Continuing the artistic atmosphere of the Art Month, many unique exhibitions continue to be featured in surrounding galleries.
1. Hong Kong Arts Centre
Hong Kong Art School Gallery – Boundless / Jockey Club Atrium Exhibition Series: Some Stories
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The Hong Kong Arts Centre and Academy, as an important bridge that has long supported local artists, is committed to showcasing and promoting the works of local artists. This month, the Hong Kong Arts Academy Gallery will exhibit exciting artworks from Hong Kong artists and alumni artists from Melbourne, breaking geographical boundaries and enriching the diversity of art!
The group exhibition “Boundless” brings together Melbourne-based Hong Kong artists Judy Kong, Kelly So, Cheryl Liu, and Wise Yeung for a multimedia art exhibition, including sound installations, sculptures, and ceramic works. The exhibition reflects on the dual identity of being “Australian/Hong Konger,” as foreigners in a foreign land, they may pause their journey when they arrive at a fertile ground for creativity and establish an artistic base. The experiences of the four artists in “Boundless” mirror those of the iconic Australian poem “Waltzing Matilda,” as they are also eager travelers. With the rapid growth of populations in Australia and Hong Kong in recent years, the four artists use their unique historical positions to depict the survival status of new immigrants from the perspective of “outsiders/insiders.”
Another exhibition entitled “Some Stories” is created by 4 alumni artists through photography, painting, animation, and video to capture formative moments, express personal thoughts and states through their works, or connect personal experiences with the current social context, giving visual form to their specific stories and the meanings they contain. **Hong Kong Art Gallery Exhibition – Boundless** Date: April 12, 2024 – May 23, 2024 Time: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM (Closed on Sundays and public holidays) Location: 10th floor, Hong Kong Arts Center
Jockey Club Gallery Exhibition Series: Some Stories
Date: May 11 – June 28, 2024
Time: 8:00 AM – 11:00 PM
Location: Jockey Club Gallery, Ground to Fourth Floor, Hong Kong Arts Centre
2. AISHONANZUKA
Maiko Kobayash “HOME”
Japanese artist Maiko Kobayashi held a solo exhibition “Home” in Hong Kong. The characters in Kobayashi’s paintings have gentle features and almost ghostly expressions, clearly inspired by people in the artist’s real life. They seem threatened by invisible forces, yet can also disappear with the wind. Their eyes always observe this chaotic world, with a gaze filled with lingering melancholy. These express the anxiety, conflicts, hopes, and strength hidden in people’s hearts living in this ever-changing society.
“The more I understand things in the world, the more often I feel helpless. However, when I discover the basic vitality that humans possess and will never lose in any situation, my heart is filled with courage and hope. The ‘friction’ caused by this contradiction is the motivation for my painting.”
Kobayashi’s paintings are not only a window into her inner world, but also an outlet for the audience to release their personal emotions.
Kobayashi’s paintings can penetrate deep into the hearts of viewers, forcing them to confront their own vulnerabilities, and engage in an emotional dialogue with the characters in the work, facing the absurdity of the world together. At first glance, viewers may feel melancholy when looking at Kobayashi’s paintings, but looking beyond the sorrowful expressions, they will discover that the gloomy past is actually peaceful – Kobayashi firmly believes that humanity has enough resilience to face adversity.
Welcome everyone to embark on a magical journey!
Maiko Kobayashi’s Solo Exhibition “Home”
Duration: April 19, 2024 – May 18, 2024
Location: Landmark Plaza (shop116, 1F, Landmark, Central Hong Kong, Central & Western District, Hong Kong)
3. Tai Kwun Contemporary
Bruce Nauman’s Major Retrospective Exhibition
The first major retrospective exhibition of influential American artist Bruce Nauman has finally arrived in Hong Kong. This exhibition will examine the artist’s diverse career, showcasing works from different periods, re-exploring the fundamental elements consistently used by the artist, including early neon light works, the recent “Contrapposto Studies” series, as well as paintings, large sculptures, and sound installations created over more than sixty years.
This exhibition is organized by Tai Kwun Contemporary in collaboration with Bruce Nauman’s studio. The exhibits mainly come from the Pinault Collection, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and feature loans from the Tate, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Dia Art Foundation, The Sonnabend Collection Foundation, and Sperone Westwater New York.
Artist: Bruce Nauman
Curators: Carlos Basualdo (Philadelphia Museum of Art), Caroline Bourgeois (Pinault Collection, Paris), Dr. Pi Li (Tai Kwun Contemporary)
Exhibition Dates: May 15 – August 18, 2024 (Tuesday to Sunday 11am–7pm)
Location: Tai Kwun JC Contemporary
(Online / On-site: $120 (Adult Ticket) / $60 (Concession Ticket*)
*Applicable to students with valid student ID, persons with disabilities, and seniors aged 60 or above
4. Quiet Gallery HK
《Portrait of Dazzle》Matsuyama Shigeki Solo Exhibition
Contemporary artist Shigeki Matsuyama from Japan has broken away from tradition with his unique artistic style and painting techniques, creating a distinctive “modern portrait” – Traditional portraits depict the image of a person, emphasizing realistic and vivid depictions of facial features, body shape, expressions, and clothing. However, in the field of modern art, portraits no longer strive for both form and spirit. Since 1998, Matsuyama has worked as a freelance illustrator, creating illustrations for various products and advertisements. In recent years, he has not only been painting but also participating in the creation of installation art.
At his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, Shoma Matsuyama’s “Portrait of Dazzle” continues to showcase his expertise in creating dazzling camouflage elements, presenting a series of new portrait works. Despite the simple colors in the pieces, lacking rich hues and only featuring strong black and white contrasting stripes alongside realistic eyes, this distinct painting style is what sets the artist apart, making it very unique.
The style of Matsuyama appears simple and plain, but the complexity of the artwork overflows from the screen. As time passes, one will always discover that his works stand up to repeated viewing. Even though Matsuyama does not depict the full appearance of the characters, through the detailed eye portraits in various portraits, viewers can still feel the impact of the works. These works may seem similar, but they are not exactly the same, just like human beings themselves, they have commonalities and individuality.
In addition to paintings, there are also character sculptures with the distinctive style of Songshan art for viewing and ordering, allowing the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the world view of Songshan from another perspective.
“Portrait of Dazzle” Shigeki Matsuyama Solo Exhibition
Exhibition Period: May 3, 2024 – May 19, 2024
Location: Shop 1, BELOWGROUND, Landmark Atrium, 15 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
5. 天趣國際藝術
Silent Poetry – French Art Exhibition
Artists evoke viewers’ visual experiences and emotions through colors and their relationships, with the rhythm of colors becoming a dynamic silent poem that strongly captures the viewers’ hearts.
This exhibition will present the works of 5 outstanding artists, including French artists Rémy Aron, Marc Tanguy, Natalie Miel, Jean-Baptiste Née, and the outstanding artist Tsang Yuan, who is hailed as the “new representative of Western contemporary abstract art”. From Marc Tanguy’s dreamy landscapes, Rémy Aron’s geometric balance in motion, Natalie Miel’s joy of life presented through decorative “writing”, Jean-Baptiste Née’s philosophical mountains and clouds, to Tsang Yuan’s poetic depiction of life through images, this exhibition will explore how artists describe poetry outwardly and inwardly, and hope that the audience will spend a joyful journey filled with French romantic poetry through the exhibition.
Through the screen, the artist’s unique observation transforms nature into vibrant colors and blurred outlines, creating a captivating scene. Time suddenly stops, everything is burning, frozen, this is the poem of life written by the artist through the screen.
Silent Poetry – French Art Exhibition
Participating Artists: Marc Tanguy, Natalie Miel, Rémy Aron, Zangyuan, Jean-Baptiste Née
Location: Gallery Tianqu Contemporary Art, Central (2/F, Phase 2, New World Tower, 18 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong)
Hours: Monday to Saturday 10 AM – 7 PM (Closed on Sundays and public holidays)
Hong Kong Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Research and Creation Association
Guangzhou Lingnan School Famous Artist Chen Ziyi and Yu Yuanjia Teacher and Student Art Exhibition
The Hong Kong Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Research and Creation Association will exhibit the ink works of the famous Lingnan artist Chen Ziyi (1919-2019) from Guangzhou, as well as his disciple Yu Yuanjia and nearly forty of his students.
Guangzhou Lingnan painter Chen Ziyi is a director of the China Artists Association, an art consultant for the Guangzhou Artists Association and the Gao Jianfu Memorial Hall; Yu Yuanjia was awarded the honorary title of “Calligraphy and Painting Celebrity” by the “World Arts and Celebrities Evaluation Committee”, included in the “Great Dictionary of Chinese Contemporary Calligraphers and Painters”, and appointed as an editor of the “Famous People in the Chinese Contemporary Art World”. Their works have been exhibited in various cities in the United States, Canada, Russia, Europe, Asia, and China.
This exhibition is the first large-scale joint exhibition of Chen Ziyi and Yu Yuanjia in Hong Kong. In addition to showcasing over 130 wonderful paintings by the two master and apprentice, most of which have never been publicly exhibited in Hong Kong, the exhibition also features nearly 40 excellent works by Yu Yuanjia, who was born in Macau. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the two large-scale paintings created by Chen Ziyi and Yu Yuanjia respectively with the theme of plum blossoms: Chen Ziyi painted “Plum Blossoms · Bu Suanzi Ci” on a 146 cm long and 202 cm wide original ancient paper, with vigorous strokes and a blend of colors, inscribed with Mao Zedong’s “Bu Suanzi · Yong Mei” poem, a perfect match; Yu Yuanjia responded with a ten-meter giant banner “Plum Forest”, created in 2015, with a unique style that embodies Yu’s more than forty years of skill, comparing favorably with the works of his teacher Chen Ziyi, showcasing their respective strengths without any inferiority.
In the five years since the passing of Chen Ziyi, more than thirty traditional Chinese paintings are being exhibited in Hong Kong for the first time, while it has been a decade since Yu Yuanjia’s last solo exhibition. This time, he has selected over a hundred pieces, the vast majority of which have never been publicly displayed. The enduring master-disciple relationship spanning three generations, the unwavering craftsmanship transcending time and space, make this joint exhibition of teacher and student works extraordinarily meaningful and precious.
Chen Ziyi and Yu Yuanjia Teacher and Student Art Exhibition
Date and Time:
May 23, 2024 | 2:30 pm to 7:00 pm
May 24-26, 2024 | 9:30 am to 7:00 pm
May 27, 2024 | 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Location: Exhibition Halls 1-5, Basement, Hong Kong Central Library, 66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay
7. De Sar Gallery
Hong Kong artist Mak2 “Art Survivor”
As the grueling Art Week comes to an end, this exhibition provides a perfect escape.
The annual event in Hong Kong in March exposes the calculations of capitalist reality under the noble facade of art decoration, aiming to allow players in the art world to break free from tangible reality and relieve stress in self-deprecating laughter. The exhibition takes place in a virtual art fair with a first-person perspective on a zombie shooting game as the backdrop, showcasing a series of new canvas works called “Second Home.”
The exhibition subtly hints at the undercurrents of the art system through playful mockery, and congratulates those who have survived so far.
Hong Kong artist Mak2 “Art Survivor”
Exhibition Period: May 4, 2024 – June 22, 2024
Location: DeSalle Gallery, 26th Floor, Man Shing Cheung Building, 54 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Hong Kong
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM
8. artellex
Feng Feng’s 1800 Days of Visual Memories
Hong Kong veteran photographer Fung Hon Chu spent many years taking a photo with his phone every day, marking the date on each photo, storing memories of 1,800 days. This project is neither big nor small, but it requires dedication and passion. Fung Hon Chu has published a photo collection documenting the reclamation of Victoria Harbour, and some of his works are also collected by the Hong Kong Museum of Culture.
From walking in the mountains after work, you will always find unfamiliar scenes, or passing under the same bridge on the way to work, he almost goes to shoot every day, the same scene changes in weather, characters, and colors. Fifty pictures of the world under the bridge are recorded, as if reality and illusion alternate, giving viewers a blank space for imagination. These city landscapes, street corners, and people’s scenery that everyone has not noticed, frozen for many years, may evoke shared memories for everyone. At this moment or that moment, whether you forget or not, may no longer be important.
“One day, I suddenly thought of adding a date to the works I shoot every day. Although it doesn’t have much effect on improving memory, it can help me find my life and identity.” Feng Hanzhu said, “Even in familiar places, the city is alive, the creatures in the city are constantly growing, each one active, then disappearing, growing again. These changes attracted me to record with my phone, day after day.”
Through the visual of Feng Hanzhu often presents another kind of image, or even reinterprets the atmosphere of the scene, the momentary images he captures bring new excitement to the viewers.
FUNG Hon Chu’s 1800 Days of Visual Memories
Date: Now until May 25, 2024 (By appointment only, closed on Mondays)
Time: 12:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Address: Unit 204A, 2/F, Sun Cheong Industrial Building, 1-3 Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon (Lai Chi Kok MTR Station Exit A)
Appointment Link: https://artellex.simplybook.asia/
