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Sep 06 2019

Hong Kong Happenings: September 2019

by The Editors

Installation view of HANS (JEAN) ARP’s “Master of 20th Century Sculpture,” at Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong, 2019. Courtesy Stiftung Arp e.V. and Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong / London / Somerset / New York / Los Angeles / Zurich / St. Moritz / Gstaad.

Hans (Jean) Arp: Master of 20th Century Sculpture

Sep 4–Nov 9

Hauser & Wirth

Hauser & Wirth’s newest exhibition pays homage to Hans (Jean) Arp, one of the leading figures of the 20th century Avant Garde. The retrospective traces the trajectory of the artist’s multidisciplinary practice, showcasing early woodcuts and cardboard collages such as Chair and bottle (1926), in addition to a selection of the iconic abstract bronze sculptures that defined the last three decades of Arp’s career. Sculptures on display include the biomorphic Growth (1938/1960, cast 2006), and Star (1956, cast 1976), a work notable for its immaculate surfaces and curvilinear contours. 

Installation-in-progress view of WING PO SO’s “From the Body to the Body Through the Body” at de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019. Courtesy the artist and de Sarthe Gallery.

Wing Po So: From the Body to the Body Through the Body

Sep 7–21

de Sarthe Gallery

Hong Kong artist Wing Po So’s solo exhibition “From the Body to the Body Through the Body,” the culmination of her open-studio residency at de Sarthe Gallery, showcases site-specific installations centered on notions of archaelogy, biology, and the relations between living and non-living organisms. The show continues the artist’s practice of using ingredients from traditional Chinese medicine—alluding to the generations of Chinese medicine practitioners in her family. Highlights include clay-and-corncob sculptures resembling fossilized creatures, and a monumental cocoon made of cornsilk.

SOUTH HO SIU NAM, Whiteness of Trees IV, 2018, archival inkjet print, 125 × 100 cm. Courtesy the artist and Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong.

Luke Ching Chin Wai: Liquefied Sunshine & South Ho Siu Nam: Force Majeure

Sep 7–Nov 2

Blindspot Gallery

Blindspot Gallery’s upcoming dual solo exhibition brings together works by Hong Kong artists Luke Ching Chin Wai and South Ho Siu Nam, displaying their shared explorations of the typhoon—a common occurrence in the balmy city—as a metaphor for sociopolitical unrest. The exhibition presents Ching’s project Liquefied Sunshine (2014–15), comparing weather phenomena in Hong Kong and Taiwan, alongside Ho’s photographic series Whiteness of Trees (2018), depicting Hong Kong’s damaged arboreal landscapes in the aftermath of Typhoon Mangkut. Respectively produced around the same time as the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement and just before the current anti-extradition-bill protests, these two projects reflect on themes of destruction, futility, and resilience through the study of natural forces.  

PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA, Tokyo, 1994, chromogenic print, 85.4 × 117.2 × 3.8 cm. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York / London / Hong Kong.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Sep 10–Oct 12

David Zwirner 

David Zwirner will stage its first solo survey of American photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia, who is acclaimed for foregrounding the manipulable nature of photography through ostensibly candid images that are in fact meticulously choreographed. Highlights at this exhibition include a selection of diCorcia’s photographs of intimate domestic scenes taken in the 1980s; pieces from his Streetwork (1993–99) and Heads (1999–) series; as well as fashion editorials shot for magazine between 1997 and 2008.

XIAO LU, Polar, 2016, photographic documentation of performance, 120 × 80 cm. Courtesy the artist and 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong.   

Xiao Lu: Skew

Sep 12–Oct 5

10 Chancery Lane Gallery

Xiao Lu’s first solo show in Hong Kong surveys her most iconic performances from her over-three-decade career, and debuts a new work, SKEW (2019), which was specially created to reflect the port city. The exhibition foregrounds her provocative interrogations of gender norms, sexual violence, and female struggle, with works such as Wedlock (2009), in which the artist was transported in a coffin to a ceremony where she married herself as commentary on traditional matrimony; and Polar (2016), during which she used a knife to slash her way out of a cell of ice. 

ZHANG YU, Bottle Filled with Fingerprints 5, 2019, ready-made glass bottle, acrylic, 29 × 9 × 9 cm. Courtesy Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong.

Zhang Yu: Fingerprints: Boundaries of Time and Truth

Sep 12 – Nov 9

Alisan Fine Arts, Central

Alisan Fine Arts will stage a solo presentation of Zhang Yu’s Fingerprints series (1991– ) at its gallery in Central. An ink painter by training, Zhang sought to transcend the traditional confines of the medium through using his index finger to stamp ink, plant pigments, acrylic, and nail polish onto a diverse range of materials, such as rice paper, jade, stainless steel sculptures, and glass bottles. The meditative process of repeated fingerprinting engages with his spiritual practice of Zen Buddhism, connecting ideas of recurrence and nothingness to the concept of individual identity.  

JENNIFER STEINKAMP, Retinal 2, 2019, still from HD video installation with color, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York / Hong Kong / Seoul. 

Jennifer Steinkamp: Still-Life

Sep 19–Oct 26 

Lehmann Maupin   

Lehmann Maupin’s upcoming exhibition, “Still-Life,” will show three video installations by new media artist Jennifer Steinkamp: Still-Life (2016– ), Retinal 2 (2018), and Blind Eye 2 (2019). Featuring digitally rendered biological forms, objects, and landscapes that move and interact in surreal ways, the 3D-animated works comment on the increasing integration of art and technology. Installed to complement the architecture of the exhibition space, the works will form an immersive environment that encourages visitors to contemplate their spatial and temporal interactions with the display.  

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