Cover 'Never End: The Art and Life of Gaylord Chan' (Photo: courtesy of Asia Society Hong Kong)
'Never End: The Art and Life of Gaylord Chan' (Photo: courtesy of Asia Society Hong Kong)
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Art 021, 19th-century French couture, IM Pei’s legacy—there’s something for every creative palette in August
Between the sporadic heavy showers, clinging humidity and scorching heat, Hong Kong’s weather this summer is even more unpredictable than usual. Luckily you have the option of staying in and taking the city up on its cultural offerings which are mostly happening indoors. From legendary architect IM Pei and beloved local artist Gaylord Chan’s legacies on display at M+ and Asia Society respectively, to Testumi Kudo’s jarring but fascinating cages—there’s something to appease even the most diverse cultural palettes.
Read on to find out about what the city’s cultural forecast is this month.
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1. ‘Cages’
Above Installation view of ‘Cages’ (Photo: courtesy of Hauser and Wirth)
Installation view of ‘Cages’ (Photo: courtesy of Hauser and Wirth)
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When: Until August 31
Where: Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong, G/F, 8 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
What: Tetsumi Kudo’s (1935-1990) signature cages—visually vibrant but conceptually dark—are on view at Hauser and Wirth Hong Kong. The pieces were made between 1966 and 1980, and prompt viewers to consider themselves as an integrated part of the larger environment shaped by racism, colonialism, technological development and environmental degradation. Kudo’s biomorphic sculptures often incorporate found objects, and everyday materials—such as bird cages—which add a domestic dimension to the work as well as offer it a familiar point of access. One of many interpretations of his cages is that Kudo was proposing the idea that humans are in fact like pets, being “fed”, observed and controlled by a larger organising system.
2. Art 021
Above Art 021 (Photo: courtesy of Art 021)
Art 021 (Photo: courtesy of Art 021)
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When: August 28 to September 8
Where: Various locations
What: The Hong Kong edition of the Shanghai-based art fair Art 021 is set to open at the end of the month, presented in a new format across various Hong Kong cultural venues. The galleries section of the fair will be held at Phillips auction house headquarters in West Kowloon, while the videos section will be on view at Asia Society, the Fringe Club will showcase the four-day “expansion” section, featuring performances and special programming, and the sculpture section will take place at both Victoria Park and Fringe Club. The fair seeks to distinguish itself from other commercial art presentations in Hong Kong by focusing on galleries that feature programming related to mainland China, the Middle East and the Chinese and Asian diaspora.
3. ‘Never End: The Art and Life of Gaylord Chan’
Above “Never End: The Art and Life of Gaylord Chan” (Photo: courtesy of Asia Society Hong Kong)
“Never End: The Art and Life of Gaylord Chan” (Photo: courtesy of Asia Society Hong Kong)
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When: Until September 29
Where: Chantal Miller Gallery, Asia Society Hong Kong, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty
What: Don’t miss the first retrospective of local artist Gaylord Chan since his death in 2020. Born in 1925, Chan only made his first foray into painting at 42 years old, after leaving his first career as a telecoms engineer. His art was known for its flat compositions and elements of childlike wonder, which was his way of embracing joy despite life’s vicissitudes, including having lived through the Second World War, his wife’s thyroid cancer, car accidents and the decline of his own health. Chan also co-founded the Hong Kong Visual Arts Society in 1974. This exhibition features a selection of his paintings, rarely exhibited digital drawings and archival materials that pay tribute to his legacy.
4. ‘The Adorned Body: French Fashion and Jewellery 1770–1910’
Above Robe à la française (Photo: courtesy of Mad,
Paris and Jean
Tholance)
Robe à la française (Photo: courtesy of Mad, Paris and Jean Tholance)
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When: Until October 14
Where: Hong Kong Palace Museum, 8 Museum Drive, West Kowloon
What: The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, a museum in Paris that preserves and showcases decorative arts, brings more than 300 items of French costume, jewellery and accessories from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries to Hong Kong for an exhibition jointly organised with the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Many of the items on display are being shown in Asia for the first time; some have never been seen outside Paris. The show highlights the evolution and cultural influences of fashion in France.
5. I.M. Pei: Life Is Architecture
Above IM Pei (Photo: courtesy of M+ Museum)
IM Pei (Photo: courtesy of M+ Museum)
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When: Until January 5, 2025
Where: M+, West Kowloon
What: The first full-scale retrospective of renowned architect IM Pei makes its way to M+ this summer. Pei’s prolific body of work spans seven decades and features high-profile, widely recognised structures such as the National Gallery of Art East Building in Washington, DC, the modernisation of the Grand Louvre in Paris, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and, of course, Hong Kong’s Bank of China Tower. The exhibition features more than 300 objects, including original drawings, architectural models, photographs, films and other archival documentation, much of which hasn’t been exhibited before. They will be divided into six themes, ‘Pei’s Cross-Cultural Foundations’, ‘Real Estate and Urban Redevelopment’, ‘Art and Civic Form’, ‘Power, Politics and Patronage’, ‘Material and Structural Innovation’ and ‘Reinterpreting History through Design’, to illustrate the full social, economic and cultural impact of Pei’s legacy. Furthermore, to put Pei’s work into a contemporary context, the exhibition will showcase newly commissioned photographs of his buildings by a younger generation of photographers, including South Ho, Naho Kubota, Lee Kuo-min, Giovanna Silva, Mohamed Somji, Tian Fangfang and Yoneda Tomoko.
