For the art enthusiastic taking a spring getaway to Hong Kong, there’s plenty to see. From glowing waterfalls to mobile inflatable exhibits, the Chinese metropolis offers plenty of artistic masterpieces. Here are the artistic highlights to set your sights on.
Hong Kong Eye
For a primer on Hong Kong art, you can do no better than ArtisTree’s (located at Cornwall House, TaiKoo Place) upcoming “Hong Kong Eye” featuring a group of preeminent Hong Kong visual artists, including Liu Chung Kong, Silas Fong, Kingsley Ng, and Wilson Shieh. Presented by Prudential, the show represents the full range and depth of visual styles and statements in Hong Kong’s contemporary art scene. Runs from May 1st to May 31st.
Day Falls/ Night Falls
Japanese master Hiroshi Senju has added a new element to his iconic, large-scale waterfall paintings — fluorescence. This is Senju’s first foray into synthetic materials since he took up the traditional Nihonga painting style (using Japanese paper or silk as a canvas and pigments from minerals, shells, semi-precious stones and more) over twenty years ago. The enormous, elegant waterfalls are muted and gray-scale in natural light, but under blacklight they glow a powerful electric blue. On view at Sundaram Tagore Gallery until June 9th.
Cannonball Press presents The Mysterious Human Toad and Other Oddities
Hong Kong’s coolest (and only) exhibitor of contemporary pop and street art — Above Second gallery — will be hosting Cannonball Press, a Brooklyn-based printing press and art collective. Check out artists such as Mike Houston and Matt Mazorra’s new limited-edition black-and-white woodcut prints, which are based around the idea of a sideshow, so expect a graphic dose of the weird and wonderful: bearded ladies and demon wrestlers juxtaposed with flowers titled by their emblematic significance (“Amaranth – Unfading Fidelity”) and culturally clashing ramen noodle wrappers. Opens June 7th.
Mobile M+: Inflation!
If large-scale inflatable sculptures sound like your cup of tea, head to Kowloon to partake in the fun. The outdoor exhibit, which features inflatable works from a range of international artists and is part of the Mobile M series of works that explore the possibilities of public art without a building, is curated by M+, Hong Kong’s highly anticipated new art museum, which will be built on the ground where the inflatable sculptures now stand. Runs through June 9th at the West Kowloon Cultural District.
Art Basel in Hong Kong
Without question, Hong Kong’s most feverishly anticipated art event is Art Basel in Hong Kong. Formerly Art HK, the city’s biggest art fair has been co-opted this year by the people behind the original Art Basel in Switzerland and Art Basel in Miami. The fair will feature 245 international galleries (55 percent of which are from Australia and Asia Pacific) alongside global art celebrities at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. May 24th to 27th.
Photo courtesy of M+ Museum For Visual Culture, KitminLee
