Ebelle Shum is a Hong Kong–born visual artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Working primarily in oil on canvas, she navigates the shifting boundaries between Eastern and Western sensibilities, reimagining the quiet lyricism of Chinese ink painting through the tactile depth of Western oil traditions. Her practice is an act of translation — not linguistic but emotional — where gesture, atmosphere, and temporality converge to form meditative spaces of reflection.
A graduate of Pratt Institute with a BFA in Painting and minors in Art History, Museum and Gallery Practice, and Psychology, Shum approaches her work with both intellectual rigor and emotional intuition. Her landscapes and figures unfold as suspended dreamscapes, poised between serenity and unease, where the familiar begins to blur into the symbolic. Within these painterly worlds, she captures the complexities of nostalgia and displacement — a visual dialogue between Hong Kong and New York, memory and reinvention.
Her work has been exhibited at Time to be Happy Gallery, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Pratt Institute, Greenpoint Gallery, The DGT Gallery House, and in group exhibitions such as Thriller at Tokio Delic and Harmony with Guirellaartshows near Chelsea. Shum currently serves as a mentor and in-house artist at Time to be Happy Gallery and as a gallery assistant intern at Alisan Fine Arts New York.
Currently Exhibiting in: Brooklyn, NY
Web: ebelleshum.wixsite.com/mysite
Instagram: @ebaintt
Featured Artwork at Bushwick Gallery
Title: Flight into Dreamery
Year of Creation: 2025
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 40 x 60 in
Edition Type: Unique, 1 of 1
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Price: $4,800
Description
In Flight into Dreamery, Shum constructs a landscape that exists between memory and apparition. A red sun hovers above yellow skies and distant mountains, a vision that emerged from a recurring dream and has since become one of her central motifs. The composition evokes the serenity of traditional Chinese mountain-water paintings while simultaneously invoking the atmospheric drama of Turner and Constable. The result is a painting that vibrates with light, mystery, and emotional depth.
The crane, rendered in subtle grisaille and layered glazes, acts as both self-portrait and symbol. It carries the weight of displacement yet moves with grace, suggesting endurance within confinement. Shum’s use of underpainting and glazes lends the scene a spectral quality, where form seems to dissolve into air. This interplay of solidity and dissolution speaks to her larger artistic pursuit — to capture the tension between serenity and unease, the moment where dream merges with recollection.
Flight into Dreamery is less a depiction than a sensation. It invites the viewer to linger in a space that feels both ancient and immediate, where emotion is not described but suspended in light.
Exhibition Information
Exhibition Title: Vivid Force: The Power of Bold Color
Curated by: Michael O’Malley
Theme: Vivid Force explores the raw energy of bold color, unapologetic, intense, and commanding. From fiery reds to deep blues, this exhibition highlights how color conveys strength, movement, and impact across artistic forms.
Exhibition Dates: November 13 – November 20, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 13 / 6 PM – 8 PM
Private Showings & Events: Invite-only private showings and events throughout the week.