For art lovers in Hong Kong, March is an exciting month packed with a series of art events, from major art fairs, gallery openings to new exhibitions. If you are looking for an ultimate guide for places and exhibitions you can’t miss, please stay tuned because the Value will introduce you to some of the hottest and latest events in town in our coming articles.
Coming to its fourth year in Hong Kong, Art Central returned to the Central Harbourfront welcoming over 100 galleries from across the globe. The fair presents work by popular big names and emerging artists. Since most of the coverage on art central is headlined by renowned artists, the Value takes this chance to introduce some works created by lesser-known but equally noteworthy artists.
Pannaphan Yodmanee, born in Thailand in 1988, combines found objects, natural elements such as rocks and minerals, and painted elements that recall traditional Thai art and architecture.
Pannaphan Yodmanee
Despite of her young age, Pannaphan Yodmanee has already received numerous awards, including the 11th Benesse Prize. Her works have been exhibited in Singapore Art Museum, Saatchi Gallery in London, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in Thailand. She has been interested in exploring the relationship between human and nature.
The following artwork is an enormous painting titled Public Bath, created by Korean artist Kim Eunjin. Graduated from Ewha Womans University, one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea, Kim pursued her master’s degree at New York Institute of Technology.
Kim EunJin
With her personal interest and curiosity in ‘what makes people live so tenaciously’, Kim has drawn on humans’ sexual desires and frustrations, fear for death as well as pride toward life before death.
The little girl that we see in the paintings is Naoko, an iconic and repeated subject that often seen in paintings by Japanese artist Mitsuru Watanabe. Some of his works are auctioned off at Asian 20th Century & Contemporary art sales. He is known for mixing modern and classic, as well as Western and Eastern influences by incorporating familiar fragments of classical paintings into his work.
Take the above painting as an example. It is set against a backdrop echoing the style of classical painting, depicting a scene of an angel wielding a weapon to kill a malicious dragon. Interestingly, the lower part of the work is Naoko sleeping soundly next to a book. Could the whole scene merely be Naoko’s dream and imagination? It’s up to the viewer’s own interpretation.
Hou Chun-Ming, a contemporary Taiwan artist, quickly rose to prominence into the art world when his print Erotic Paradise was sold for HK$480,000 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2007. In the same year at Hong Kong Christie’s auction, his woodblock printings Anecdotes about Spirits and Immortals, a set of 37 pieces, were sold for HK$2.6m, the highest price by any Taiwan artists at an international auction.
Challenging the boundary between art and erotica, he has been obsessed with fairy tales, myths, religious concepts and psychological dramas.
Other noteworthy works at Art Central
Lampu Kansanoh｜Thailand
Masatake Kozaki｜Japan
Jacky Tsai｜China
Ye Hongxing｜China
Art Central
Venue: Central Harborfront
Date: 2018/3/27 - 4/1
Admission fee: HK$125 - 270
Enquiries: 852 2174 0322