Luise Fong. Photo: Benny Chan.
Luise Fong was born in Sandakan, Malaysia but grew up in Auckland in one of the city’s first Eurasian families. Luise studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating with a BFA in 1991.
In the 1990s, Luise Fong developed a distinctive post-modern style. Her evocative and stained abstract paintings allude to a micro and macro world, characterised by an aesthetic formalism. Between 1993 and 1994, Fong worked as a junior lecturer at Elam School of Fine Arts. In 1994, she was the artist-in-residence at the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne and in the same year was the joint winner (with Bill Hammond) of the Visa Gold Art Award. In 1995 Fong moved to Melbourne and lived and worked there until 2001, when she was appointed lecturer in painting at Elam School of Fine Arts. She remained there until 2005.
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. 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 2008, she was resident artist at the Colin McCahon House in Auckland.
Luise also holds a PG Dip of Secondary teaching in Art and Art History, graduating with a Master of Art and Design from AUT University in 2017.
Her work is held in numerous private and major public collections throughout New Zealand and Australia, including Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, The Bathhouse Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa, University of Canterbury, University of Auckland, Fletcher Trust, Chartwell Trust, Jim and Mary Parr Collection, Paris Collection, and Dame Jenny Gibbs Collection.