Cover Martyr (2019) by Damien Hirst, which is being shown by Gagosian at Art Basel Hong Kong 2021. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian)
More than 100 galleries are taking part in Art Basel this week, which runs from May 19 to 23 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Here are 10 booths to make a beeline for

David Zwirner

Tatler Asia
Above "Year of the Ox" (2021) by Marcel Dzama. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner)

A highlight of David Zwirner's booth is a new painting by Marcel Dzama, which the artist painted specially for Tatler. The work was inspired by Dzama's past visits to Hong Kong and is a celebration of this year's Chinese zodiac animal, the ox. The painting also features on a special edition cover of Tatler's May issue, which is available only at Tatler's booth at Art Basel Hong Kong. 

Also on show are new seascapes by Belgian-born, New York–based artist Harold Ancart, and pieces by big names such as Gerhard Richter, Wolfgang Tillmans, Liu Ye and Lisa Yuskavage, among others. 

See also: Marcel Dzama Unveils A New Painting Inspired By Hong Kong—Which He Made Especially For Tatler
 

Hauser & Wirth

Tatler Asia
Above Blues in A flat (2021) by George Condo. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth)

George Condo is in the spotlight at Hauser & Wirth's booth. The American artist, whose fractured portraits are often compared to the Cubist paintings of Picasso, is showing a new work from his recent Blues series, which feature his distinctive characters immersed in the colour. 

Hauser & Wirth is also exhibiting new pieces by Rashid Johnson, a conceptual artist whose work often explores the African-American experience in the US, and Jenny Holzer, whose text-based art has earned her global fame. 

 

Gagosian

Tatler Asia
Above Noch ein Orangenesser (2020) by Georg Baselitz. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian)

Gagosian's booth is sure to be a crowd pleaser. The gallery represents some of the most famous artists in the world and is showing pieces by stars such as Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Jonas Wood and Richard Prince. 

Other highlights include one of Jennifer Guidi's meditative oil, acrylic and sand paintings and a recent large painting by 83-year-old German artist Georg Baselitz. 

Pace

Tatler Asia
Andy Warhol, Retrospective (Blue), c. 1978, synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas, 40" × 40" (101.6 cm × 101.6 cm), PAINTING, No. 69276 Format of original photography: digital
Above "Retrospective (Blue)" (c. 1978) by Andy Warhol. (Image: Courtesy of Pace)

Pace is showing a diverse selection of work by artists from both East and West. Among the Asian artists represented are acclaimed Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang and Japanese artist Kohei Nawa, who is best known for his large sculptures made up of hundreds of glass spheres. 

From the west are American painter Loie Hollowell, who has been described as a modern-day Georgia O'Keeffe, and rising star Adam Pendleton, who has a solo show coming up at the Museum of Modern Art later this year, among many others.

But perhaps the biggest draw are pieces by four giants of 20th-century art: pop artists Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, sculptor Alexander Calder and multimedia artist Robert Rauschenberg. 

See also: Architect David Adjaye Teams Up With Artist Adam Pendleton For An Exhibition In Hong Kong

 

Lehmann Maupin

Tatler Asia
Above Study for Light Tower (2019) by Lee Bul. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin)

One of the highlights of Lehmann Maupin's booth is an installation by South Korean artist Lee Bul. The work takes the form of a light tower, which flashes cryptic fragments of quotes from Paul Bowles' 1949 existential novel The Sheltering Sky. Lee's work often explores utopian ideals—and how they can often collapse into dystopian horror—and regularly features architectural forms such as towers.

Also on show are paintings by Colombian-American artist Lari Pittmann, new work by Bali-based American artist Ashley Bickerton and pieces by Helen Pashgian and Mary Corse, two pioneers of the Light and Space movement, among others. 

See also: South Korean Artist Lee Bul On Her Homecoming Exhibition At The Seoul Museum Of Art

Lévy Gorvy

Tatler Asia
Above "Untitled" (1976) by Joan Mitchell. (Image: Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy)

Lévy Gorvy is best known for exhibiting and selling works by long gone masters—earlier this year the gallery exhibited a painting by Van Gogh in its Hong Kong space—but has decided to showcase pieces by contemporary artists at Art Basel Hong Kong this year. 

Abstract paintings by Günther Uecker, Joan Mitchell and Pat Steir are highlights, as is a group of paintings by the Yayoi Kusama, who remains one of the world's most popular (and Instagrammed) artists. 

Lévy Gorvy is also showing work by Hongkonger Michael Lau, who is often described as "the godfather of toy figures" and has been credited with inspiring artists like Kaws and Takashi Murakami to make vinyl figurines.

See also: Exclusive: Michael Lau’s Collect Them All Exhibition Opening Party

Axel Vervoordt Gallery

Tatler Asia
Above Installation view of "Encounter—A Mirror Woman" (2017-2019) at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Kanaal, Belgium in 2018. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and Axel Vervoordt Gallery)

Axel Vervoordt is presenting a solo booth dedicated to the pioneering South Korean artist Kimsooja.

The booth features only one work: Kimsooja's site-specific installation Encounter—A Mirror Woman (2017-2019), which features a mirrored floor surface, mirrored walls and a folded mirror screen, reflecting visitors almost endlessly as they walk through the booth. 

Kimsooja has previously represented South Korea at the Venice Biennale. 

Massimo De Carlo

Tatler Asia
Above "Night" (2021) by Maurizio Cattelan. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and Massimo De Carlo)

Italian artist and art world prankster Maurizio Cattelan has a history with Art Basel fairs: in December 2019, he taped a banana to the wall of Perrotin's booth at Art Basel Miami, then sold it for US$120,000. Cattelan produced the work in an edition of three and it proved so popular that the third banana sold for even more than the first fruit—US$150,000. 

In Hong Kong, Cattelan is showing another thought-provoking recent work, Night, a wall sculpture that takes the form of a black American flag that is riddled with bullet holes. As well as being a comment on war, nationalism and identity, the work is also a reference to masters from art history, in particular the Italian artist Lucio Fontana, who is famous for cutting holes into the canvases of his paintings. 

Also on show are pieces by mainland Chinese artists Yan Pei Ming and Lu Song. 

 

White Cube

Tatler Asia
Above From left: "Transformation Stone" (1982); Mountains Forming, 1982-83 (2020); two Akari 16A, all by Isamu Noguchi. (Image: ©INFGM/ARS. © White Cube, photo by Dan Bradica)

White Cube's presentation is focused on the work of the late Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, whom the gallery now represent globally. 

Noguchi is famous for his sculptures—several of which will be on show at White Cube's booth—and for his furniture, which he produced in collaboration with the Herman Miller company. Some of his pieces, including his curvy-based, glass-topped Noguchi Table, remain in production today. 

Other highlights include a large-scale photograph by Andreas Gursky of the distinctive HSBC Main Building in Hong Kong and a new painting by Indonesian artist Christine Ay Tjoe, who over the past year has embarked on a series inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

See also: Artist Christine Ay Tjoe Discusses Finding Inspiration In Nature And Her New Exhibition In Hong Kong
 

Perrotin

Tatler Asia
Above "Untitled" (2018) by Kim Chong-Hak. (Image: Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin)

Perrotin is dedicating its booth to two South Korean artists: Kim Chong-Hak and Lee Bae. 

84-year-old Kim makes colourful paintings of the native flowers that live in the peaks and valleys of South Korea's mount Seoraksan, the third tallest mountain in the country, which lies close to the border of North Korea. Kim was born in North Korea, but his family were forced to flee south in 1948, when he was 12 years old. To this day, he describes his family's flight to South Korea as the saddest day in his life. 

Lee has dedicated his career to exploring the limits of charcoal: he makes delicate drawings using it, covers canvases covered in thick smears of the material and even makes sculptures out of enormous sticks of charcoal. He is drawn to the medium because of its cultural significance in his home country: in South Korea, traditional houses are constructed on a charcoal foundation, to keep humidity at bay, and Korean families also hang charcoal over the door when a baby is born, to ward off sickness.

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