We've handpicked some art exhibitions and events to check out this July. Read on to discover more.
Gagosian: Hortus Conclusus
Rubble is like a plant’s blossoms; it is the radiant highpoint of an incessant metabolism, the beginning of a rebirth.
—Anselm Kiefer
Gagosian is pleased to announce Anselm Kiefer: hortus conclusus, an exhibition that surveys four decades of the artist’s landscape paintings. Capping a year of exhibitions across Europe and the United States, this is the first to feature his work in Hong Kong for more than ten years.
Kiefer’s thirteenth solo exhibition at Gagosian since 1998, hortus conclusus follows Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce (Andrea Emo) at Palazzo Ducale, Venice (2022–23) and Exodus, a bicoastal exhibition presented at the gallery in New York (2022) and at Gagosian at the Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles (2022–23). This coming October, Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut (LaM) in France will present Anselm Kiefer: Photography at the Beginning, the first exhibition dedicated to the artist’s photographs.
Kiefer emphasizes the allegorical aspects of landscape with the exhibition title, which is Latin for “enclosed garden” and derived from a book of the Hebrew Bible known as the Song of Songs or Song of Solomon. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, the term described the iconography of the Virgin Mary depicted in a walled garden, a sheltered place for meditation. For Kiefer, the idea of hortus conclusus offers a view of nature that is both sublime and idyllic, thematizing growth, renewal, and the cycles of life. As with the traditions of East Asian painting, his landscapes move beyond direct representation to convey responses to the forms and forces of nature, expressed in both art and poetry. Anselm Kiefer was born in 1945 in Donaueschingen, Germany, and lives and works in France. His work is collected by museums worldwide and has been permanently installed at the Musée du Louvre (2007) and the Panthéon (2020), both in Paris. Exhibitions include Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (2010–11); Shevirat Ha-Kelim (Breaking of the Vessels), Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel (2011–12); Beyond Landscape, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2013–14); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2014), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015–16); L’Alchimie du livre, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (2015–16); The Woodcuts, Albertina, Vienna (2016); Pour Paul Celan, Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris (2021); and Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce (Andrea Emo), Palazzo Ducale, Venice (2022–23). In 2017, he was awarded the J. Paul Getty Medal for his contribution to the arts.
When: 17th May - 5th August 2023
Image: courtesy Gagosian
7/F Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central
Boogie Woogie Photography: Reminiscence
Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “Reminiscence,” a solo exhibition by Elsa Jean de Dieu, a Hong Kong-based muralist and visual artist, at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 29 June to 22 July 2023. The exhibition is presented together with 18th-century French museum-quality furniture and decorative art displayed by the prestigious Kraemer Gallery from Paris.
Born and raised in southern France, Elsa’s artistic journey began at a young age, experimenting with various mediums and techniques. Her passion for painting was ignited by French art history and family background, drawing inspiration from great artists – notably by the textures of French painter and sculptor Pierre Soulages or the use of colors by Mark Rothko and Piet Mondrian. Her signature style emerged as she honed her craft, a harmonious blend of vibrant hues, bold compositions, and expressive brushstrokes.
Elsa has been expanding her creative talents and bringing her unique texture artworks and murals to Hong Kong, Paris, Italy, and many other places. In the past twenty years, her inspiring energy and creativity have resulted in hundreds of commissioned paintings and luxury art pieces for high-profile clients, including CHANEL and other high fashion brands. As she turns forty years old this year, Elsa moves on to a new chapter and dedicates herself to artworks that reveal her inner voice. Her inaugural solo exhibition Reminiscence invites us to embark on a journey through her universe. As the exhibition title demonstrates, Elsa’s painting brings the viewers to her childhood in a poetic way.
When: 29th June - 22nd July 2023
Image: courtesy Boogie Woogie Photography
8/F, E Wah Factory Building, 56 - 60 Wong Chuk Hang Road
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SC Gallery: Before Arrival
Does 2023 has any special meaning to you?
Most of the time, our lives are like plain water, it is colorless and tasteless, yet we cannot do without it. Days pass by in this mundane and repetitive manner, day after day, year after year.
In this duo exhibtion, the two artists Cheng Ting Ting and Lau Yin Yeung have revealed their current status : state of waiting for something to happen in a unkown future. The state of waiting can be calm or filled with loneliness and solitude. This state can be anxious or agonizing. Nevertheless waiting can also be sort of beauty that fills us with tenderness and longing. The act of waiting also gives us a wonderful anticipation of the future.
A year ago, Cheng finished her study in Europe and returned to Hong Kong. She feels that both she and Hong Kong, where she resides, are in a state of waiting. After the massive social movements few years ago, Hong Kong has now settled down and people are continuing with their daily lives, as if nothing has happened. But what are these phenomena? Are they settling or fermenting?
Everyone’s life is a process of waiting, during which we experience ups and downs, happiness and hardships. Perhaps what we are waiting for will quietly arrive on a morning when we wake up from a dream.
Before arrival, let us all keep waiting with a calm and fearless heart.
When: 29th June 2023 - 19th August 2023
Image: courtesy SC Gallery
Unit 2, 19/F, Sungib Industrial Centre, 53 Wong Chuk Hang Road
Karin Weber Gallery: Botanical Wonders
Karin Weber Gallery is excited to announce ‘Botanical Wonders’, a group show examining the marvels of the natural world through the lens of a diverse group of artists, mostly local to Hong Kong, with a gallery debut by UK artist Annette Marie Townsend.
As Mankind and nature have always been inextricably linked, so has engagement with nature in art. Drawing from a long line of nature-focused artists through different histories and cultures, the six artists in this group show engage with the botanical world in a variety of compelling mediums.
The plant-inspired works making an appearance in ‘Botanical Wonders’ may directly represent their real-life counterparts, as in the meticulous replica flowers created by Annette Marie Townsend. For this show, Townsend has drawn on traditional Chinese flowers like Orchids, Camellias or Chrysanthemums, all rich in meaning and iconography across Chinese and Western cultures, executed in Townsend’s signature style which borders on hyper-realism.
Works may distort or amplify nature, as in Elizabeth Fong’s bronze and stoneware installation I Prefer Flowers, which draws inspiration from the old children’s story of the tooth fairy, and links the value of flowers to a commercial transaction. Tobe Kan works with classical floral subjects in a monochrome blue and white palette to explore themes of subjectivity and distortion, on the cusp between dreams and reality. Celebrated designer OrangeTerry has created vases using stone and clay to investigate their beauty.
Alternatively, artists may use nature as a springboard for exploring broader concepts, such as June Ho in her linocut works, once again engaging with her core artistic themes of identity and integration, expressed through prints of the local Hong Kong bauhinia tree, and the southern Chinese orchid tree in this show. Annebell Chan’s flower installation, created from ready-made objects, explores the soothing effects of flower appreciation, similar to reading poetry or listening to music.
Nature remains an endless source of fascination, creative inspiration, and an increasingly precious part of all our lives. We are excited to present some very special interpretations in ‘Botanical Wonders’ at Karin Weber Gallery.
When: 24th June - 22nd July 2023
Image: Courtesy of Karin Weber Gallery
G/F, 20 Aberdeen Street, Central, HK
Blue Lotus Gallery: Goodbye Kai Tak And Thank You
The closure of Hong Kong's iconic Kai Tak Airport in 1998 was a significant moment in the city's history. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the airport's closure, Blue Lotus Gallery is pleased to announce a special upcoming exhibition Goodbye Kai Tak and Thank You.
Featuring photographs by Canadian photographer Greg Girard and Hong Kong photojournalist Birdy Chu, the exhibition offers a unique perspective on the airport's history and legacy.
It was time for the last plane to depart from Kai Tak Airport, as the Cathay Pacific flight CX251 left for London Heathrow right after midnight on July 6, 1998. Goodbye Kai Tak and thank you, said Director of Civil Aviation Richard Siegel, before throwing the switch. The lights were turned out at Kai Tak around 1:20am, marking the end of the airport's 73-year history.
Since the airport's closure, the sight of planes flying across the Kowloon peninsula became a thing of the past, but Kai Tak has made its mark in Hong Kong's culture, garnering much discussion and awareness into the present day, even as the airport's site took on a new life.
Kai Tak Airport, also known as the Hong Kong International Airport, was the main airport of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1998. The airport was originally built as a small runway in Kowloon Bay in 1925, and was expanded over the years to become one of the busiest airports in Asia. The airport was known for its challenging approach, since pilots would have to navigate through a series of hills and buildings, making the sharp turn to land on the runway before reaching Checkerboard Hill. Surrounded by densely populated areas and mountains, the location of the airport only added to the difficulty of approach and landing. Despite so, the sight of planes across the panoramic view of the city's skyline made the airport a popular spot for aviation enthusiasts and photographers.
The airport and planes created a dynamic visual backdrop for Girard and Chu, who sought to record and uncover different facets of life around the airport. whether it be planes flying over tong lau, or crowds of people in the busy districts. The terminal may be a bustling hub for travellers and international cargo, but pockets of silence appear as passengers stop to make a phone call before boarding. As the airport approached its imminent closure, the aircrafts themselves became a spectacle as onlookers would try to capture a piece of history, a memento of an era that came to a close.
Kai Tak Airport holds a special place in the hearts of many people who have fond memories of traveling through it, or for those who used to watch planes land and take off from its iconic runway. While the airport may be gone, its legacy lives on in the memories of those who experienced it and the photographs offer us a chance to revisit the extraordinary airport as well as the everyday lives surrounding it.
When: 30th June - 30th July 2023
Image: courtesy Blue Lotus Gallery
28 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Para Site Gallery: Signals... Folds And Splits
The second chapter of 'signals...瞬息' titled signals...folds and splits, curated by Billy Tang and Celia Ho opened Friday 9 June.
Through a presentation of score-based interventions and time-based mediums, _signals...folds and splits _will explore the ways artists challenge conventions of time amidst a climate of instability. With the multiple experiments activated in this chapter, the exhibition explores the potential of a small gesture and its ability to slowly accumulate into a wider momentum of change. As a transitional chapter within this exhibition series, 'signals...folds and splits' will focus on liminal spaces, the conditions that determine human ability to work and rest, and whether to gather together or diverge towards another reality.
Featuring: Doreen Chan, Sara Flores, HASS Lab, Linda Chiu-han Lai, Jaffa Lam, Carolyn Lazard, Ghislaine Leung, Li Yueyang, Candice Lin & P. Staff, Pratchaya Phinthong, Wing Po So, Mika Tajima, Tang Kwok Hin, with atmospheric interventions including a publishing project by Wing Chan featuring photography by South Ho
When: 10th June - 30th July 2023
Image: courtesy of Para Site
22/F, Wing Wah Industrial Building, 677 King’s Road, Quarry Bay
Hauser & Wirth: The Sea Remembers
'The objects in my painting are from my childhood memories, but also represent things that are still present in my life, both physically and emotionally. They are a sort of trampoline to things way deeper, a stage to bring in memories, thoughts, questions, and open towards the unknown.'
– Angel Otero
Angel Otero is known for his signature approach to visual storytelling, synthesising magical realism and abstraction, the observed and the imagined, and the past and the present. Beginning 1 June, Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong presents 'The Sea Remembers,' Otero's first solo exhibition in Asia since he joined the gallery in 2022. Through a labor-intensive process of laying down, scrapping and collaging oil paint, Angel Otero's works are rooted in abstract image making and engage with the idea of memory through addressing art history, as well as his own lived experience.
Consisting of 10 new paintings and spanning two floors of the gallery space, the exhibition includes vibrant large- scale canvases that merge the figurative and abstract sides of Otero's innovative technical practice, advancing the artist's exploration of oil paint as a medium and a conduit for self-reflection and analysis. Drawing from his childhood growing up in Puerto Rico as well as more recent memories, and influenced by the gestural mark-making of canonical artists like Willem de Kooning, Otero has invented a visual realm that evokes the enchanting and sometimes strange ways in which everyday objects become personified through the lens of memory.
The exhibition takes its title from the painting _The Sea Remembers _(2023), where an upright piano from Otero's studio, a former church in upstate New York, sits against an undulating crimson background and is engulfed by water. The instrument is surrounded by objects from his childhood home, like cabinets and a rotary phone, as well as drawings of waves and a sailboat. Below, the floor–visible through the water–is covered by decorative tiles that are a familiar sight in Puerto Rico, featuring patterns inspired by traditional sixteenth-century Spanish tiles. Found throughout homes in Puerto Rico, these tiles represent both the artist's personal recollections and the collective memory of colonialism in Puerto Rico.
Otero often thinks about the subject of the sea–something that is beautiful, but also terrifying. This exhibition debuts a new body of work in which he pushes the water motif further to create swelling and expansive waves, such as in Breakwater (2023) and The Voyage (2023), forging a connection between growing up in Puerto Rico and showing in Hong Kong–islands both surrounded by this powerful yet beautiful force. These waves represent the artist and the shifting nature of his memory. Otero said 'The idea of the singular waves is metaphorical, they are not a part of the landscape. They are singular objects, with specific meanings of washing out, taking away, bringing in and changing. They are the waves of emotion, and at the same time they're nature.' Within the waves, Otero embeds objects like chairs, beds, and mirrors—objects that often stand in for family members. Throughout this grouping of works, Otero depicts quotidian objects that Otero has imbued with surreal qualities–blurring the line between gesture and allusion, documentation and recollection to evoke a dreamlike state of consciousness.
When: 1st June- 29th July 2023
Image: Courtesy Hauser & Wirth
15-16/F, H Queen's, 80 Queen's Road, Central
David Zwirner: Dummy doll jealous eyes ditto pikachu beefy mimikyu rough play Galarian rapid dash libra horn HP 270 Vmax full art
David Zwirner is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by American artist Katherine Bernhardt (b. 1975) that will take place at the gallery's location in Hong Kong. The works in this presentation focus on characters from the Japanese media franchise and global game sensation Pokémon, continuing to expand Bernhardt's unique visual lexicon, which culls from an irreverent pop vernacular as well as her own life and the broader culture. Dummy doll jealous eyes ditto pikachu beefy mimikyu rough play Galarian rapid dash libra horn HP 270 Vmax full art will be Bernhardt's first solo exhibition in Hong Kong and her second with David Zwirner.
Bernhardt first attracted notice in the early 2000s for her paintings of supermodels taken from the pages of fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue. In the decade following, she began making pattern paintings that feature quotidian motifs—such as tacos, coffee makers, toilet paper, cigarettes, E.T., Garfield, Darth Vader, and the Pink Panther—in unlikely visual combinations within expansive fields of exuberant color. The compositional elements of Bernhardt's paintings include palettes that allude to the tropical climes of Puerto Rico, references to the design and colouration of Moroccan rugs and West African Dutch wax fabrics, and influences ranging from Henri Matisse and the Pattern and Decoration movement to Peter Doig and Chris Ofili.
In this exhibition, Bernhardt continues her exploration of contemporary pop phenomena by focusing on the characters of Pokémon's expansive universe Conceived by creator Satoshi Taijiri and art director Ken Sugimori and first launched by Nintendo in Japan in 1996, Pokémon was introduced to much fanfare in the United States in 1998 and has become one of the world's largest cross-media franchises. Bernhardt previously debuted the Pokémon character Ditto, a pink-purple blob-like form with shape-shifting powers, in her 2022 exhibition Why is a mushroom growing in my shower? at David Zwirner London.
In Dummy doll jealous eyes ditto pikachu beefy mimikyu rough play Galarian rapid dash libra horn HP 270 Vmax full art, the new works feature compositions culled from the Pokémon Trading Card Game; these 'cards,' each featuring a different Pokémon, are rendered using the signature elements of Bernhardt's ebullient style. For each painting, she delineates a loose border that frames the character represented and overlays the statistics and special abilities that distinguish their role within the game. Colors and lines bleed and pool together across their surfaces, revealing Bernhardt's brisk and improvisational process. To create her works, the artist first draws on upright canvases with spray paint, after which she lays them on the floor to apply acrylic paint thinned out with water. Moving back and forth between several paintings at once, Bernhardt invites accident and chance into each of her dynamic compositions through her fast-paced actions.
By engaging the Pokémon ecosystem—premised on rarity—Bernhardt taps into a structure that corresponds to the high-low dichotomies of contemporary painting. In her attempt to 'catch them all,' Bernhardt samples many of the eighteen Pokémon 'types' that allow players to categorize characters according to their powers and capabilities. In Surfing Pikachu (2023), the titular canary-yellow critter originally created by artist Atsuko Nishida bursts across the painting in action. The cyan-colored Wobbuffet squeezes its eyes shut and opens its mouth wide against a bright pink backdrop. Mimikyu is the subject of Dummy Doll Jealous Eyes (2023), facing the viewer with floppy lopsided ears and a crooked smile. Bernhardt situates these characters in movement: the multiple arms of the rosy Chansey are activated mid-air as if running forth; a leporine Cinderace is poised for battle. The framework of these paintings seems to contain the characters' constantly morphing bodies, which are ready to move and leap into our own spheres at any moment. In the monumentally scaled Yeti Gaming (2021), several Pikachus and amoebic Dittos share space with Teddiursa and household items such as a bottle of Elmer's glue, a jug of Clorox bleach, and rolls of toilet paper—familiar motifs in Bernhardt's oeuvre.
When: 20th May - 5th August 2023
Photograph: courtesy David Zwirner
5-6/F, H Queen's, 80 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong
Alisan Fine Arts: Inner Vision
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the French May Arts Festival, Alisan Fine Arts is honoured to announce its 9th solo exhibition for Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese writer awarded a Nobel Laureate. The French-Chinese author is also a renowned artist and playwright.
This is Gao's first solo exhibition after being awarded the Commander of the Legion of Honour for the second time in January. Most of the works in this exhibition were created in the last two years and are focused on landscapes. However, Gao's landscape paintings are different from the typical landscape paintings we mostly see.
Gao does not portray the reality and perspective of the scene but pursues the changes of light, shadow, and air with various shades of ink on the rice paper. Therefore, whether it is fog, the moonlight, or the wind, the vision appears misty or hazy.
The works constitute Gao's inner world, echoing his award-winning novel Soul Mountain. This inner spiritual scene can be a dream or an illusion, which flashes in the depths of the artist's mind, not limited by space and time, and leads the viewer into a realm of contemplation.
When: 18th May - 31st August 2023
Image: courtesy Alisan Fine Arts
21/F Lyndhurst Tower, 1 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central
Whitestone Gallery: De/construct: Tsuyoshi Maekawa, Wang Yi, Soonik Kwon
Whitestone Gallery is honoured to present De/construct, a group exhibition showcasing works by three Asian artists: Tsuyoshi Maekawa, renowned second generation artist of the Japanese Gutai movement, Chinese abstract minimalist Wang Yi and Korean artist Soonik Kwon who captures the essence of time through art practice. Together the artists express their unique interpretations of life and Eastern philosophy, including the aura and energy of life. They deconstruct concepts and avant-garde ideas thus to diversify the way of reading a painting by carrying out unique experiments on artistic practice, gesture and materiality.
Distinguished artist of the second generation of Gutai Art Association, Tsuyoshi Maekawa (b. 1936, Osaka), makes use of burlap as a signature medium throughout his career. Maekawa's works have a strong tendency toward abstract expressionism and is known for his incredible use of materials. The artist uses a sewing machine and his hands to intentionally create wrinkles and textures of hemp and burlap canvas: experimentally twisting, cutting, tearing, and shaping the canvas, creating protrusions and void depth, results in unprecedented works that blurred the boundaries between sculpture and painting. His at-the-time innovative methodology encourages the exploration of materiality and abstract concepts. With simple yet powerful lines like tidal currents and vivid colourful tones, Maekawa's practice reveals rich emotions and avant-garde ideas, opening a dialogue between the artist, viewers, artworks, and the spaces they inhabit, connecting gesture marking, spirit and his philosophy.
Wang Yi (b. 1991, Shanghai) seeks to combine slow and exquisite classical painting techniques, standardized production of industrial materials, modernist design and architectural paradigms to form abstract expressions that illustrate social mechanisms and natural elements. Wang Yi is one of the new generation of Chinese abstract artists. Many of them conceal political or social commentaries in their creations, but those critique and confrontation of the realistic context are rooted in their diverse abstract art language. Wang Yi's works use symbolic structures, colors, shapes, and materials as a medium to explore the relationship between urban development, ideology, as well as history and nature that we are experiencing; and also to integrate it with China's unique circumstances, social mechanisms and cultural phenomena and grow new inner meaning.Korean contemporary artist Soonik Kwon (b. 1959, Seoul) extends the charm and spirit of the Dansaekhwa movement in Korea, tirelessly using minimal 'Dots, Lines, and Planes' to study and meditate in his brushwork, depicting every moment 'as is' including its aura and energy. Soonik Kwon mixes fine soil with pigments and superimposes a variety of coloration on the canvas to present a bright and vibrant color field. The 'Interstate' series shown in this exhibition incorporates the artist's unique philosophical views towards the relationship and harmony between the accumulation of time and physical space. Presented through the repetition of minimalist gestures that move across the canvas like whispers, viewers are left with a space of silence and contemplation. The gradation of hue and texture changes with the accumulation of brushstrokes on the surface of the painting, indicating the flow of instant moments and the results of the artist's research.
When: 6th July 2023 - 17th August 2023
Image: courtesy Whitestone Gallery
7-8/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road, Central https://www.whitestone-gallery.com/
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