二十二年的沉默，二十七年的游离。来自槟城的画家 Joshua Foo，终于重返这片曾赋予他灵感与养分的土地。在 2025 年乔治市艺术节，他将带来个人微型展览《时间．地点．人物》，展开一场与自我、城市与时代的温柔对话。
曾经搁下的画笔，如今重新拾起。带着时间的沉淀与生命的厚度，他以水彩的透明与轻盈，描绘记忆的轮廓与当下的感知。展出的每一道笔触、每一道人物线条，都是他与这片土地之间深层关系的流露。
Joshua 深信，本地美术创作的土壤并不逊于海外。尽管在题材与市场氛围上有所差异，本地创作者始终在边界中摸索、推进，持续展现多元而深刻的表达。这次回归，是对过往的致意，也是对未来的承诺——他期望在粉彩、油画、水墨等媒介中继续探索，也期待社会能为原创作品保留更多空间与尊重。
时间，是沉积的养分；地点，是情感的容器；人物，则是生命中不可或缺的印记。《时间．地点．人物》是一场回望，也是一趟前行。在这段不喧哗、却饱含情感的视觉旅程中，我们将见证一位艺术家如何在时间中凝视自己，在地点中安放记忆，在人物中延续情感。
What does it mean to return—not just to a place, but to a part of yourself?
Time. Places. People. marks the long-awaited return of Penang-born artist Joshua Foo—his first exhibition in over two decades. After twenty-two years of silence and twenty-seven years away, he takes up the brush once again, returning not only to his practice but also to the land that first nurtured his vision.
Through watercolours, portraits, and personal reflections spanning more than 30 years, this intimate showcase traces a quiet, contemplative journey: one of memory rekindled, time revisited, and the self slowly reassembled—stroke by stroke.
This is not merely an exhibition. It is a tender reconciliation with the past and a quiet gesture toward the future. A story of return, told through brush and time.
【时间的重组，画笔的归来】 “这是一场从 1997 年的暂停，到 2023 年重新出发的生命对照。” 展览题为「时间、地点、人物」，表面看是三段生命轨迹的坐标，实则亦藏有“天时、地利、人和”的寓意。展出作品横跨三十余年——从 1991 年他在高中时期绘制的老槟城水彩画，到近年来为国际艺术平台 FABRIANO 创作的新作。每一幅画，既是时间的切片，也是他创作旅途中停顿与复苏的注脚。 其中，一幅描绘已消失的光大对面旅馆外墙的作品，与一幅色彩明亮、题为〈加州梦〉的画作并列展出：一静一动，一旧一新，象征记忆与梦想的交汇，也回应了他对“时间”最具象、最私密的思索。 “This is, in many ways, a life held in contrast—paused in 1997, resumed in 2023.” At first glance, the title Time. Places. People reads as a simple triad. But beneath it lies another layer of resonance—a quiet invocation of the Chinese notion of heaven’s timing, earth’s alignment, and human harmony. Spanning more than three decades, this exhibition brings together a body of work that traces the arc of an artistic life: from Foo’s early watercolours of old Penang, painted in 1991 during his high school years, to his recent return to painting for international platforms such as FABRIANO. Each piece offers a fragment of time—marking moments of pause, transformation, and reawakening. Among the works, one notable pairing anchors the exhibition’s meditation on time: a watercolour of a now-demolished hotel facade across from KOMTAR is placed beside California Dreaming, a vivid, contemporary composition. One is still, the other in motion; one speaks of memory, the other of longing. Together, they articulate Foo’s most tangible and intimate reflection on how time shapes—and reshapes—the self.
【地点的呼唤，自我与城市的连结】 创作的起点，不是为了回顾过往，而是为了理解此刻。他说：“我想找回自己，也找回这片土地的影子。” 离开家乡二十多年后，Joshua Foo 回到槟城，在这里重新安顿下来，也再次提起画笔。 槟城始终在他心中，占据着一个不曾动摇的位置。那些熟悉的街景、建筑与光影，化成画面中的线条与色彩，引领他与城市重建关系。水彩，是他学生时期的创作媒介，如今也成为重新感受节奏与呼吸的方式。 在这些画作中，地点不只是地理背景，而是感知与记忆的交界。Joshua 借由描绘场景，回应时间的流动，也在描绘过程中慢慢靠近自己。 This journey did not begin as a return to the past, but as a way to make sense of the present. “I wanted to find myself,” Joshua Foo reflects, “and to rediscover the traces of this land.” After more than two decades away, Joshua returned to Penang—a place where he has since resettled and once again taken up the brush. The city never left him. Its familiar streets, buildings, and shifting light have found their way back into his work, expressed through lines and colours that rebuild his relationship with the city. Watercolour, the medium he first explored as a student, has become a way to sense rhythm and reclaim breath. In these paintings, place is not merely a backdrop. It is where memory and perception converge. As Joshua paints these scenes, he responds to the quiet passage of time—and in that process, finds his way back to himself.
【人物的刻画与致敬】 Joshua 的画中人物从未缺席。 最令他动情的，是一幅献给恩师 Harvey Chan 的素描肖像。这位老师，是他旅居香港时重新拾起画笔的重要引路人。Harvey 不只是教授技法，更将他带入城市速写的创作社群，让绘画重新成为生活的一部分。 由于媒材限制，原作以帆布复制形式展出。但那份敬意和情感，从画面中清晰可见。他以这一幅作品，回应记忆中的人物，也写下对“人物”这一主题最深的注解。
Figures have always held a quiet presence in Joshua’s work. Among them, a pencil portrait dedicated to his mentor Harvey Chan stands out with particular emotional weight. During Joshua’s time in Hong Kong, it was Harvey who reignited his passion for drawing—not only by sharing technical guidance, but by introducing him to the international community of urban sketchers, where drawing became once again part of his everyday rhythm. Due to material limitations, the original piece is presented here as a canvas reproduction. Yet its sentiment remains undiminished. Through this portrait, Joshua honours a formative figure in his artistic life, and offers a deeply personal meditation on the role of people—both seen and remembered—in his creative journey.