Art trends at Hong Kong Art Basel 2013
- cnualart
- Jun 4, 2013
- 2 min read
After 5 years of rapid growth the Hong Kong Art Fair this year was rebranded Hong Kong Art Basel. The space is the same, but the price of the entrance ticket has gone up – that’s what branding does. The art fair, a commercial initiative that showcases artwork from Western and Eastern galleries in equal measure, has expanded its reach with additional talks and city-wide events.
Intelligence Squared sparked off ideas with a debate on the value of art. Matthew Collings did a great job as a speaker, and the moderator was excellent, but the best contribution came from the man in the audience who told panelist Amy Capellazzo that her arguments for the market being the best judge of art had ruined, for him, the magic of the wonderful art in the fair!
Hong Kong’s art fair is popular in every sense of the word. Weaving one’s way between $20-a-glass champagne stalls and children’s buggies, some themes seemed to resurface intermittently amongst the 2 floors of world galleries. Here is an illustrated overview:
Brains That thinking machine of ours is probably making a frequent appearance to remind us not to leave all intellectual activity to the automated machines.
[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]
Show Through I by Tabaimo Lithography, gampi papers, nylon thread on teak frame, 2009.
Gisant (the Silk Spun in the Brain) by Jan Fabre Marble sculpture, 2012.
[/wpcol_1half][wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]
Roman Standard by Tracey Emin Patinated bronze and wood, 2007. [/wpcol_1half_end]
Tapestry In 2008, as all things craft were exploding in popularity, a contemporary tapestry exhibition in England led some of the world’s best known artists back to this technique which had been almost forgotten after the Renaissance. A number of examples of the thread weaving art dotted the Asian art fair.
[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]
Detail of a large tapestry by Kiki Smith.
Detail of a tapestry by Kimsooja.[/wpcol_1half] [wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]
Self Portrait as a Coffee Pot III by William Kentridge and Marguerite Stephens Mohair tapestry, 2012. [/wpcol_1half_end]
Glitter, beading, rhinestones and other bling Was it the rise of new money, the influence of different cultures on the global catwalk or a defiance of austerity? Whatever the reason, bling has been giving a shine to the art market in the last decade. [wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]
Detail from The Disambiguation of the Myth of the last Shinobi by Raqib Shaw Oil, acrylic, enamel, glitter and rhinestones on birch wood, 2011-12.
Cosmic Dust Gold by Kengo Kito Oil and glitter on canvas, 2013. [/wpcol_1half][wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]
Bird Girl by Farhad Moshiri Glass bead embroidery on canvas, 2013.
An Old Breeze 13-3-2 by Whang Inkie Car bonnet with pearly rhinestones.[/wpcol_1half_end]
Collage Along with action painting, collage seems to be one of those inexhaustibly inspiring 20th century inventions.
[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]
Pietro Ruffo’s photographic collage of an islamic patterned globe is captivating because of the 3D effect achieved by using pins to hold each shape in place.
Maths by Bharti Kher Bindis on panel, 2012.
[/wpcol_1half][wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]
Pictures of Magazine 2: Vase of Flowers after Claude Monet by Vik Muniz C-print, 2013
Even some sculptures are a collage, such as the shopping trolley full of scrap metal, Wagon (miles and miles), by Ida Ekblad, or the porcelain pieces by Francesca DiMattio below:
[/wpcol_1half_end]
Juicy Abstract paintings Polyester resin (that glass-like chemical substance that Vietnamese tourist shops pass off as ‘lacquer’) or thickly dripped enamel make for a candy-gloss surface.
[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]
I have hated you too much to be grateful of the day (part of a dyptich) by Ivan Lam House paint, resin and model submarine on canvas, 2013
Peter Zimmerman pours thick layers of coloured resin over large canvases.
Vanilla, Strawberry by Kenjiro Okazaki Acrylic on canvas, 2000.
[/wpcol_1half][wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]
Katharina Grosse plays with enamel paint.
Tiang #2 by Handiwirman Saputra C-print and acrylic coating on metallic paper, 2012[/wpcol_1half_end]
But the artwork that made most people smile was not in the exhibition centre, it floated happily in Hong Kong bay: Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck [singlepic id=694 w=600 h= float=center]
Comments