Hong Kong’s favourite son Bruce Lee is welcoming arrivals to our wonderful home town at Chek Lap Kok courtesy of a series of awesome illustrations by Milton Wong.
The eleven 10 foot tall illustrations, set against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour, feature Bruce Lee with his nunchaku in the film Game of Death.
The exhibition, which runs until November, is organised by the Bruce Lee Foundation. All images by Milton Wong
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Annie-Leibovitz-Women-31052016/i-p4zx37q
Opening this week in Kennedy Town is a ‘pop-up’ exhibition of Annie Leibovitz’s photos entitled WOMEN: New Portraits. Leibovitz’s emphasis in the title… Except they’re not really new portraits most have appeared in the media over the last couple of years.
The pop-up exhibition space is the whole floor of an un-renovated industrial building in Kennedy Town, yet the mostly A3 size photos (printed on an office printer) are crammed together in four tight rows. The bottom less than a foot off the floor, making reflective study and appreciation of the photos hard. Far more interesting are the original Women’s photos from 1999 exhibited as a slideshow on three big screens.
Leibovitz’s is in Hong Kong for three days courtesy of the exhibition’s Swiss bank sponsor and in person she’s engaging and has anecdotes about each photo. It was sad though to hear her talk of considering her legacy and how people and history will view her photography as her current reference frame as to which photos she’ll exhibit and who/what she’ll shoot.
As someone who claims each photo tells a story, the tale the exhibition tells is of Leibovitz in need of a pay-cheque. There’s nothing wrong with that, but few of the ‘new’ photos would merit a second look without Leibovitz’s name and the well known status of the subjects. Further exemplified with her newly released photos of the Queen in Vanity Fair. That said the exhibition’s free and the original Women’s series is worth enjoying again.
Annie Leibovitz – WOMEN: New Portraits
Date: 10am-6pm, 3-26 June, 2016
Venue: 3/F, Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield, Kennedy Town
Tickets: Free
Photography: Jayne Russell
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Annie-Leibovitz-Women-31052016/i-M7Mz84m
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Art-Central-Opening-Night-21/i-jnBbDN8
Opening night at Art Central 2016, where big seems to be the ‘in’ theme. Extra large pictures, prints and sculptures/installations en vogue as many artists seem to want to overpower and intimidate by the pure size of their art rather than entrance and stimulate with inspiration.
Click on any photo for the full gallery
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Art-Central-Opening-Night-21/i-r6XbnkZ
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Art-Central-Opening-Night-21/i-n3nhqP3
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Art-Central-Opening-Night-21/i-hXFFcJG
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Art-Central-Opening-Night-21/i-cFZ7SHG
Abigail Reynolds: based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, Abigail Reynolds studied English Literature at Oxford University before pursuing Fine Art at Goldsmiths University. Her interest in books prompts her collages, sculptures, films and most recently, printmaking. The ideas driving Reynold’s work are based on reportage photography books, her interest in networks of association and how our sense of time is affected by technology. She has exhibited at art institutions and galleries in London, Vienna, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Eindhoven. In her presentation at Art Basel in Hong Kong, Reynolds incorporates a large-scale sculpture which will print her sourced images onto glass for the first time.
Newsha Tavakolian: born in 1981, Newsha is a Tehran based photo-journalist and artist. Early in her career she produced photo documentaries in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan and Yemen and gained international recognition with work published in magazines and newspapers such as Time, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and the New York Times. Tavakolian’s exhibitions include Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, Aaran Gallery, Tehran, and Otto Gallery, Florence. In her photography installation for Art Basel in Hong Kong 2016 she documents the lives of nine Teheran residents combining wall size scenery with a large video screen and several photographs of varying sizes into an installation drawn from her forthcoming exhibition and book ‘Blank pages of an Iranian photo album’
Alvin Zafra: born in 1978 in Quezon City, Philippines, Alvin graduated from the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines in 2000 and won the Dominador Castaneda Award for Visual Essay. He’s exhibited at West Gallery, Quezon City, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. In his exhibition at Art Basel in Hong Kong, Zafra explores two different cities and their architectures. The drawings presented are based on photographs he took in the National Capital Region of the Philippines and in Hanover, Germany.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Media-X-Mumm-Harbour-Party2016/i-8JwLfZx
Thunder, heavy rain, a soggy outfield… almost forgotten as the champagne flowed, the beats chilled and Tri’s Indonesian street food sustained at the Media X Mumm Harbour Party @ Art Central – 21 March, 2016
Click on any photo to access the full gallery.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Media-X-Mumm-Harbour-Party2016/i-xNSZxjC
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Media-X-Mumm-Harbour-Party2016/i-PGdCPmQ
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Media-X-Mumm-Harbour-Party2016/i-J6mvFL8
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Media-X-Mumm-Harbour-Party2016/i-WsmTHT6
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Be-Inspired-Installation/i-Xz9NtgC
Be Inspired opening at Landmark 21 March, 2016
Sadly the installation and the artworks are not that inspiring… Take a look for yourself if you’re in the area.
Click on any photo to see the full gallery.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Be-Inspired-Installation/i-9LH5Kh4
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Be-Inspired-Installation/i-kB6GJ3g
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Be-Inspired-Installation/i-263MVsV
The art world focuses on Hong Kong next week with three exhibitions bring thousands of art pieces from emerging and established artists mainly across Asia.
One man’s art though is another’s trash and you’ll wonder exactly what the attraction of some pieces are – but there’s enough variety that you’ll probably find a few things to discus and enjoy.
Art Central
A contemporary art fair in the heart of Hong Kong at the Central Harbourfront 23-26 March 2016 (First Night 21 March) with over 100 exhibitors showcasing the next generation of talent alongside some of the most established contemporary galleries from across Asia and the globe.
Art Central
Date: 23-26 March 2016
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: $500, $230 from HKTicketing
More info:
23 & 24 March: Noon – 7pm
25 March: 11am – 7pm
26 March: 11am – 6pm
Art Basel
239 of the world’s leading Modern and contemporary art galleries display premier paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, prints, photography, film, video, and digital art by over 4,000 artists.
Art Basel
Date: 24–26 March 2016
Venue: HK Convention and Exhibition Centre
Tickets: $850-$150 from HKTicketing
More info:
24 March: 1- 9pm
25 March: 1 – 8pm
26 March: 11am – 6pm
Asia Contemporary Art Show
Artworks from Asia and the world at the 8th edition of the Asia Contemporary Art Show, March 24 – 27 at the Conrad Hong Kong. Browse and buy original paintings, limited editions, sculpture and photography from some of the world’s most interesting and promising artists.
Asia Contemporary Art Show
Date: 24-27 March, 2016
Venue: 40/F-43/F, Conrad Hong Kong
Tickets: $220
More info:
25 March: 1 – 9pm ( 5- 9pm Friday ART Night)
26 March: 1 – 8pm
27 March: 11am – 6pm
India by the Bay returns from the 25 February – 1 March with a range of events that look to bring India’s cultural dynamism to Hong Kong. There’s a mix of classical and contemporary including music, theatre, dance, food, film and literature as the festival reflects India’s artistic depth and diversity. According to the organisers the India by the Bay aims to celebrate the common cultural strands shared by Hong Kong and India and their multi-ethnic populace.
India by the Bay – 24 February to 1 March 2016
24 February – Festival Opening
7:15pm, 25 February – Film – Sharmila Tagore at Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Indian film actress Sharmila Tagore in conversation with Festival Director Sanjoy Roy.
7:15pm, 26 February – Literature – Shobha De at Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Best- selling author of 18 books and widely-read columnist Shobhaa De in conversation with Sanjoy Roy.
6:45pm, 27 February – Music – Rajasthan Josh at Asia Society Hong Kong Center
World music band which combine the folk traditions of the North Western region of India with vocal styles ranging from mystic Sufi traditions, bhajans to the popular folk songs of Rajasthan.
12:30pm, 27 February – Lunch – Karen Anand at Ovolo Southside Hotel
6:45pm, 28 February – Dance – Nityagram at Asia Society Hong Kong Center
The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble are one of the foremost dance companies in India. Although steeped in and dedicated to ancient techniques, the Nrityagram dancers also look to carry Indian dance into the twenty-first century.
7:15pm, 29 February – Theatre – C Sharp C Blunt at Asia Society Hong Kong Center
C Sharp C Blunt is based on the concept of the loop. An electronic musician, live on stage creates and layers loops from live sound. The loop in its nature reflects the training of the singer through endless repetition and also the process of cultural and social programming. This cultural programming also defines the specific way girls and women are supposed to behave.
The play looks at traditional gender roles as engrained by culture versus the woman as the globalised consumer living in a new market that caters to her wants and needs. We look at the performer as a site of battle between purity and consumption, between servitude and ego, between being-looked-at-ness and self-determination.
7pm, 1 March – Buddhist Day – Shantum Seth at Ovolo Southside Hotel
Tickets for all events are available at www.indiabythebay.com
