Square Street Gallery is pleased to present Anabelle Lau's first solo exhibition, 'Readymades' from 11 December 2024 to 18 January 2025. In her Hotmilk series, Anabelle Lau appropriates the monthly Japanese erotic periodical Comic Hotmilk with three specific interventions: painting an exacting reproduction of the work in oil; painting directly on the pages of said magazine; or by simply framing the publication, as is.

Join us on the evening of 11 December, 2024 for the opening reception of the exhibition.

Hong Kong artist Anabelle Lau (b. 1998) is interested in the representation of women as either divine or passive entities in both art history and popular culture and seeks to challenge the hegemonic notions that underscore the terrain of female sexuality. Borrowing from the historically masculine visual language of pornography, Lau’s work embodies what French writer Hélène Cixous calls “feminine writing” in her seminal essay “Laugh of Medusa” (2010), which encapsulates stealing from the male narrative order and departing from it to produce something new. Lau’s oil paintings appropriate the covers of hentai magazines and, in doing so, simultaneously challenge the sociopolitical terrain on which representations of female sexuality are played out and dispute the boundaries between erotic and fine art. Lau has previously exhibited with Square Street Gallery (2022, 2023, 2024).

Square Street Gallery 
Tuesday–Saturday 12–6 pm and by appointment