EVENT DESCRIPTION
Get your chopsticks ready. On January 29, 2026, JPS Gallery Hong Kong transforms into a surreal teahouse, serving up Double Umami — a dynamic duo exhibition by Hong Kong artists David Leung (also known as Davidgoodtime) and LOUSY. Reimagining the daily ritual of Yum Cha through two distinct yet perfectly complementary artistic frequencies, the exhibition is a high-energy dive into the city’s vibrant collective memory.
This show was not born in a studio, but over endless baskets of har gow. Double Umami is the culmination of a two-year creative dialogue between photographer David and street artist LOUSY—a conversation chewed over countless morning teas.
What began as casual gatherings quickly evolved into experimental “lab sessions.” For this duo, the Yum Cha table serves as a site of play, observation, and invention. It is the ultimate “Social & Chill” ritual—chaotic, noisy, intimate, and deeply woven into Hong Kong’s DNA. Their collaboration translates this energy into visual form, capturing the essence of communal dining as both social theatre and cultural backbone.
The title Double Umami riffs on the Cantonese phrase “Mei Dim Seung Fai” (美點雙輝)—usually describing a delightful duo of pastries—here representing the collision of two creative forces. As their sessions deepened, the artists realised their regular table had quietly become an informal institute: a tabletop “academy” where tea stains become mountains, and the wrinkles of a siu mai offer a study in texture.
“Every time we went for tea, the table became our ‘laboratory,’” explains David. “We didn’t just eat; we watched, played, and conversed with our surroundings.”
JPS Gallery’s historic location provides a serendipitous stage for the show. The building’s façade still carries the original, faded signage of the former “Bao Bin Tea Room” (寶賓茶室) from the 1970s, adding a layer of historical resonance. Visitors will first walk through these architectural memories of Hong Kong’s culinary past before stepping into the reimagined teahouse of the present.
Inside, the gallery comes alive with a customised dim sum cart installation, collaboratively painted on by the artists, blurring the line between art space and bustling restaurant.
ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER
Hong Kong native Lousy draws on all surfaces across all spaces, taking cues from the proactive and spontaneous energy of the streets. Stripping down his visual language to simplified, gestural, rhythmic symbols with a bright palette, Lousy desires to liberate, dive deep into the shared vision of the subconscious mind, and celebrate life through his art practices. His works have been showcased in different art galleries and cultural institutions in Hong Kong and overseas, including M+, Art Central, Para Site, THE SHOPHOUSE, Parallel Space & Martin Goya Business & more.David Leung is a contemporary artist and photographer renowned for his unique and surreal style of food photography - Symmetrical Pareidolism. He is one of the few artists who has turned food into a medium for artistic expression and has become a prominent figure in the field of food art photography in Hong Kong. His works have reached international audiences including those in Singapore, Japan, France, Malaysia, Thailand, and Switzerland. By exploring the micro-views of his favourite hobby, dining, through the lens of the pareidolia phenomenon, he finds a sanctuary, identifying anomalies and amplifying them to create a series of surreal and dreamlike images that challenge our perception of reality, known as ‘Beasts From Feasts’. He then transports viewers to a world of imagination and wonder as they discover the hidden faces in the ordinary dishes that surround us every day.
