The Fun of the Fair
More than 240 galleries are taking part in Art Basel in Hong Kong next month, showcasing works by thousands of artists from around the world—here are five talents worth seeking out
More than 240 galleries are taking part in Art Basel in Hong Kong next month and showcasing works by thousands of artists from around the world—here are five talents worth seeking out
FROG KING (KWOK MANG-HO) 10 CHANCERY LANE GALLERY
A legend in his hometown of Hong Kong, conceptual and performance artist Kwok Mang-ho is better known as his alter ego Frog King. Kwok began his career as an ink painter— he was taught by New Ink pioneer Lui Shou-kwan—but quickly broke free from tradition and began making multimedia installations and devising elaborate performances, many of which involve fire. He honed his visual language in New York in the 1980s—when he worked as a cleaner at a Chinese restaurant to make ends meet and befriended fellow struggling artist Ai Weiwei—before returning to Hong Kong and earning mainstream success in the late 1990s. Over the course of his career, Kwok, who is now 72 years old, has participated in more than 3,000 exhibitions and art events.
CHATCHAI PUIPIA NOVA CONTEMPORARY
Thai artist Chatchai Puipia achieved worldwide fame in the 1990s and 2000s, but then theatrically announced he was leaving the art world in 2010—and disappeared. Now he’s back. At Art Basel in Hong Kong, Bangkok-based gallery Nova Contemporary is hosting a solo show of work by Puipia, who is best known for his luridly coloured paintings of himself grinning, grimacing or pulling faces. Less famous are Puipia’s contemplative still lifes of flowers, inspired by old masters such as Van Gogh and Cézanne. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, and has also been exhibited at the Asia Society in New York, Museum of Mexico City and the Singapore Biennale, among others.
KIMSOOJA AXEL VERVOORDT GALLERY
Enigmatic South Korean artist Kimsooja travels between her studios in New York, Paris and Seoul and works in media ranging from installation to performance and photography to explore one specific subject: bottari, a traditional Korean bundle of cloth used to wrap objects and carry them by hand. But this one reference point has opened up countless conceptual avenues for Kimsooja to explore, including women’s real or perceived roles in societies and ideas of nomadism and migration. At Art Basel in Hong Kong, Axel Vervoordt Gallery— which is participating in the fair for the first time—is showing Kimsooja’s Encounter—a Mirror Woman, which reflects the audience’s image back at them and encourages visitors to think about the body, space and memory.
LISA YUSKAVAGE DAVID ZWIRNER
Once described as the “premier bad-girl painter of the naughty late 1990’s” by the New York Times, American artist Lisa Yuskavage has been painting powerful, provocative female nudes for more than 30 years. Simultaneously angelic and erotic, grotesque and glamorous, and cartoonish and traditional, Yuskavage’s paintings defy expectations and explore ideas of the male gaze and the presentation of women in art and pop culture. But her work is as much about process as about politics— Yuskavage’s canvases feature acid-bright colours that reference colour field theory and she’s cited old masters including Bellini, Vermeer and Degas as major inspirations. Yuskavage’s work has been exhibited by major museums in the US and Europe— including the Royal Academy of Arts in London, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Centre d’art Contemporain in Geneva—but is rarely shown in Asia. Don’t miss the chance to see it at Art Basel in Hong Kong.
DAVID ADJAYE PACE
When not designing major museums—such as the celebrated National Museum of African American History in Washington DC or the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver—british architect David Adjaye regularly collaborates with artists. He’s worked with Olafur
Eliasson on a light installation, designed the Ghana Pavilion at last year’s Venice Biennale and has built homes for Chris Ofili, Juergen Teller, and Tim Noble and Sue Webster, among others. But what’s less well known is that Adjaye is an artist himself—he makes striking, adaptable sculptures from slabs of marble. Some of these never-beforeseen works are being exhibited this month at Pace’s Hong Kong gallery in H Queens alongside paintings by American conceptual artist Adam Pendleton, who is showing monumental new works from his WE ARE NOT series. The exhibition is an unprecedented collaboration between the two creatives, who are both champions of black culture. Meanwhile, for Art Basel in Hong Kong, Adjaye has designed the architecture of Pace’s booth, which will house a group show of artists from around the world.
Art Basel in Hong Kong takes place at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong from March 19 to 21. For more information, visit artbasel.com
Once described as the “premier bad-girl painter of the naughty late 1990s” by the New York Times, American artist Lisa Yuskavage has been painting powerful, provocative female nudes for more than 30 years