Forget Bubbles: Is Jeff Koons a Swiftie?
Jeff Koons is causing a stir in Hong Kong this week with an exhibition of early work at Art Intelligence Global in Wong Chuk Hang (until April 26).is called Jeff Koons: 1979-1999the exhibition includes his headline porcelain sculptures Michael Jackson and Bubbles (1988), a highly kitsch portrait of the late artist horror film The pop star and his favorite chimpanzee.Koons tells us the work is making its debut on these shores prestige Magazine: “I believe this is Michael Jackson and Bubbles’ first time in China, so it’s exciting,” he gushed. Art world pranksters always seem to have their finger on the pulse. So is he considering creating a piece that pays homage to the biggest star of 2024: pop queen Taylor Swift? “I love contemporary culture. I have a 13-year-old daughter and we went to one of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concerts,” he said. “It’s amazing; she’s a great performer with an incredible work ethic and communicates a lot of very strong values to people,” he told us. Jeff – Get rid of it.
Flower power takes root in Central
Blooming Lovely: Alexandre Benjamin Navet collaborates with Van Cleef & Arpels to transform Landmark Central Shopping Center Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels
Spring has arrived in Hong Kong’s Central district, with French artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet transforming the sidewalks and doorways of the Landmark luxury shopping mall with his eye-catching floral works. Navet has teamed up with French jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels to use the natural environment to occupy public spaces and present a gorgeous canvas, aiming to lift the spirit of Hong Kong people. (“I thought it might be too much, but it makes me feel great blooming,” said one city dweller.) An accompanying online video shows Navit drawing flowers of all shapes and sizes and presenting them to the horse. Paying homage to Thies, Matisse was apparently inspired by the jeweler’s Frivole piece, made from curved heart-shaped petals that exude “an intense light”. “Visitors passing by the landmark will step into the artist’s open sketchbook and find themselves in the midst of a pastoral landscape,” a statement said. Fans of Navet’s floral renderings can even take home their own souvenirs, as this Van Cleef & Arpels will place special trolleys designed by Navet around the Landmark to give away coffee and flowers.
Caped Crusader
If the cloak fits: fans of art group The Tetorapotz go incognito on M+
The rowdiest party so far this week was the Hong Kong Art Week opening party at the M+ Museum, showcasing the greatness and beauty of the city’s art scene.Guests flock here, eager to visit places such as Ms. Song And sample the beat. The highlight of the evening was a performance by The Tetorapotz, a five-piece band including artist Izumi Kato, who were greeted by a large crowd of fans wearing custom masks and capes. “M+’s live show is produced by CHAT [Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile],” Kato told us. “The leather mask Tetorapotz wears is a symbolic object. For this performance, CHAT created a unique cloak for them. They then made 60 masks and cloaks, each one unique to the participating audience. All unique.” Masked attendees cheered as entertainer Frog King Kwok and singer Snatch (real name Noriko Sunayama) took the stage, who sang a series of memorable ditties. The snatchers drove the crowd wild and onlookers drank champagne without taking off their eye-catching headdresses and capes.
Huang Bing’s potty talk
Toot, toot! Yellow screen programs, anal whisperlocated at Kiang Malingue Gallery Courtesy of the artist and Kiang Malingue
If you’re in the mood for a filthy journey, head to Kiang Malingue Gallery for Hong Kong-born artist Wong Ping’s latest exhibition (through May 4). the title of the program, anal whisper, setting the tone as Prankster Huang takes viewers on a journey that explores new depths of naughtiness. In the program, anal whisper“Huang was seen talking to a stranger in bed before going to work; the experience of newfound anal hallucinations reminded him of an irreconcilable relationship with another stranger,” the gallery’s statement said. Confused?The message becomes even more opaque: “Intertwined with Huang’s story are Georges Bataille’s early Surrealist texts solar anus (1931), parodied repeatedly and freely throughout the film, confounding the two senses… The anus is seen as a mouth through which whispers emanate, and words in turn are transformed into something abject. But hobo noises aren’t the show’s only focus.Earwax also appears through three-channel video equipment Broken earwax (2022) and Wait wait wait wait (2022). The latter work “burns earwax into a copper ear sculpture to create secondary hearing.” [auditory hallucinations] The sound is reminiscent of church bells,” the statement added. After all, toilet humor is hilarious.
Are you a lonely cat?
Wong’s cute kittens and puppies scratch the (furry) weakness for temporary fetishes Photo: Felix SC Wong; courtesy of the artist and Square Street Gallery
Hong Kong artist Wong Ka-ying is exhibiting super-kitsch works at Sifang Street Gallery that might kill your goodwill (plastic love, until May 5). Wong’s world is filled with fluffy kittens, soothing stuffed animals and wide-eyed puppies that will leave you with a spring in your step and joy in your heart. But there’s also a darker, more melancholic side to the cute cats and cuddly bears, which often appear on posters in restaurants and budget eateries. Huang told us the show is “based on my own grief” [linked to] Pets are treated like objects, cruelly bred for purebreds, shiny toys are earned on Weibo [activities] In a city with endless time and ample money, people project their love onto temporary objects of obsession. It’s about loneliness in post-2019 Hong Kong, when there’s no hope, shops are closed, relationships are rapidly deteriorating, and my cat died. ” On the plus side, the exhibit includes an arcade claw machine filled with cuddly toys that generally bring joy. “You can try to win a soft cat sculpture for HK$5,” Wong adds cheerfully.
blowing in the wind
The sky is the limit: EsmeraldaKingsley Ng’s tumbling work above the Peninsula Hotel is inspired by Italo Calvino’s fictional city Courtesy of Peninsula Art Resonance
peninsula hotel artistic resonance The program returns during Hong Kong Art Week, kicking off with newly commissioned works by Lachlan Turczan and Kingsley Ng.sculpture of the latter Esmeralda– a series of emerald green fabric pieces criss-crossing the windows – hovering over the hotel’s famous facade, striking in Kowloon. Ng said the ethereal piece was inspired by Italo Calvino’s famous 1972 novel invisible city, in which there is a city named Esmeralda. “Maze-like layout [of Esmeralda]Depicted as a network of winding routes up and down through steps, bridges and streets, it could be a metaphor for Hong Kong’s urban complexity,” he explains. But this is no ordinary piece of public art; controlling the fabric in strong winds requires masterful engineering skills. “There is a saying in China: One minute on stage, ten years of work, so each project requires a lot of time and energy,” Wu added. “Above all, it took a collaborative village to look at all aspects and see the project through to completion.” That “village” included Prime Consulting Engineers, which stepped in to help Kingsley build the piece (phew).
