Eau de Cologne, Sprüth Magers
Featuring a who’s who of the most prominent female artists of the 20th century, Sprüth Magers’ Eau de Cologne group show gathers the works of Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman and Rosemarie Trockel, who all exhibited with gallery co-founder Monika Sprüth in Cologne in the 1980s, hence the name. Despite their international renown, this will be the first time most have been shown in Hong Kong. Brought together under the common theme of female artistic perception and political engagement, the intervening years since the 1980s have only made the artworks of these pioneering artists even more resonant in the modern day.
Where: HART Hall, H Queen’s G/F, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 26 – April 12
Mary Corse with 'Untitled' 1967. Courtesy Mary Corse.
Mary Corse, Pace Gallery Hong Kong
Associated with the Light and Space movement, California artist Mary Corse is often cited for her expert use of light and materiality in her works. From this month onwards, Pace Gallery will be representing the artist at its H Queen’s location in what will be Corse’s first solo show in Asia. Pace Gallery president Marc Glimcher says, “very few artists have been able to express the breadth and depth of light through the medium of painting. Mary is one of those rare people who has the gift to contain that energetic field within the frame of the canvas.”
Where: Pace Gallery, 12/F, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 25 – May 11
An Opera for Animals, Para Site
Presented as a group exhibition, non-profit art space Para Site’s An Opera for Animals came about as a collaboration with Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum and brings together the likes of Candice Lin, Ming Wong and Wang Wei. Curated by Cosmin Costinas and Claire Shea, the show tackles a myriad of seemingly disparate themes, from the colonialist tendencies of Chinese and Western opera, to the role of animism in a humanist age.
Where: Para Site, 22/F, Wing Wah Industrial Building, 677 King’s Rd, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
When: March 23 – June 9
Louise Bourgeois, Les Fleurs, 2009. © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY. Photo: Christopher Burke
Louise Bourgeois, Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong
Renowned French artist Louise Bourgeois has had a far-reaching impact on both fashion and culture throughout her storied career, and last year saw her first large-scale retrospective in China at Shanghai’s Long Museum, which is travelling to Beijing’s Song Art Gallery this month. At the same time, Hauser & Wirth will host Bourgeois’ first solo exhibition in Hong Kong for Arts Month, titled “My Own Voice Wakes Me Up,” which refers to a “psychoanalytic” essay penned by the artist in 1951 that describes how she was woken up from a dream by her own shouts. The exhibit showcases Bourgeois’ fabric sculptures, large experimental prints, plant sculptures and rarely-seen holograms, curated by longtime collaborator of 30 years, Jerry Gorovoy.
Where: Hauser & Wirth, 16-15/F, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 26 – May 11
David Altmejd, Art Student (detail) 2018. © David Altmejd. Photo © Lance Brewer
David Altmejd, White Cube Hong Kong
White Cube is hosting the first solo exhibition in Asia for David Altmejd, a New York-based artist whose gothic, post-apocalyptic romanticism draws attention to issues of environmental degradation and genetic modification. His all-new Crystal System series of bust sculptures mix together clay, resin, glass eyeballs, synthetic hair, coconut shells and gemstones, in the process bringing together organic, synthetic and mineral components in grotesque fashion. “A perfect object for me is something that is extremely seductive and extremely repulsive at the same time,” explains the artist on his fascination with the uncanny valley.
Where: White Cube, 50 Connaught Rd Central, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 26 – May 18
Exit Strategies, H Queen’s
Exit Strategies is a site-specific show at H Queen’s curated by David Chan that brings together both emerging and established local artists in the building’s stairwells starting from the 17th floor. Among the names featured are Chloe Cheuk, Silas Fong, Lee Kit, Tsang Kin-Wah and MAP Office, whose works take on the forms of art installations, video art, sculpture, photography and sound art that find a common theme in the avoidance of daily urban life.
Where: H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 1 – April
Neo Rauch, Der Aufschneider, 2018. © Neo Rauch VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Neo Rauch, David Zwirner Hong Kong
German artist Neo Rauch is known for a body of work that depict surreal landscapes and vaguely socialist themes that speak to his training under the then-Communist regime of East Germany. The highly accomplished artist has been exhibited at the likes of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, as well as Paris’ Centre Georges Pompidou. Rauch’s relationship with David Zwirner extends over 20 years back, with whom he first showed at Art Basel Hong Kong to critical success in 2015. His return this year marks a renewed confidence in the local market’s appreciation of his works via a solo exhibition at David Zwirner gallery, titled “Propaganda.”
Where: David Zwirner, 5-6/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 26 – May 4
Erwin Wurm, Stone, 2019. acrystal and stone. 11.81 x 12.2 x 8.66 inches / 30 x 31 x 22 cm. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, and Seoul.
Erwin Wurm, Lehmann Maupin Hong Kong
Austrian artist Erwin Wurm has upturned the traditionally static nature of sculpture by combining the discipline with that of performance art – in the process creating a body of work that regards the human body as a work of sculpture. Lehmann Maupin is hosting Wurm this year for his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, and for the duration of the exhibition, visitors will be able to participate in his One Minute Sculptures series by mimicking a particular pose using a mundane household object, with the pose to be captured on a Polaroid that can be taken home.
Where: Lehmann Maupin, 407 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Hong Kong
When: March 25 – May 11
Elmgreen & Dragset, Overheated, Massimo De Carlo Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019 Rendering by Studio Elmgreen & Dragset
Elmgreen & Dragset, Massimo De Carlo Hong Kong
Danish artistic duo Elmgreen & Dragset have garnered recognition for their often ingenious art installations, including the iconic Prada Marfa store, and the transformation of London’s Whitechapel Gallery into a derelict swimming pool. For this year’s Arts Month, the duo are introducing their Overheated art installation, where Massimo De Carlo’s gallery space has been turned into an underground boiler room rendered in pastel hues. In doing so, Elmgreen & Dragset hope to force the viewer to navigate the space in a way that puts them in direct relation to the physicality of the architecture.
Where: Pedder Building 3/F, 12 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 26 – May 4
Heimo Zobernig, Untitled, 2018. 200x200cm. Courtesy of the artist and gallery.
Heimo Zobernig, Simon Lee Gallery Hong Kong
Heimo Zobernig inhabits many identities. Over the course of his 30-plus years in the art world, his work has traversed many disciplines, from painting and sculpture, to film, art installation, and performance art. Zobernig believes that the boundaries delineating each practice are superficial – an approach which has been amply reflected in his work. Hong Kong audiences might not be too familiar with Zobernig, although that may change with Simon Lee Gallery bringing the artist to Hong Kong this month for a comprehensive showing of his Modernist-influenced, grid-like aesthetic.
Where: Simon Lee Gallery, Pedder Building 3/F, 12 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong
When: March 26 – May 10
