An empty Sunday afternoon? Need recommendations for a first- (or second-, or
third-) date activity? Yearning for some artistic inspiration? Pencil down a list of your favourites from our round-up of the best art exhibitions in the city — and make a day out of it.Sun Woo: You Have a New Memory
When: Through 4 August
Was that a shot of Britney Spears, circa ‘In The Zone’? It might be. Probably. Sure looks like it. Memory is a funny thing, something Sun Woo’s You Have a New Memory exhibition — the South Korean and Canadian artist’s first solo showcase in Hong Kong — delves deep into. Prior to the invention of smartphones and cameras and devices that enable the extremely documented lives we now live, the question of memory exists as fractal impressions restricted by the limitations of the human body. Some embedded with crystal clarity; others, not so much. Woo’s body of work, which includes painting and sculpture, is an amalgamation of her ‘digital archive’ and her ‘bodily memories’; each piece almost surreal in its hazy, otherworldly rendering.
Dawn Jewellery: Hundred Tins in Unison
When: Through 1 August
An exhibition in dedication to the development of craftsmanship in Hong Kong (in particular, a mediation of tin and tinware), Dawn Jewellery’s Hundred Tins in Unison is separated into three theses. First, the ‘Hundred Tinware’, which ruminates on the material and its many applications throughout China, Japan and Europe; second, the ‘Hundred Craftsmen Work’, which displays the tinware works of workshop participants; and third, the ‘Rise of Sunsmith’, a collection showcase of Dawn Jewellery’s in-house workshop ‘Sunsmith’.
Rolex Presents: William Forsythe’s Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time No.2
When: Through 19 July
Open to professional dancers, amateur dancers, spirited-but-untrained dancers and absolutely-not-in-public non-dancers alike, William Forsythe’s Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time No.2 — presented by the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative — suspends hundreds of pendulums from an automated grid that swing, sweep and sway. Your principal solo? A nimble-footed meander through this obstacle-filled labyrinth; a dodged-and-swerved amble that is, essentially, a dance. Spontaneously choreographed and executed. This installation was installed previously at the Tate Modern and the Venice Biennale.
M K Lau Collection: Inspired by Ink
When: Through 27 September
Expanding upon the works already on-view at Duddell’s, Inspired by Ink presents a repository of works from the M K Lau Collection, one of Asia’s finest private collections of Chinese brush-and-ink paintings from the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century. Of the 36 works presented, all can be segmented into three camps defined by grandmasters and the pupillage they’ve inspired, including Lui Shou-kwan, Liu Kuo-sung and the Lingnan School succession.
“The medium of ink and its manifold expressions ranging from subtle to bold, sometimes on its own and other times accentuated by colour, reached new heights in the hands of Hong Kong artists,” says Catherine Maudsley, M K Lau Collection’s senior advisor and curator. “Inspired by Ink – Paintings from the M K Lau Collection gives just a taste of the plurality, immense innovation and creativity engendered by this ever-responsive medium.”
Park Seungmo Solo Exhibition
When: Through 30 July
Silvery, metallic wiring and mesh are Park Seungmo’s mediums of choice; a material he wields like pencil on paper vis-à-vis his ability to turn matter into photorealistic vignettes, sculptures and installations. Through creating imagery from shadows and outline, Park begins to unravel questions of identity. “If surrounding environments shape a person, perhaps I am also made of a collection of happenstance events or some grains of dirt,” Park muses. His body of work is entitled Maya (Illusion) series, named for a Sanskrit term which translates into “Indeed, there is nothing.” For indeed, there is nothing, if Park’s pieces are seen from a vantage point much too close to the piece itself.
Lee Man Sang & Wensen Qi (Vincent Cazeneuve): Roots
When: 11 June – 31 July
‘Roots’ is a duo exhibition featuring works between Lee Man Sang and Wensen Qi (Vincent Cazeneuve), challenging the definition of the word as a metaphor for one’s values and identities. As a concept not borne out of nature, but crafted by humanity and the boundaries we’ve crafted out of sand, soil and experiences that are fully human.
Jessica Zoob: This Moment
When: 4 June – 14 August
‘This Moment’ is British painter Jessica Zoob’s body of work mediating on the pivotal time humanity is currently facing with regards to the environment. “This collection is about the precarious state of our planet, how passionate I am about it, how desperately I care for it, how fragile I understand it to be and how hopeful I am that with enough support and knowledge and people becoming less ignorant about what they are doing, by making good choices, by being willing to change and embrace the wild, we can actually protect and save our world and make it into the wonderful place it should be,” said Zoob. “I hope to encourage people to stop and gaze, to be reminded of the beauty of nature and to be inspired to protect it.”
Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness)
When: 18 May – 15 August
Presented in conjunction with Art Basel Hong Kong 2021 and in collaboration with Muholi Arts Project (BaMu).
Zanele Muholi describes her ‘Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness)’ self-portraiture series as photographing “the journey, self-image and possibilities of a black person in today’s global society.” Totalling over 50 photographs, this exhibition conflates both photographer and subject with Muholi personifying both roles. Highly personal and autobiographical, ‘Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness)’ calls to pride in representation; specifically, “for this black face to be recognised as belonging to a sensible, thinking being in their own right.”
Mark Grotjahn: Horizontals
Oil on cardboard mounted on linen, 55 × 68 inches (139.7 × 172.7 cm)
© Mark Grotjahn. Photo: Douglas M. Parker Studio
When: 18 May – 7 August
I like less looking, more doing.
— Mark Grotjahn
Mark Grotjahn’s ‘Horizontal’ exhibition is a culmination of the artist’s paintings from his ‘Capri’ series; a body of work produced in 2016 for Casa Malaparte on the isle of Capri, Italy. Grotjahn’s explosive use of colour, movement and perspective captures the rugged terrain of Capri in motifs that echo that of German Expressionism, Italian Futurism and American Abstract Expressionism.
Curtain
When: 15 May – 25 July
The mundane materiality of a curtain — that of a textile window covering, blocking out sunlight — acts as a leading motif through this exhibition; a collaborative effort between Para Site and Rockbund Art Museum. A curtain hides; conceals. It also separates; holds court as a partition. The lifting of said curtain, too, serves as a precursor to performance. Bookmarking theatrical spectacles; from the first applause to the last standing ovation. Many artworks featured for ‘Curtain’ realises questions of surveillance and questions of technology, boundaries and humanity digitised. This exhibition opens at Para Site’s Quarry Bay home-base on 14 May, then moves to Soho House’s gallery space from 15 May.
Myonghi Kang
Myonghi Kang in her Jeju studio. Photo: Gary Yeh, Courtesy of Villepin
When: 17 May – 17 November
The idyllic, painterly canvases of Myonghi Kang — on view through November, transforming Villepin on bustling Hollywood Road into a hideaway sanctuary — mediate on her relationship with the natural world; a demonstrated practice over five decades in the making, with her chosen mediums of representation oscillating seamlessly between painting, poetry and philosophy.
The Real World
When: 18 May – 31 July
The myriad of artistic pursuits represented at David Zwirner Hong Kong’s ‘The Real World’ — including traditional painting and drawing to video and installation pieces — is a sundry distillation of the various artists represented at this group exhibition. Each featured work by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Raymond Pettibon, Jason Rhoades, Diana Thater, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Lisa Yuskavage are individualised approaches to the ways in which the artist challenges the status quo; each, too, representing pioneering approaches to art that addresses fully current and human topics such as identity, gender, sexuality, consumerism and the status of the built and natural environment.
Chu Teh Chun: Symphony
When: 13 May – 31 July
Chu Teh Chun’s signature aesthetic — a celebrated integration of traditional Chinese painting techniques with that of Western abstract art — came to be in 1956, following a move to Paris and a formative viewing of French artist Nicolas de Staël’s works. Alisan Fine Arts’ ‘Symphony’ celebrates the centenary of the artist, showcasing a selection of 16 works. Beyond this exhibition, a selection of Chu’s ink paintings will be on display at Alisan Fine Arts’ Art Basel Hong Kong booth.
Christine Ay Tjoe: Spinning in the Desert
When: 18 May – 28 August
A firm favourite on our list of influential contemporary Asian artists to know, Christine Ay Tjoe addresses themes of philosophy and spirituality; a theme intrinsically present in her ‘Spinning in the Desert’ exhibition at White Cube Hong Kong. This new series of large-scale paintings are responses and reflections on the changes imposed on humanity during the pandemic, with deeply expressive gestures borne from Ay Tjoe’s meditative, trance-like state whilst creating. Each piece builds on the idea of ‘ingrown’ shoots and are titled after the biological term ‘cryptobiosis’.
“This is about the specific, rare, and beautiful ability of living things,” she explained. “Cryptobiosis offers the idea to virtually halt movement and any definite aim ahead; offering possibilities for a longer life and greater hope instead.”
Creations Enlivened: Metal
When: 20 March – 24 July
The tough, robust connotations of metalwork and metalsmithing are rendered null at Crafts on Peel’s Creations Enlivened: Metal exhibition, which showcases metallic works of art by craftsmen from Hong Kong and Japan that lean a touch more towards intricacy. Traditional masters of the craft were paired alongside contemporary artists and designers for this collaborative exhibition, with the commissioned work a showcase of the passing of the guard where time-honoured skills are passed down and, as thus, preserved.
Jack Whitten
Natural Selection, 1995
Acrylic and ink on unstretched canvas
243.2 x 213.7 cm / 95 3/4 x 84 1/8 in
© Jack Whitten Estate
Courtesy the Jack Whitten Estate and
Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Dan Bradica
© Jack Whitten Estate
Courtesy the Jack Whitten Estate and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: John Berens
When: 30 March – 31 July
“I can build anything I want to. I’m not a narrative painter. I don’t do the idea or the painting being the illustration of an idea. It’s all about the materiality of the paint.”
Jack Whitten
If there’s a word to describe Jack Whitten’s oeuvre of work, it’s ‘singular’. A process as seemingly mechanical — see; layers upon layers of geometric shapes — as it is intensely gestural and emotional, Whitten blurs the boundaries between sculpture and painting; in doing so, creating his own, distinct visual language. This will be Jack Whitten’s first solo exhibition in Asia, courtesy of Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong.
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