Cover Danaë (1544-1545) by Titian (Image: the Ministry of Culture - Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte)

Thinking of where to go on a rainy weekend? Check out these new art exhibitions which feature ancient Italian paintings and an artist whose works have been collected by Sir Elton John and Queen Elizabeth II

If the Affordable Art Fair isn’t enough for you, this month’s art shows offer plenty of inspiration for art-lovers, families and even science and witchcraft enthusiasts. From Baroque masterpieces on loan for the first time to Hong Kong from one of the largest museums in Italy to works by a celebrated Vogue photographer to witchcraft-inspired works housed at the historic Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences, August is looking like a very arty month.

Don't miss: Close to 20 Disabled Artists Featured at Affordable Art Fair this August

1. Hong Kong Museum of Art: Masterpieces of Italian Baroque artists from Capodimonte Museum

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Above Boy Blowing on an Ember (1571-1572) by El Greco (Image: the Ministry of Culture - Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte)

A total of 40 Neapolitan paintings from the collection of the Capodimonte Museum in Italy are on show at Hong Kong’s most historic art museum for the first time. The items on loan depict religion, saints and mythology, and include still life and landscape paintings by 16th and 17th-century masters such as Titian, Annibale Carracci and Artemisia Gentileschi, all Baroque painters who were known for creating a dramatic contrast between light and shadow, exaggerated movements and their subjects’ pronounced facial expressions.

Until November 2, 2022. Special Gallery, HKMoA, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Find out more at hk.art.museum

2. Rossi & Rossi: A Collection in Two Acts

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Above Substance by Florence Lam (Image: Rossi & Rossi and the artist)

Put together by Hong Kong-based writer and curator Chris Wan, this exhibition features works from the private collection of Yuri van der Leest, who was born in Canada to a Dutch family of collectors. When he moved to Hong Kong in 2010, Van der Leest found interest in exploring galleries and art spaces, and he started building a major collection of works that spans diverse media, cultures and continents while retaining a focus on Hong Kong. The exhibition presents the pieces in two frameworks of collectorship: the institutional approach looks at the archival procedures and contextualises the works based on art history, while the personal approach arranges the works based on memories and personal encounters.

Until September 16, 2022. 11/F, M Place, 54 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang. Find out more at rossirossi.com

3. Bespoke: Florescence

Collect by 3812, a gallery founded in 2011 specialising in contemporary art with an east Asian origin, has relaunched with an extended new concept space, Bespoke, where lifestyle items and art are on display. Curated by Calvin Hui, the co-founder of the space, and entrepreneur Florence Tsai, the inaugural exhibition, Florescence, features the work of contemporary artist Ann Carrington, whose art has been showcased at the Victoria & Albert Museum and sits within the private collections of celebrities, including HRH Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Sir Elton John, Paul Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Until August 31, 2022. 16/F, Wyndham Place, 40-44 Wyndham Street, Central. Find out more at 3812gallery.com

4. Gallery Exit: Welcome Jon Looka

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Above Invasive Alien Species by Li Ning (Image: Gallery Exit and the artist)

Jon Looka means “going home” in the Hakka dialect. Hong Kong artist Li Ning, who works with mixed-media prints, pencil, ceramics, copperplate engravings and videos, imagines a future dystopia, in which inhabitants are confused about the authenticity of their memories. The survivors set out to a place called “Jon Looka”, where memories are stored. The new works depict sci-fi landscapes, in which exist nomads, hybrid biochemical species and apocalyptic ruins.

Until August 20, 2022. 3/F, Blue Box Factory Building, 25 Hing Wo St, Aberdeen. Find out more at galleryexit.com

5. Illuminati Fine Art: Semantic Construction

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Above Semantic Construction-41 by Christopher Ku (Image: the artist and Illuminati Fine Art)

This exhibition follows on the first series of the gallery’s Painting of Reverberation exhibition in July, Reverberation, which explored the artist Christopher Ku’s use of materials and traditional symbols to challenge conventional art concepts. The sequel, Semantic Construction, demonstrates Ku’s breakaway from common practices of painting to create abstract art. This results in a new visual language that articulates the future. This show is a comprehensive presentation of Ku’s work from different periods of his career.

Until August 12. 31-33 Hollywood Road, Central. Find out more at ifineart.net

Don't miss: Award-winning Director Brings Hong Kong Love Stories to the Museum

6. Para Site: Post-Human Narratives—In the Name of Scientific Witchery

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Above In Search of Receptionists (2022) by Bobby Yu Shuk Pui (Image: Para Site and the artist)

Set in the historic Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences in Sheung Wan, this exhibition features nine female artists from Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan whose new commissions are inspired by or recreate scenes of practices considered controversial or unorthodox by the medical scientific establishment. The topics include genetic engineering, xenotransplantation, dream analysis, sound healing and rituals. Through looking at how the supernatural and magical world contrasts with the empirical world, the artists challenge prevailing narratives based on scientific rationality.

Until August 28, 2022. 2 Cane Lane, Sheung Wan. Find out more at para-site.art

7. Shophouse: Grue

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Above Ben Edmunds at his studio (Image: Shophouse and the artist)

The exhibition is named after the “grue-paradox” theory by American philosopher Nelson Goodman, who put forward the idea that objects appearing in the present may no longer be the same in the future. Taking inspiration from this, artists Ben Edmunds, Minku Kim and Yves Scherer challenge viewers’ conceptualisation and interpretation of colours, which can tie in with the cultural and linguistic contexts of different places.

Until August 14. 4 Second Lane, Tai Hang. Find out more at theshophouse.hk

8. Over the Influence: In-Between Movements and Stillness

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Above Black Rhapsody S3 (2021) by Nancy Tong (Image: Over the Influence and the artist)

Hong Kong-based multidisciplinary artist Nancy Tong is fascinated by the values of Eastern and Western cultures. Her calligraphy work bears a strong influence from the logo designs and calligraphy style used by her father, a commercial advertising designer in the 70s, when she was a child. Tong creates work with a heavy emphasis on familial relationships. She uses acrylic, ink, charcoal and pastel on canvases and creates layers of paint as a form of three-dimensional representation of space and time.

Until August 27. G/F and 1/F, 159 Hollywood Road, Central. Find out more at overtheinfluence.com

9. Pace: Chewing Gum V

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Above Oval Portrait: Andrew (2013) by Mao Yan (Image: Mao Yan and Pace Gallery)

This group show is the fifth edition of Pace Gallery’s international programme, which spotlights artists from different cultures and eras. Paintings, sculptures and photographs created between the mid-20th century and present day are shown. Some of the highlighted modern and contemporary artists who are featured include American photographer Irving Penn, who is known for his fashion photography work for Vogue; West Germany-born American artist Kiki Smith, who confronts complicated subjects such as Aids and gender; and Chinese surrealist painter Zhang Xiaogang, who is famous for his stylised portraits of Chinese people with large, dark-pupilled eyes.

Until September 1. 12/F, H Queen’s 80 Queen’s Road Central. Find out more at pacegallery.com

10. Tang Contemporary: Summer Wind

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Above Tom Cat (2022) by Kitti Narod (Image: Tang Contemporary and the artist)

Simplicity defines Thailand-born artist Kitti Narod’s signature style, who is also know for the use of graphic signs in his paintings. Oscillating between abstract settings and the real world, he infuses his art with personal experiences. Scenes of an impromptu tango in the laundry room, two pally men leaning onto each other for a nap, and a pool with people painted with a Dionysian degree of sensuality are examples of how he portrays lives with a whimsical personal touch.

From August 11 to September 17, 2022. 10/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central. Find out more at tangcontemporary.com

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