Robert Indiana LOVE (1966/ 2002) © Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Art Basel Hong Kong—the youngest fair of the Art Basel family—prepares for its sixth annual edition from 29-31 March 2018, cementing this time of the year as a focal point for art collectors from the Asia-Pacific region and around the world to flock to the increasingly international city. As a burgeoning center for art, Hong Kong provides a unique and diverse cultural scene.
Two of our own Hong Kong-based specialists in 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Sandy Ma and Charlotte Raybaud, share their lists of must-see events and exhibitions across the city.
Sandy Ma's Picks
Courtesy Pace Gallery © Yoshitomo Nara
Yoshitomo Nara Ceramic Works and… | Pace Gallery
Having broken the auction record for Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara with the painting Missing in Action in October 2015, we inaugurated our first Hong Kong Evening Sale in 2016 with another world record for a single work on paper for Nara's Daydreamer. The Nara wave continues in Hong Kong at Pace Gallery with an upcoming exhibition of new works by the prolific Japanese artist. On view 27 March through 12 May in H Queen's, Yoshitomo Nara: Ceramic Works and… is the artist's fourth solo exhibition with Pace Gallery worldwide. The exhibition includes new ceramic sculptures, paintings and works on paper that showcase the pioneering contemporary artist's innovative approach to representation and form.
Wolfgang Tillmans Wolkenbruch, 2017 (detail). Courtesy David Zwirner © Wolfgang Tillmans
Wolfgang Tillmans | David Zwirner Gallery
Mark your calendars: David Zwirner Gallery will be showing Wolfgang Tillmans' first exhibition in Hong Kong at its newly opened gallery in H Queen's, Central. With solo shows exhibited widely and internationally, this presentation will feature a broad selection of works that respond to their surroundings and simultaneously embody a self-contained environment. On view from 26 March to 12 May, the exhibition will also present new photographs that have never been shown to the public. Did we mention that Phillips holds the current auction record for a work by Tillmans? Last June at our Berkeley Square saleroom in London, Freischwimmer #84 established a new world auction record for the renowned photographer.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin © KAWS
KAWS | Galerie Perrotin
This month, Galerie Perrotin will present works by popular Brooklyn-based contemporary artist KAWS simultaneously in its Tokyo and Hong Kong galleries. These exhibitions represent a homecoming of sorts for the artist, having advanced his career through success in Tokyo in the early 2000s and being the first artist to exhibit at the gallery's Hong Kong space in 2012. Considered one of the most relatable artists of his generation, KAWS' body of work blurs the line between art and design with a portfolio that ranges from sculptures and paintings, internationally exhibited in museums and galleries, to various products designed for the everyday consumer. Phillips also shares admiration for the artist, having started the year smashing the auction record for KAWS for both a painting and sculpture by the artist in our best-ever sale in London. The show in Hong Kong will be on view 26 March through 19 May 2018.
p.s. KAWS will be honoured at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research's annual gala in Hong Kong on the exhibition's opening night.
Robert Indiana The Four Diamond Ping (Yellow/Red/Black), 2002 © Asia Society HK Center
LOVE Long: Robert Indiana & Asia | Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Some of the most well-loved works by legendary American artist Robert Indiana are currently on show at Chantal Miller Gallery at Asia Society. The new exhibition LOVE Long: Robert Indiana & Asia features Indiana's iconic LOVE sculptures and is the first major presentation of the artist's works in Hong Kong. These pieces are shown alongside works by eight artists and collectives from Asia, who also create works that examine the nuances between words and images. Not to be missed.
Installation view of Samson Young Palazzo Gundane (homage to the myth-maker who fell to earth), 2017. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Simon Vogel
Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour | M+ Pavilion, West Kowloon Cultural District
In collaboration with the Hong Kong Art Development Council (HKADC), M+ is currently showing Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour from the Hong Kong-based multidisciplinary artist and composer. An expanded adaptation of Hong Kong's participation in the 57th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale 2017 — which drew a crowd of more than 130,000 visitors during its run — the show is M+ Pavilion's first of the year and ends 6 May 2018. Featuring a series of sculptures, objects, videos, sound installations and site-specific pieces, the exhibition offers a unique audiovisual experience that re-examines the popularity of charity singles from the 1980s.
Charlotte Raybaud's Picks
Installation view of Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin: big, 2008. Harbour Arts Sculpture Park 2018 © Sinclair Communications
Harbour Arts Sculpture Park
This month, Phillips had the honor of being a major partner for Harbour Arts Sculpture Park, Hong Kong's first-ever large-scale outdoor sculpture park, co-curated by Fumio Nanjo, Director of the Mori Art Museum and Tim Marlow, Artistic Director at the Royal Academy of Arts. Harbour Arts Sculpture Park features a wide range of sculptural works by various international artists including Yayoi Kusama, Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin as well as such Hong Kong-based artists as Kacey Wong. Set against Hong Kong's iconic Victoria Harbour, Tamar Park plays host to a wide selection of works — for example, Jenny Holzer's Truisms: Freedom is a Luxury not a Necessity and Yayoi Kusama's signature all-engulfing, polka-dotted Pumpkin: big. This show is entirely free to the public, ensuring that the community at large has the opportunity to interact with and experience truly world-class pieces. Be sure to participate in the various panels and guided tours, which include guests such as the participating artists themselves. To discover more about the outdoor showcase, read our interview between co-curator Fumio Nanjo and our Asia Chairman Jonathan Crockett.
Christopher Wool Untitled, 1989. From Christopher Wool: Highlights from the Hill Art Collection, 27 March – 8 April, at H Queen’s Atrium. © Christopher Wool; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.
Christopher Wool | The Hill Art Collection
We also have the distinct pleasure of being the lead art sponsor for 'Christopher Wool: Highlights from the Hill Art Collection,' a selection of 15 Christopher Wool works from the eminent art collection of J. Tomilson 'Tom' Hill, which was produced by Alexandre Errera and will be exhibited at the new H Queen's space in Central. Wool's Word paintings—which will be among the pieces exhibited—are known for their punchy aphorisms and pithy one-liners, and are instantly recognizable with their jet-black letters set against crisp white backgrounds. This show is an important precursor and preview of a more comprehensive presentation of Christopher Wool's works from the Hill Art Collection, which will be the inaugurating show of the forthcoming, eponymous Hill Art Foundation opening in September in New York. That a selection of pieces by such a seminal artist of our time (not to mention, from such a high-caliber collection) has been selected for Hong Kong truly places Asia on the map.
© George Condo
George Condo | Maritime Museum
During our Hong Kong Evening Sale in November 2017, we witnessed energetic bidding on an auction favorite, as George Condo's Young Girl with Blue Dress sold for more than four times its low estimate. This year, Skarstedt Gallery and Sprüth Magers are bringing to the city Expanded Portrait Compositions, the first major exhibition of George Condo in Hong Kong. This groundbreaking exhibition will showcase an entirely new group of paintings and paper works, which incorporate elements of action painting and layering of mixed media, with an emphasized focus on the power of Condo's increasingly prominent use of the black outline. This show will be taking place in the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, which relocated to its current location at Pier 8 in 2013.
Keith Haring Haring 87, 1987. Featured in Hong Kong. Spotlight. Now., 26 March – 13 April, at Phillips, St. George’s Building
Hong Kong. Spotlight. Now.
Phillips Hong Kong has recently moved to our new Asia headquarters at 14/F, St. George's Building, next to the Mandarin Oriental—our current viewing and sales location for our spring and fall auction seasons. To kick off Basel Week and, more importantly, to inaugurate a beautiful new gallery space, we will present a selling exhibition, Hong Kong. Spotlight. Now.: a selection of sought-after, cross-category pieces including artists and designers Keith Haring, Peter Doig, Yayoi Kusama, Marc Chagall, Alessandro Mendini and more. We look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful new space!
Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth © Mark Bradford. Photo: Sean Shim-Boyle
Mark Bradford in Hong Kong | Hauser & Wirth
The man of the moment, Mark Bradford—for whom we have recently set a new world auction record with Helter Skelter I, previously in the collection of John McEnroe—will kick off Hauser & Wirth's new space in H Queen's in Hong Kong with a solo exhibition. Bradford has been on everyone's mind recently, with a bold Venice Biennale exhibition as well as his largest site-specific piece unveiled at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.—so it is amazing to see that the artist's large-scale paintings are being brought to Hong Kong. The artist has previously drawn in a strong following in the region with his 2015 show at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai entitled Tears of a Tree.