Art Central- Hong Kong

7/6/2016

Art Central Hong Kong was held between 23rd to 26th of March this year. Art Central is usually held during Hong Kong Art Month (March every year) and usually adjoining with Art Basel. Unfortunately, I was away in China when Art Basel was held but I am happy that at least I get to see one bigger art exhibition in Hong Kong.

Art Central was located at the Harbourfront in Central, there were 100+ of the most established contemporary galleries from around the world exhibiting thousands of artists. There were a variety of artworks from Eastern to Western artists, many are well known in the contemporary art scene, such as Yayoi Kusama, Keith Haring, Marc Quinn, Lui Guosong, Jiro Yoshihara and the list goes on...

Below are some photographs I took in the exhibition, they are definitely not all that I have seen, but are some of my personal favourites and pieces that struck me the most.

Art Installation SUNDEW by Elaine Yan Ling Ng x Swarovski.
This installation was placed right in front of the Art Central's entrance.
It was an interactive art installation that is sensitive to sound and rhythm.

Ng took inspiration from nature, craft and technology to create this piece of work. The interactive objets here mimic the exotic sundew, also known as drosera, one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants that attracts its prey with reflected light and scent. She used hand-fabricated textiles combining with Swarovski crystal fabric to create the luring qualities of a sundew plant, hoping to display the mesmerising visuals of light, movement and scent.

Real/ Red no. 80 by Japanese Artist Tomo Seki

Dreamers (pink) by Choi Xooang

happiness by Osamu Watanabe

A collection of works by Japanese Artist Osamu Watanabe. He is one of Japan's leading contemporary decorative artist who graduated from Tokyo Zokei University as a design major in 2003. His distinct style uses 'fake cream’ made of modelling paste and wax to produce art sculptures that resembles sweet/ candy-like qualities. Watanabe stated that his xation with all things sweet traces back to his childhood and his mother who was
a confectionery school teacher plays a major influence in his artistic style. Watanabe is also known as the 'Prince of Sweets' in the art industry.

heavenly messenger by Osamu Watanabe

Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, an international known artists for her dotted pattern drawings of pumplins.

Two pumpkins, Yayoi Kusama

"She series' by Chinese artist Zou Dawen

A Knitted Coral Reef

Untitled, Jiro Yoshihara

Atsuko Tanaka's Work

Marc Quinn's Maquette for Frozen Wave (The Coservative Mass) Model. This is actually a smaller model to a live size sculpture that was displayed in London Design Festival in September last year.

A Blue Monkey by Helmut Koller

Yoshitomo Nara's signature girl comic

Yoshitomo Nara is a famous Japanese Artist. Nara's work has been exhibited worldwide and since 1984, he has had around 40 or more solo exhibitions. His work has been influenced by his childhood as well as manga and comics in 1960's Japan. This can be seen from his stylized large-eyed figures, for example the drawing of the girl above. The girl character above is also his signature, well recognized across the globe. The juxtaposition of an innocent child with human evil or angry expressions, which is a prominent theme in Nara's work can be interpreted as his reaction to Japan's rigid social conventions. Apart from exhibiting in art fairs and museums such as MOMA and Museum of Contempory Art in the United States, Nara's works are also popular in the art auction scene. He had various works auctioned in international auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's before.

Work by Anne Kagioka Rigoulet

Dogs Sculpture

Damien Hirst's Butterfly Prints

Damien Hirst is a world renown English artist. He is one of the most active and prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists (YBAs), who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. Hirst is a multi-media artist, his works varies from prints, paintings and works on paper to sculptures, installations and performance art. For more information about Hirst, go on his website: http://www.damienhirst.com/