travel’, Oil Street Art Space, Hong Kong
2011–12 Art Writer & Translator, De Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong
2011 Curator, Imaging Images, JCCAC, Hong Kong
2010 Curator, Back to Drawing, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2007–12 Lecturer (Drawing & Painting), Hong Kong Arts School
2006 Visiting Lecturer, Hong Kong Art School
2004 Curator, Faith, Transition Gallery, London
2004 Co-Curator, Aftershock, 1A Space, Hong Kong
Collections
• Royal College of Art Printmaking Archive, London, UK
• University of Calgary, Calgary, CA
• Red Deer and District Museum, Red Deer, CA
• Works held in private collections across Asia, Europe, and North America.