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| Sam Francis 1923-1994 |
Hong Kong galleries are presenting a very strong lineup
this fall, with solo exhibitions by Anish Kapoor, Danh Vō, and Tsang Kin-Wah amongst
the highlights.
Here is my selection of seven must-see exhibitions.
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Software
Factory, 2016
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Huang Yuxing at
Galerie Perrotin, September 1 – October 15
This will be the gallery’s first solo show of the young
Chinese artist Huang Yuxing and the title, “AND NE FORHTEDON NÁ” (Be not
afraid), is based on the epitaph of the Argentinian writer Jorge Louis, whose
refusal to submit to life’s hurdles inspired the young expressionist painter.
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| installation at Reina Sofia |
Danh Vō at White
Cube Hong Kong, September 7 – November 12
The Vietnamese artist will present a major installation
that will take up the gallery’s entire exhibition space including its corridors
and stairwells and consists of over 600 mammoth fossils from the late
Pleistocene period and a carved ivory figure from the 17th century. The installation
was first presented at the Crystal Palace, Reina Sofia, Madrid as part of his
exhibition, Banish the
Faceless / Reward your Grace (2015).
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| TBT, 2016 |
Rob Pruitt at
Massimo de Carlo Gallery, September 8–October 31
The American post-conceptual artist brings new works from
his Panda Series to Hong Kong, a series he began painting 17 years ago, commenting
on the impact of consumer demand for the cuddly animal, which Pruitt perceives
as embodying the role of a modern-day Christ with the pandas dying for our sins
of greed and excess. The latest works extract the pandas from their natural
habitat and insert them into metaphysical spaces, which evoke alluring and
foreboding, focusing on the worlds in which we are most likely to encounter the
majestic panda bear today: the sleek, plastic surfaces of product design and
the technological glow of computer touch screens.
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| Smoke Kools, 2014-16 |
David Salle at Lehman
Maupin, September 8—November 12
On show will be some of David Salle’s recent works that revisit
his Early Product Paintings series created in 1993 where flatly painted
backgrounds of collaged advertisements served as backdrops for performative
interventions.
Tsang Kin-Wah at the
M+ Pavilion, September 9 –November 6
The Hong Kong artist will inaugurate the M+ Pavilion, the
first permanent structure in the district with “Tsang
Kin-Wah: Nothing,” a continuation of the solo
exhibition he created to represent Hong Kong at the 56th Venice Biennale. The newly
commissioned work is a site-specific installation that provides viewers with an
immersive experience combining metaphors and allegories with elements of film,
music, and other popular-culture references, inviting the viewers to reconsider
life's absurdity and nothingness.
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| Sam
Francis 1923-1994, Blue Balls, 1962 Watercolour on paper, 17 x 13.75 inches |
Sam Francis at
Pearl Lam Galleries, 9 September–31 October
A great opportunity to rediscover the work of the late American
painter, Sam Francis (1923‑1994), a master of abstraction who, over his long
career, embraced different genres, from abstract expressionism and color field
painting to Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, and also experimented with paper
and print.
Anish Kapoor at Gagosian
Gallery, September 12-November 5
An exhibition of
smaller-scale works by the British-Indian sculptor who is best known for his
monumental public sculptures; looking oddly familiar, his concave or convex
mirrors of stainless steel and aluminum can unsettle the viewers with their
distorted reflections