n.a.

When combined and beating in the cracks .

Siah Armajani (b. 1939, Tehran) moved to the United States from Iran in 1960. He attended Macalester College, in Minnesota, where he studied philosophy. His sculptures, drawings and public works exist between the boundaries of art and architecture, informed by democratic and populist ideals. Armajani is recognized as a leading figure in the conceptualization of the role and function of public art, with nearly one hundred projects realized internationally since the 1960s.

The artist’s education in Western thought and philosophy began in Tehran, where he attended a Presbyterian school for Iranian students, and continued through his undergraduate years in the US. Early theoretical interests continue to influence his work, taking form in objects and architectural spaces designed in homage to literary, philosophical and political figures like Martin Heidegger, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodor Adorno, Ahmad Shamlou and Alfred Whitehead.

American vernacular architecture has been a consistent visual motif in Armajani’s practice, and is manifest in his public works, including bridges, gardens and outdoor structures. In the artist’s words: ‘I am interested in the nobility of usefulness. My intention is to build open, available, useful, common, public gathering places – gathering places that are neighbourly’. These concerns take form in his ongoing series titled Reading Rooms and Reading Gardens, as well as public spaces, pavilions and shelters for social exchanges or solitary meditation.

Armajani’s work is in numerous public collections, including Art Institute of Chicago; British Museum, London; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Dallas Museum of Art; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; M+, Hong Kong; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Geneva; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Rossi & Rossi is proud to present After Nothing Happens, the first major solo exhibition of Hong Kong artist Nicole Wong (b.1990). The exhibition features a body of new works that demonstrates Wong’s continual investigation into the themes of space, time, destiny, and more recently, failure.

Taking inspiration from her everyday surroundings, Wong conceived this exhibition as one that pokes fun at failure’s comical face. The humor and futility of failed attempts may not manifest themselves in the beginning but could eventually dawn on the person in hindsight. This resembles the structure of a comedy as these unintended after-thoughts often overthrow the original failure. Speaking about After Nothing Happens, Wong notes, “I want the exhibition to work as a deadpan joke – one that is not funny enough but still manages to make people laugh because it fails at making people laugh.”

Among the exhibited works, Etudes (2019–20) is a series of musical scores in which the notes are transcribed from recordings of piano practice sessions. Inspired by the sound of her neighbor’s piano lessons, Wong aims to redefine what failure means to different people, revealing the dark comedy between the differences in perspective. Wong describes her neighbor’s practice as extremely repetitive, with minimal progress, and that it suspends the listener’s expectations indefinitely – yet to the pianist it may be the only way to improve. For Wong, the consistent practice and the player’s unyielding spirit is documented within the mistakes and variations of each musical sheet, mimicking the human spirit of trial and error.

Dark Waters (2020) is a set of bulletin board cases where their original contents are replaced by dark-coloured fabrics whose fluidity and the sheen resemble the surface of dark water. Wong then etches a line of text onto the glass panel of each case, with excerpts ranging from personal memories, myths about water, to unfulfilled prophecies. In doing so, Wong converted the found bulletin boards into milieus of suspense, establishing a visual interplay between form, function, text, and the innate qualities of materials.

Still Fountain (2020) is a freestanding bookshelf where the shelving units are filled with ink. The dark matte metallic finish of the bookshelf blends in with the reflective surface of the ink. From afar viewers will not be able to tell that ink has left the furniture nonfunctional, and only upon close inspection would the viewers be able to realize the subversion of the intended function of a bookshelf.

SHOP Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to announce “The Mingei”, a group show curated by Nicolas Trembley, featuring Japanese crafts, prints, design and publications from Oct 9 – Nov 15, 2020. Artworks and products presented in cooperation with Gallery Kojima, KOMIYAMA TOKYO, Kurodatoen, LYAN ARTS’ COLLECTION, Shikama Fine Arts, as well as collectors Terry Ellis & Keiko Kitamura and Masamitsu Saito.

This exhibition explores the presence and legacy of Mingei—the Japanese Folk Craft Movement founded in the late 1920s by philosopher and critic Soetsu Yanagi. Based on handcrafted art, the movement originally finds beauty in everyday ordinary and utilitarian objects created by nameless and unknown craftsmen. Yanagi has a core concern for the functional qualities of objects, which he described as an “honesty with regards to their intended use”, leading to the well-known expression of “YOnoBI” or functional beauty. Perceived through intuition, the inherent beauty of Mingei arts can be enjoyed by all walks of life.

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here. — Pink Floyd “Wish you were here”
Vivian brings to life her realities reimagined. She creates an otherworldly utopia that preserves Hong Kong’s city dynamics, while offering the chance to see our future and to reminisce about the past, to take a break from life, and to re-examine our world within our daily lives. The illustrations open the door to a world somehow familiar, and yet maintains an exotic distance.
“Wish you were here” is a visionary dreamworld that conveys a soft tint of loneliness, and a yearning for understanding and company. In times of significant incidents in the city, the artist asks us to reflect on our presumption on the natural order of things. She also wants us to feel that we are actually not alone, and that we belong to a common destiny. The perfect destination doesn’t exist and the perfect place will never exist. That’s inevitable but it’s not a bad thing.

Sin Sin Fine Art is pleased to present a duo exhibition “It’s About Time” by Indonesian contemporary artists Bob Yudhita Agung & EddiE haRA. In this unprecedented time, we are making every effort to keep ourselves and loved ones safe, while under the attack of constant fear and anxiety about the unknown. Curator Sin Sin Man wants to set a reminder for us to think carefully before returning to “the normal”.

Sin Sin Fine Art is proud to present the debut solo exhibition of Hong Kong-based Swedish photographer Andrea Björsell, showcasing 14 photographs of our beloved city captured in 2020.

When you think of Hong Kong, you think of skyscrapers, neon lights and its vigorous pace. In this photography exhibition, Andrea unveiled another tale of the city by capturing candid, subtle interactions between everyday subjects and their surroundings. By following the footprints of Andrea in the familiar streets of the city, viewers are invited to a visual journey depicting a unique essence of Hong Kong in a tender and profound manner.

Born in Shishi of Fujian Province in 1937, Jose Yu relocated to Hong Kong in 1951. He later founded the Hong Kong International Knitwear Manufacturing Company which has evolved into the multinational conglomerate HKI Group. A well-established entrepreneur, Jose has cultivated an ardent passion for art, particularly photography and Chinese calligraphy. Through his lens, Jose captures mesmerizing sceneries and moments; through his brush, he pours out his thoughts and convictions. The exhibition presents Jose Yu’s photographs and calligraphy of the last two decades, inviting a glimpse into his unparalleled life experience and sensibility.

Kowloon East of the Peninsula, covers mainly Kai Tak Airport old site, Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay commercial area with Kwun Tong being most well-known. It is the first New Town of Hong Kong with a highly developed industry initially. Today, Kowloon East still retains part of the industrial areas and its former looks. However, with government revitalization involving art space and green environment, the old Kowloon East may well have been forgotten.

Photographs in the exhibition are selected from the collections of Hong Kong Museum of History and Information Services Department, HKSAR Government.