Stepping into the May Arts Festival in France, the organizers have collaborated with many local art units and galleries to launch several art exhibitions related to French culture, covering modern and contemporary visual arts and photography, to delight art lovers. Here are 8 recommended exhibitions for everyone to participate in this French art journey together!
Opera Gallery: “Dreamlike: The Scenery in the Paintings of Andre Bragalli”
The exhibition features over 20 selected works that will lead us into the romantic and lyrical world created by French painter André Brasilier, filled with vibrant horses, enchanting forests, classical and jazz music, snowflakes like honey, and women contemplating under the moonlight. Influenced by expressionism and classical and jazz music, Brasilier developed a unique and poetic artistic style over 70 years of creation, always having an intimate emotional connection with nature, depicting dreamlike realms like poetry.
This exhibition covers the works of Zao Wou-Ki from 1949 to 2004, including oil paintings, ink wash paintings, watercolors, and prints, as well as a selection of the artist’s archive materials. Zao Wou-Ki studied under the modern Chinese painting pioneer Lin Fengmian, and in 1948 he traveled to Paris, where he was inspired by Western artists, especially Paul Klee, infusing Eastern spiritual essence into Western-style oil paintings, earning him the title of “Master of Lyric Abstraction.” The exhibition guides viewers through the artist’s different stages of artistic creation.
University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong: “Adrift in Time”
The exhibition will feature photos taken by Qin Wei in France in the 1990s. Born in Hong Kong, Qin graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He traveled around Europe, spending a considerable amount of time in the cultural capital – Paris. He wandered through the streets, museums, art galleries, and flea markets, exploring the vast river of memories and time. Through this journey, Qin Wei deeply understood that life lies between fate and chance, feeling the loneliness experienced by ancient Chinese poets wandering. His works are full of unique artistic conception.
右：©Fabien Verschaere, Tiger Dreams, 2021, 紙本水彩, 80 x 60 cm
This exhibition brings together paintings by French artist Clément Denis, Xavier Vanshel, and Japanese artist Karen Shiozawa, featuring a selection of acrylic and watercolor paintings that encompass a variety of creative methods from abstract to concrete. Each technique offers a subjective way of viewing, interpreting, and representing the world, while questioning the value of symbols and their image in the eyes of others.
The exhibition features a solo show by French artist Julieth Mars Toussaint, whose paintings are inspired by her exploration of contemporary life. In a changing era, facing unknown uncertainties, the artist injects elements such as light, color, line, texture, and movement into her works, guiding the audience to focus on their emotions and life experiences, and to feel the present moment.
The gallery presents works created by French artist Vincent Cazeneuve from 2012 to 2022. Originally from a city in the south of France, the artist was drawn to the natural beauty and uniqueness of Chinese traditional lacquer art, leading him to move to Chongqing, China in 2009. He blends Chinese traditional lacquer materials with Western elements to tell mysterious stories, further exploring the inspiration and emotions that nature brings to him through different mediums, including lithography, engraving, relief, and lacquer fusion.
The exhibition showcases the work of one of the most influential contemporary street photographers, Vivian Maier. Maier’s classic self-portraits allow viewers to see through her detached gaze as an observer, and her indifferent yet worldly lens, revealing how she intended to construct and establish her relationship with the world through photography, capturing the forgotten beauty of everyday life, step by step leading viewers to truly understand Vivian Maier.
This is a solo exhibition by French artist Daphné Mandel, presenting a series of mixed media paper and video works that reflect a combination of images from Hong Kong’s past and present. The inspiration comes from the artist’s recent exploration of hidden ruins and forgotten properties in Hong Kong. Mandel temporarily resided in Hong Kong during the pandemic, allowing her to delve deeper into the city and uncover numerous corners and crevices of this city she thought she already knew.
Image source and learn more: Opera Gallery, Alisan Gallery, University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU, Whitestone Gallery, Gallery Exit, f22 foto Space, Sin Sin Fine Art, JPS Gallery
