Event: Exploration and experimentation at Hong Kong's fourth edition of Art Central

Art Central is returning to the Hong Kong harbourfront in March with 102 international galleries – 30 of which are joining the platform for the first time.

Wing Shya, Sweet Sorrow series, courtesy of Blue Lotus Gallery.

The fair showcases progressive art which challenges boundaries and brings young and dynamic talent to the forefront. It will run alongside Art Basel during Hong Kong’s art week.

Damien Hirst, Installation from 'Schizophrenogenesis’, 2014. — Damien Hirst, Installation from ‘Schizophrenogenesis’, 2014.

The 2018 edition will focus on discovery and discourse over an extended period of a week, with three quarters of the galleries hailing from the Asia-Pacific region.

Lv Shanchuan 呂山川, Sea No.4 海NO.4, 140x180cm, Oil on canvas 布面油画, 2017.

“For the 2018 edition we are excited to elevate the collector and audience experience with immersive, engaging, and provocative presentations. The curated selection of exhibitors is set to showcase an exciting array of ambitious exhibitions from solo presentations of established artists with demonstrated institutional support; to artists with strong market presences; as well as some of the most talented emerging names,” fair director Shuyin Yang said.

Michael Wolf, Informal Solutions, courtesy of Flowers Gallery.

”Click to view: Blue-chip Modern masters and sought-after artists.”

Modern and contemporary art from South Korea comes to the fore with Gallery Hyundai’s (Seoul) presentation. The showcase will offer historical material from Dansaekhwa figures such as Chung SangHwa and Kim Tschang-Yeul in addition to renowned contemporary forces including painter Minjung Kim and photographer Myoung Ho Lee.
Acclaimed multimedia and installation artist Tony Oursler will be presented alongside the multidisciplinary artist Not Vital (Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Stockholm), both artists have been recognised for shifting the audience experience of art in the 21st century.
Important and canonical artist of Japanese movement Gutai will be on view at Whitestone Gallery (Hong Kong, Tokyo, Nagano, Taipei). The works of founding members Shozo Shimamoto, Atsuko Tanaka, and Sadamasa Motonaga will be shown. In addition, blue-chip Japanese contemporary artists Yayoi Kusama and Yoshitomo Nara will be presented.
A seminal figure of post-war art, Yves Klein will be presented alongside Jesus Rafael Soto and Fernando Zobel (Galería Cayón, Madrid, Manila). The blue-chip artists have a strong secondary market and are increasingly sought after in Asia.
Renowned Chinese artist Lv Shanchuan and Li Hongbo will be exhibited by Contemporary by Angela Li (Hong Kong). Li is known for his popular expendable paper sculptures and carved knife sculptures which embody tales inspired by the traditions of Chinese culture. Concurrently Lv comments on current affairs with his textured canvases built from newsheets and impastoed paint.
Hiroshi Senju (Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore) is internationally renowned for his monumental landscapes, created in the traditional nihonga style of painting, that uses pigments made from minerals, ground stone, shell and corals suspended in animal-hide glue. His works are in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Asian Art Museum (USA); and widely across Japanese institutions. In parallel the rising Singaporean painter Jane Lee will be exhibited, ahead of her 2018 solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.
The kinetic sculptures of Choe U-Ram will be the focus of Metaphysical Art Gallery’s (Taipei) booth. Informed by biology, mathematics, robotics and engineering, Choe’s mechanic sculptures were recently showcased in a major solo exhibition at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.
Pharmaceutical sculptures by Damien Hirst (Paul Stolper, London) from his 2014 ‘Schizophrenogenesis’ series will be presented. A riff on the perception of concept of reality, medicine bottles, boxes, ampoules, syringes, scalpels and pills are fabricated in disorienting scale.
Liu Bolin is most well-known for his chameleon like self-portraits in which his painted figure disappears into the environment. Danysz Gallery (Paris, Shanghai) will bring a large-scale installation, “When you see me I see you” (2017), by the artist to the Fair. Comprised of a complex circuit of screens, webcams and wires, the work provides Liu’s commentary on the pervasiveness of electronic elements in society, whilst also placing his own practice within the art historical context of China.

”Click to view: Emerging artists – discover experimental and progressive art.”

Works by Anne Samat (Richard Koh Fine Art, Malaysia, Singapore) will be presented within a group show. Samat is known for her vibrant textile sculptures, which weave found objects and urban debris into her colourful pieces. Her works were recently selected to be shown in the Yokohama Triennale 2017 and will be exhibited in the Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium (Norway). The practice of emerging Vietnamese voice Trong Gia Nguyen will also introduced, the New York-based artist, whose works contend with power relationships between viewer and art object, is a fresh talent supported by the gallery.
A highlight of Puerto Roja’s show (Hong Kong) are the bamboo mobile sculptures of by Laurent Martin ‘Lo’, the works immerse the viewer in the physical and sensorial virtues of the organic material. A new body of work by Cristiña Morono will also be shown, applying bamboo pulp directly onto the surface of large canvases and embedded with pages from old Chinese books that refer to art theory her lyrical works invite the viewer into her expressive and abstract space.
Seven leading contemporary Australian sculptors will be exhibited by MARS Gallery (Melbourne). ‘The Magnificent Seven’ including Daniel Agdag, Sollai Cartwright, Simon Finn, Lisa Roet, Jason Sims, Tricky Walsh, and Jud Wimhurst, showcasing the diversity of the medium and the strength of its development in the nation.
Flowers Gallery will present a selection of recent works by Korean photographer Boomoon, Julie Cockburn, Ken Currie, Nicola Hicks and Patrick Hughes. In addition Hong Kong based Michael Wolf will create an installation consisting of video, photographs and found artifacts and British artist Jane Edden will be exhibiting a group of twelve kinetic sculptures meticulously assembled with found insect wings, Victorian metallic toys and brass.