With Art Basel Hong Kong approaching, the city's most notorious galleries and institutions are preparing a large array of shows to open alongside the fair. We have made a selection of shows we think are worth visiting to help navigate the city blazing art programme.
Glenn Ligon at Hauser & Wirth
In their newly opened gallery, Hauser and Wirth are set to open Glenn Ligon’s first solo show in Asia. The conceptual artist, known for his striking word paintings and neon works, has spent his entire career studying the place of Blackness in America and our modern society. He uses the power of words and language to delve into thematics of race, gender, sexuality and identity. This show will present a series of new abstract works, a continuation of his ongoing series of ‘Stranger’ paintings, and will be accompanied by the publication of a new monograph of his practice.
Opening 25 March.
Kylie Manning at Pace
With Sea Change, Pace Gallery Hong Kong are displaying the first solo exhibition of the New York based artist Kylie Manning in Hong Kong. Presenting a group of large scale paintings accompanied by smaller scale drawings, the gallery and the artist continue their tour throughout East Asia, including a show at the X museum in China and an upcoming expanded iteration of the show at Space K in Seoul. In this exhibition, the artist developed her vivid and passionate paintings, delving into aspects of velocity and vibrancy. Deeply inspired by her lived experience of growing up between Alaska and Mexico, Manning’s ethereal paintings transposes her memory through the medium of colour, balancing figuration and abstraction.
Opening 25 March.
Louise Giovanelli at White Cube and at the He Art Museum
White Cube Hong Kong will present Here on Earth, a new show of Manchester based artist Louise Giovanelli. With her enigmatic figurative yet intimate works, the artist investigates the significance of painting as a system of representation. She skillfully employs light and scale variations to create a repetitive visual language that unify her practice and with her close up views of objects and faces, often depicted in otherworldly hues, she plays with textures and materiality, creating a tension between reality and abstraction.
Opening 26 March.
Presented simultaneously as White Cube, the He Art Museum (HEM) in China, will present the first solo show of Louise Giovanelli in mainland China. In the recently opened space, designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, Louise Giovanelli - Paintings (2019 - 2024) will present a large selection of works showing the development of the artist in her recent practice. Located an hour away from Hong Kong’s city center, the show is a rare occasion to see Giovanelli’s works in a museum and is worth the journey.
Opening 23 March.
Wolfgang Tillmans at David Zwirner
David Zwirner is set to open a new show of photographs by the esteemed German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Working between London and Berlin, Tillmans is regarded as one of the pillars of contemporary photography. Ranging from mundane objects and quiet still life to intimate portraits, he has a deep understanding of how to capture the ordinary. Deeply caring about his subjects, he invites the viewer to unravel his perspective of the world. The Point is Matter will regroup a selection of old and new works focusing on pictures taken across multiple countries throughout his career, highlighting his ongoing analysis of connectedness through the process of looking.
Opening 23 March.
Jeff Koons at Art Intelligence Global
In their Hong Kong space Art Intelligence Global is opening a survey of the works of contemporary artist Jeff Koons. Presenting a selection of works, some for the first time in Asia, such as Michael Jackson and Bubbles porcelain sculpture from his 1988 Banality series, the show will include a diversity of media the artist has explored throughout his forty years long career. His works, questioning popular and consumer culture, can be found in most public collections around the world and continue to break records at auctions.
Opening 23 March.
Gerhard Richter and Sean Scully at Ben Brown Fine Art
Spanning over two locations, the Ben Brown Fine Art gallery space and the Asia Society building, Richter/Scully: Celestial Mechanics is presenting a selection of works from these two masters of European abstraction, placing their work in conversation with each other for the first time. The German artist Gerhard Richter is internationally recognised as one of the most prominent artists of the 20th and 21st century. His multidisciplinary practice, including photo realism, sculpture, photography and his renowned Abstraktes Bild, interrogates the power of the image and the perception one has of reality. Sean Scully, who was born in Ireland and now works in New York, is known as one of the principal representatives of geometric abstraction. His paintings and sculptures are composed of a series of rectangles or geometric forms, depicted in a wide range of colours and materials, that divide the canvas or the space. Presented alongside in the gallery spaces, the show will interrogate the historical and cultural influences of these artists that led them to become some of the most influential artists of our time.
Opening 23 March.
