Contemporary gallery David Zwirner is doubling up this Hong Kong Art Week, presenting landmark shows by celebrated artists Wolfgang Tillmans and Jeff Koons across its spaces in H Queen’s and Art Basel Hong Kong, respectively.
At its newly opened gallery in H Queen’s, Central, David Zwirner will present Wolfgang Tillmans’ first exhibition in Hong Kong. Following in the steps of the artist’s seminal solo exhibitions at Tate Modern, London (2017), Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2017), Kunstverein in Hamburg (2017), and most recently his first show in Africa at the Musée d’Art Contemporain et Multimédia in Kinshasa (2018), this presentation will feature a broad selection of works that respond to their surroundings while at the same time embodying a self-contained environment.
Spread over the four exhibition spaces of the Hong Kong gallery, Tillmans presents recent developments in his portraiture and still lives. Featuring several new works not publicly shown before, the show juxtaposes pictures of intimacy and friendship with views and angles of the world at large. A wall-sized aerial view of the Sahara Desert displays almost infinite detail while being monochromatic and near-abstract in appearance. In line with Tillmans’s interest in exhibitions as amplifiers of a particular, underlying perspective, each of the works engages in an intricate system of relationships between its aesthetic elements, subject, and institutional setting. Seen together, they implicate the viewer as an active part of the dialogue.
David Zwirner will participate in Art Basel Hong Kong for its sixth consecutive year, and will feature five recent works by Jeff Koons, who will be present at the fair with the gallery. Jeff Koons (b. 1955, York, Pennsylvania) is widely regarded for his bold paintings and monumental sculptures that hold a mirror up to contemporary culture. Using the photorealistic and commercial aesthetic familiar from an earlier generation of Pop artists, Koons has generated his own universally recognizable style that frequently comprises smooth, highly reflective surfaces and bright, saturated colors. Koons typically works in series, tapping into subject matter from popular culture and art history that is frequently reminiscent of childhood in order to empower the viewer toward achieving a state of personal transcendence. On view at David Zwirner’s booth will be Bluebird Planter (2010–2016), Swan (Inflatable) (2011–2015) and three works from Koons’s Gazing Ball series (begun in 2013).
Wolfgang Tillmans’ exhibition will be at David Zwirner Hong Kong Gallery from 26 March-May 2018. Art Basel Hong Kong runs from 29-31 March at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
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