Jun 18 2020

Roundup from Unscheduled at Tai Kwun

by Pamela Wong

Installation view of Unscheduled at Tai Kwun, Hong Kong, 2020, looking down from the fair’s upper floor. Photo by HG Masters for ArtAsiaPacific.

Following the onslaught of Covid-19, art fair organizers and gallerists have been forced to adapt to the ever-changing climate. While some have moved their ventures online, others are devising smaller physical events where possible, with creative names drawing attention to the unprecedented period of time. In Hong Kong, the latest art fair aptly titled Unscheduled attempts to support the city’s art community through its selling and networking platform staged at art and heritage hub Tai Kwun, with 12 participating Hong Kong and international galleries.

Organized by the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association (HKAGA), the event, deemed “neither a traditional art fair, nor a museum exhibition,” is hosted in the duplex space of Tai Kwun’s neo-classical building, formerly the old police headquarters. The team collaborated with BEAU Architects to redesign the space with arched doorways connecting each booth to help instigate free-flow. However, with the fair spread over two floors, and with elevators not easily accessible behind several glass doors, it felt somewhat inconvenient for visitors to move between floors.

Although co-curators Ying Kwok and Sara Wong explained in an earlier announcement that the booths will be loosely divided into three categories according to each artist’s approach and practice, in reality there was no clear distinction. Instead, in-depth solo presentations from each booth collectively constituted a showcase of a group of Asian artists.

Here are some of the highlights:

Whitestone Gallery (Hong Kong / Tokyo / Taipei / Karuizawa) staged abstract oil paintings by the gallery’s newly signed Japanese artist ETSU EGAMI. The series continues Egami’s prior usage of heavy strokes, depicting moments of miscommunication. All but two works shown were snatched up by local collectors on the preview day. Confusion by brushing past-2019-030, 2019, is pictured here. All photos by Pamela Wong for ArtAsiaPacific unless otherwise specified.

Detailed installation view of MAK YING TUNG 2’s colored pencil-on-paper Home Sweet Home: Rose Pool RAW, 2020, at the booth of de Sarthe (Hong Kong). This latest series by the Hong Kong artist was previously showcased at the gallery’s Wong Chuk Hang space last November. Mak commissioned illustrators on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao to draw her “ideal life,” mirroring her creations in the video game The Sims.

At Over the Influence (Hong Kong / Los Angeles), faint outlines of Beijing-based artist LIU BOLIN are seen among medicinal shelves in his photograph Pharmacy, 2013. Liu often merges himself with the environment in his photographs, exploring individuality in the age of mass production.

On the lower floor, Hong Kong artist FROG KING KWOK was distributing free masks designed by him to visitors at 10 Chancery Lane gallery (Hong Kong). The booth was mounted with his early calligraphic works from the ‘80s and ‘90s, against a wall design also painted by him. Photo by HG Masters.

Installation view of Taiwanese artist CHOU YU-CHENG’s multimedia sculpture at Edouard Malingue Gallery (Hong Kong / Shanghai). The work is titled Chemical Gilding, Keep Calm, Galvanise, Pray, Gradient, Ashes, Manifestation, Unequal, Dissatisfaction, Capitalise, Incense Burner, Survival, Agitation, Hit, Day Light. IV #6, 2019.

At Rossi & Rossi (Hong Kong / London), Singaporean artist HEMAN CHONG’s series of oil paintings of book covers were mounted in a grid-like fashion. Chong redesigned covers of popular fiction by Philip K. Dick, Stephen King, and Virginia Woolf, utilizing saturated colors and geometric arrangements.

Beijing-based artist HUANG DAN’s surreal, fairy tale like ink paintings were shown at the booth of Galerie Ora-Ora (Hong Kong).

Hong Kong’s Hanart TZ Gallery displayed a series of small early 2000’s sketches by IRENE CHOU, priced at HKD 10,000 to 20,000 (USD 1,290 to 2,580) each. Next to this, the late artist’s colored ink-on-paper hanging scroll, Black Circle, 1988, was priced at HKD 45,000 (USD 5,800).

The fair was designed with arched doorways, in an attempt to promote free-flowing traffic. From the booth of Hanart TZ, one can see HEMAN CHONG’s paintings at Rossi & Rossi’s booth.

Hong Kong artist NG CHUNG’s oil-on-canvas still life of water bottles, Bottle 388, 2016, was displayed at Contemporary by Angela Li (Hong Kong), priced at HKD 90,000 (USD 11,610).