Creative forces: Hong Kong's emerging talent

BENEATH THE PASTEL palette of her serene paintings, Sarah Lai Cheuk-wah is in constant battle with the issue of "weight".

"All my work has been about the ordinary ... things and scenes that are lightweight and can be missed easily," Lai says of her motifs. They range from the moon and the sea to urban landscapes such as swimming pools, street corners, water towers, motorways and surveillance cameras - unspectacular and taken for granted.

Lai, however, has developed an affection for these subtleties and wanted to grant them weight on her canvas.

"Whatever seemed trivial would become solid to me as I paint it slowly and painstakingly," says Lai, 30. "I want to keep painting those seemingly unimportant things to give them value and significance."

She's been doing that since 2007, before graduating from Chinese University's fine arts department that year. Placid, contemplative scenery depicted in soft, delicate shades gradually developed into her signature image.

This time Lai shifts to paint still life in her current solo show at Gallery Exit, "Spotting the Light Onto a Light".