Political icons art for in a very political climate.
Lee Waisler, American portrait artist will stage his his solo exhibition at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Central from Sept. 11 to Oct. 11. He is known for his portrait of cultural and political icons throughout history and his technique of layering thick pigments and incorporating organic materials,resulting in highly textured depth and form to dramatic effects.
Titled “Portraits and Abstractions” he will show portraits of influential personalities that have made major impacts to society like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Doctor Ho, a famous healer from China and some more controversial pieces like the portrait of Marilyn Monroe dancing with Chairman Mao.
Wow! We saw this exhibition the other day at Times Square in Causeway Bay and applaud the management for going such an avant garde artist to display in light of the Olympic games - we were really expecting a bunch of lame horse art, but kudos to the TS people to exhibit the New Disco-bolus, a giant rusted Mao-jacket and a huge red dinosaur in a cage - and that’s just in the piazza. The exhibition is on until August 19th.
And if you act fast, you can take a piece of this art home with you in the form of these cool limited edition “New Disco-bolus” graphic T-shirts! To get one all you have to do is donate HK$40 or above to the Community Chest, you can get one T-shirt for free. First come first served, available while stock lasts.
The choice of Hong Kong as the venue for the new art fair was no accident. The city is the world’s third-largest art market in terms of auction sales, after New York and London. “Hong Kong is a perfect place to host an event such as this,” said Fair Director Magnus Renfrew. He said the city’s infrastructure and its proximity to Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, home to some of the region’s biggest collectors of contemporary art, make it Asia’s ideal arts hub. Aside from its international reputation as an established business centre, Hong Kong enjoys another trump card over Shanghai and other major Asian cultural cities: it has no tax on the import or export of art, unlike the Chinese mainland, which imposes a punitive 34 per cent tax on artwork.
Art HK 08 enlisted 102 contemporary and modern art galleries, showcasing the work of 850 artists from more than 20 countries. Art by Warhol, Picasso and Francis Bacon, as well as such established mainland artists as Zhang Xiaogang and Feng Zhengjie, were featured alongside the work of emerging artists. More than US$65 million worth of art was on display, including Bacon’s Man at a Washbasin, priced at about US$35 million, and Warhol’s Avanti Cars, valued at US$3.7 million. Four galleries, including Hong Kong’s Grotto Fine Art, reported selling out their displays.
Interesting to know that Hong Kong is the 3rd biggest city in the world for art buyers behind New York and London and the organizers have already tapped May 13-17, 2009 for the next one.
The Art HK 08 show that took place from May 14-18 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre brought international art to the masses of Hong Kong and from what we saw on the last day, it seems to have drawn a huge audience and everyone was impressed with what was on display.
With artists from all over the world, and a few big names like Picasso and Warhol, the exhibition that filled halls 1 and 2 really showed off many impressive pieces and we have a few in our slideshow below. We hope that the organizers continue this event next year.
BusinessWeek was at the premiere on Wednesday night and have some more info about the show:
Hong Kong isn’t the only city in Asia trying to become an art hub. Tokyo hosted a similar fair last month. Shanghai is hosting one in September, and Singapore has one in October. Ben Brown, who runs the Ben Brown Gallery in London says art fairs like these have become an indispensable part of selling art. “People can’t be bothered to visit galleries anymore,” says Brown. “It’s like going to the supermarket vs, the butcher. It’s a one-stop shopping mall.”
Fair organizers say they aren’t expecting ART HK 08 to turn a profit in its first year, and see their mission as educational as well as commercial. “Hong Kong’s reputation as a cultural desert is both fair and unfair,” says ART HK 08 adviser David Tang, the Shanghai Tang founder, who has the city’s finest collection of contemporary Chinese art. “We hope it will make the Hong Kong community more artistically conscious.”
That may take some doing in a town where on an average day the local branch of Madam Tussaud’s receives more visitors than the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Renfrew hopes ART HK 08 will attract about 15,000 visitors willing to pay the HK$150 cost of admission, with lower prices for students.
Sundaram Tagore Gallery opens tomorrow at 57-59 Hollywood Road, Central on May 9th and will feature its first showing called East/West featuring the works of Natvar Bhavsar, Sohan Oadri, Susan Weil and more.
Established in 2000 in the US with galleries in New York and Beverly Hills, this is their first one in Hong Kong - and Asia. So swing by and have a look at this showcase that runs from May 9-June 14.
Is it an alien or is it just the Chanel Mobile Gallery?
If you’ve been past the Star Ferry area in Central, then you’ve most likely seen an alien spacecraft atop of it. Actually its the Chanel Mobile Art Gallery and it’s free but its also quite a unique piece of art in itself.
Chanel commissioned around 20 artists, including Yoko Ono and the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, to produce works for the show loosely based on its famous bag and you have till April 5th to see it before it moves to Tokyo.
The big news is that Karl Lagerfeld himself will be in Hong Kong for the grand opening party next Wednesday with the architect Zaha Hadid and potentially a few of the artists and maybe even 1 or 2 world-class celebrities too, but those aren’t confirmed yet.
Find some time to visit or if you need a little prodding watch the video below:
It only happens once a year, so if you are wanting to take a break from all of the sales and the movies why not see a play or a ballet or one of the wonderful events at the 36th Hong Kong Arts Festival that is now on.
Click here to see the full schedule and special note is the opening of Orpheus X, which plays only until Sunday the 24th so it might be a good pick for this weekend. Photos and more information can be found here.
Local artists creative for Children’s Cancer Fund.
From April 11th to May 8th, Evisu is having a touring Cube Gallery featuring local Hong Kong artists. It starts in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Ocean Terminal Evisu store then to D-MOP at Fashion Walk in Causeway Bay and then back again to Ocean Terminal where the public can bid on 48 different pieces with all the money going to the Children’s Cancer Fund.
Have a look when you are out shopping in the next few weeks and send us photos of your favorite pieces. If you are just looking to buy some Evisu stuff, check out the link here for a list of the Hong Kong outlets.
