Urban Reveries; My Top 5 Favorite Works at This Year’s AAA Fundraiser
Non-profit Art organization, Asia Art Archives (AAA) ultimate aim is to raise $6.5Million US for their endowment in order to continue their core work in Hong Kong, which is to archive and accumulate works, stories, and idedas as it relates to Asia’s contemporary art in the new millennium.
85% of their archive is donated material, and whether it be online or their physical space in Sheung Wan, all materials are free and open to the public to access. Starting today you too can support AAA as well as own a piece of work by any one of Asia’s hottest contemporary artists to date via the Archives’ Annual Fundraiser 2012. Proceeds of the pieces at auction can be bid online or bid live depending on the block for each work. All pieces for auction go on exhibit starting today at Sotheby’s One Pacific Place from 10AM to 5:30PM. Preview ends on the 23rd and live auction is this Saturday, November 24th.
Check out my Top 5 Favorite works on the Auction block.
+ Dream 2007 No. 8 / JING Kewen / Lithograph, 65 x 65cm (SILENT LOT 37)
Jing Kewen’s works have been exhibited prominently in Europe and the United States. Primarily using Oil as his main medium, Jing Kewen’s very formal approach to painting often depict young figures amidst city scapes and architectures, using old 1950s photographs as a jumping off point. It’s not really political as it is aiming towards iconic romance.
+ Lanwei20 Tomorrow’s Resort Taipei, 2009 / anothermountainman (Stanley Wong) / Archival Inkjet Print / 109.2 x 174 CM (LIVE LOT 9)
Lan Wei reflects Stanley Wong’s obsessions with mankind’s abandoned construction projects when the economic bubble bursted in Asia in the mid 1990’s. This study, which began in China in 2006, has spread to documentation of other equally haunting ghost sites in the region such as Taipei, Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur.
+ Al Gubaiba, 2012 / Joao Vasco Paiva / Acrylic and Offset Print on Canvas / 60 x 60 x 2 CM (SILENT LOT 68)
Joao Vasco Paiva is a Portuguese artist who has actively been producing great work from Hong Kong since he moved to the city in 2006. This particular painting reflects his formal studies in 2D and 3D which lean towards symbols, shapes, and topographies with an architectural implication. For example he took the Al Gubaiba (DUBAI) Subway Map and removed it of lines, text, and content, whats left is an alternate reading of the same subject matter via new form. His aim is to create or reveal a new facet of information from his urban studies.
+ Gloucester & Gloucester, 2001 printed in 2012 / LEUNG Chi Wo / C-Print / 35.5 x 55cm (SILENT LOT 47)
Co-founder of Para/Site Art Space, Leung Chi Wo is one of Hong Kong’s most prominent independent art figures. Leung Chi Wo usually works with Hong Kong as the main subject of his works, questioning history and identity through text and photography. This work is an offshoot of the artist’s Colour Series (1999-2003) and deals with perception of the urban space through the photographic capture and subsequent tweaking of the composition.
+ Light Year No.9, 2006 / LIU Wei / Oil and Acrylic Paint on Metal Plate / 80 x 80cm (LIVE LOT 11)
Beijing born Liu Wei was recently named Artist of the Year in 2007 via the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards and showcased at Art Basel Miami Beach and the Lyon Biannial in 2007. Since then Liu Wei has shown in the Shanghai Biennial and exhibited his first show in London via White Cube Gallery this year. Liu Wei works with multiple mediums from sculpture, to film, to installation, to print. His works touch upon the human and social condition via dream figures and fantastical narratives.
Do you see a common thread in all the work above? Anyway, curious to know what your favorite pieces are in the auction. Check it out at the preview, and let me know!
SUPPORT AAA Fundraiser 2012 / Preview 20-23 November and Auction 24 November at Sotheby’s 5F One Pacific Place, Admiralty HK.
JJ.
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