Jimmy Keung (b. 1958) has had a diverse practice that is hard to pinpoint, navigating many artistic spheres. The artist has contributed to Hong Kong's urban visual landscape while participating in seminal exhibitions, yet was also relegated to the margins due to his choice of medium and practice. He started as a cinema billboard painter before transitioning to live-arts and theatre, working for major stage production companies to paint backdrops and sceneries, as well as the lecturer in scenic art at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The perception of these activities as being purely decorative has culminated in a tension that carries multitudes in his work, referencing his previous experiences and fusing techniques that are as central to painting as they are to large-scale drawing, colour theory, stage lighting and advertising. This unification has been both arduous and fruitful, challenging him to expand out of his comfort zone and explore the possibilities of straddling multiple realities, disrupting the notion that these approaches are mutually exclusive and on a sliding scale of importance, or even relevance.

His experience started as an apprentice in the 70s under master Lau Wai Tong, whose guidance he was under for 10 years before working with his own team of billboard painters. In the studio for more than 10 hours a day, he was the hand behind 半斤八两 (The Private eyes), The Colour of Money, Jurassic Park, 縱橫四海 (Once a Thief), 辣手神探 (Hard Boiled) and other blockbusters. At the height of his career, Keung was painting for more than a dozen cinemas.

Keung transitioned to theatre in the 90s when hand-painted cinema signs started to wear off. He has contributed to major plays, operas and ballets such as The Elixir of Love , Tricolor,  Journey to the West, Nine Songs , Die Fledermaus , La Boheme , Aida or Turandot. A key moment in this conversion was his training under lighting professionals to better understand the requirements of three-dimensional stage design. This carried an influence in his later work, with him paying more attention to spatial perception, contrasts and composition.

It is around this time that the artist developed his own individual practice, shifting towards a more personal inquiry. He experimented with painting and sculpture, notably appearing in Museum 97: History, Community, Individual in 1997, a group exhibition curated by Oscar Ho at the Hong Kong Arts Center. For this seminal show, he composed and created the infamous Lo Ting sculpture, presenting the half-fish and half-human creature mid-movement, walking towards or away from something, thus developing what would become one of the most striking visuals to represent this mythological being. This piece was later featured in Tai Kwun’s exhibition Portals Stories and other Journeys, also Hong Kong Maritime Museum's exhibition Maritime Crossroads: Millennia of Global Trade in Hong Kong in 2021.

The Memories of Time retraces Keung’s footsteps, starting from his early days in the world of cinema, to theatre and his personal practice. The exhibition also presents more recent works looking at the tension between technology and tradition- a duality that has always permeated his thinking, being caught in periods of significant change. Alongside his pieces are documents, from newsclippings to articles detailing his life, featured to better translate Keung's life-long achievements- and his contribution to Hong Kong culture.