Roundup From Asia Now 2019

by Paul Laster

View of the courtyard entrance of Asia Now 2019 at 9 Avenue Hoche, Paris. All photos by Paul Laster for ArtAsiaPacific.

The 5th edition of Asia Now returned to the rooms of 9 Avenue Hoche, situated in the upscale 8th arrondissement, opening to an enthusiastic crowd on its first day. Showcasing over 50 international galleries, the fair offered works in a variety of mediums by more than 250 established and emerging artists from China, Korea, Japan, and Central and Southeast Asia.

This year’s guest-curated program, “IRL {In Real Life},” organized by Xiaorui Zhu-Nowell, assistant curator of New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, presented works by artists centered on new media and technology. One of the project’s four sections, “Unboxing,” riffed on the popular genre of YouTube videos—in which bloggers unwrap new purchases—through engaging pieces that were revealed or activated on-site.

The fair also staged several special projects, including “Map of Mythology,” an expansive exhibition of multimedia artist Qiu Zhijie’s series of large-scale ink drawings on paper, presented by Galleria Continua (San Gimignano/Beijing/Les Moulins/Havana). Julien Sato of Tokyoïte (Paris/Tokyo) curated a selection of Japanese neo-pop paintings, paying tribute to Tokyo in the colorful “City Pop” display featuring artists Takeru Amano, Fantasista Uatamaro, Ly, Yoshinori Tanaka, and Victor Takeru. Meanwhile, a conversation platform, “Chat Room,” included talks on everything from technology’s impact on the perception of art to a renewed interest in spirituality by Asian millennial artists.

Here are some of the fair’s highlights:

Multimedia artist CHENG RAN constructed a graffiti-like installation for the presentation of his videos, and those created by artists CHILLCHILL & ALEX WANG, YOU A’DA, WENXIN ZHANG and PAPAPEPIA for Cheng’s alternative space, Martin Goya Business (Hangzhou). The display comments on China’s rapid expansion while criticizing its mounting political repression.

On view at Chambers Fine Art (Beijing / New York), photographer PIXY LIAO‘s staged pictures Open Kimono and The Woman in the Red Robe (both 2018), from her ongoing series Experimental Relationship, challenges traditional gender roles. Mounted next to these was artist WU JIAN’AN’s 500 Brushstrokes #31 (2017) from his series of collaged paintings, constructed from cut-out brushstrokes on paper.

Shown at Aspan Gallery (Almaty), GULNUR MUKAZHANOVA’s decorative, pinned brocade pieces on velvet and wool—Moment of the Present #12 and #22, which subvert traditional uses of materials—flanked her monochromatic Post-Nomadic Reality #22 (all 2019), made from manipulated merino and silk wool to look like an abstract, Mark Rothko-esque painting or an imaginary spiritual portal.

ZHUO QI’s Dance of Chairs pieces, and altered canvases Untitled and Herstory (all 2018), on view at Galerie Les filles du calvaire (Paris). The former series consists of warped porcelain sculptures of bamboo furniture, designed to collapse during the firing process. The latter employs the Japanese kintsugi restoration technique to mend battered classic European paintings with gold leaf.

Pierre-Yves Caër Gallery (Paris) presented painter JOJI NAKAMURA’s Oh hi how are you!?, White view, and Hug and kiss (all 2019), featuring lively, Picasso-esque figures with distorted body parts, all painted in Paris during Nakamura’s residency at the gallery. These were painted with only his hands, and no brushes.

Beijing Commune (Beijing) displayed MA QIUSHA’s Wonderland Sweet Powder 2 (2018), composed of smashed pieces of concrete wrapped in nylon stockings to soften and feminize the solid matter; WANG LUYAN’s paradoxical steel sculpture Two Walkers Turning Left while Turning Right while Turning Backward (2011); and YANG XINGUANG’s Untitled (White Woodboard 2019 No. 2) (2016), a piece of pinewood meticulously chiseled to simulate the action of a tiny bat gnawing around the knots in the wood.

The Columns Gallery (Seoul) brought painter HERI DONO’s canvases Kissing (2013), addressing the censorship of kissing but not violence in films, and The Loyal Barong (2012), which condemns the abuse of panhandling performers.

ANNA PARK dramatically captures the decadent lifestyles of revellers in large-scale charcoal and graphite works on paper, I to I and She Never Calls (both 2019), at the booth of Over The Influence (Hong Kong / Los Angeles).

Tang Contemporary Art (Beijing / Hong Kong / Bangkok) presented ZHAO ZHAO’s Sky (2014), a dreamy abstraction of a blue expanse over smoggy Beijing; WU WEI’s cut paper pieces Untitled (2019), Pelago (2016), and Contemplation (2019), fashioned to look like fur; and CAI LEI’s sculptural renderings of imaginary architectural sites, 45° 190822, Unfinished Home 190901, and Beyond Freedom 190502 (all 2019).

Galerie Quynh (Ho Chi Minh City) showed VO TRAN CHAU’s It was someone’s home – 2, It was someone’s home – 1, and a portrait of a factory worker, Société Cotonnière Du Tonkin (all 2019). These pixelated found historical imageries in patchworks of second-hand fabrics pay tribute to a cultural past rapidly being replaced by modern forces of consumerism.