Sheaufei Hoe

Sheaufei grew up in a village on the west coast of Johor, Malaysia. She came to London to study architecture at the Architectural Association in 2002. Following graduation, she worked in the field of architecture for renowned offices in London, such as Heatherwick Studio and Farshid Moussavi Architecture; in her spare time, she paints. In 2023, her transition to full-time painting occurred. As a self-taught painter and experienced Architect, Sheaufei is motivated by the inherent beauty of the natural world. She works mainly in watercolour, sketches plein air in pencil, and recently finds joy in the tactile qualities of semi-soft pastels. In her paintings, Sheaufei places the natural subject as the primary protagonist, with minimal hints of the built environment and human presence.
Sheaufei’s Tree Portraits draw inspiration from London’s trees and blossoms – each assigned a postcode based on the nearest building’s address. Her fascination with painting small objects on a much larger scale without employing a magnifier led to the whimsical Large Onion series. ‘The Sea Level Rise’ series is Sheaufei’s artistic response to climate change, raising awareness of rapidly rising global coastal lines. This initiative also inspired her to craft freehand abstract colour-line drawings called W(e)ave. She is currently working on her “Alchemy” abstract watercolour series. Their precursor was the colour test scribbling she did for each of her figurativewatercolour paintings – they were “dabs” with a great focus on “getting the colour right”, one at a time.

Sheaufei has exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Watercolour Society and the Society of Artists in Architecture. Her works are in private collections worldwide.