Both an art form, and a valuable decorative commodity – particularly when diamonds and other precious stones and metals feature prominently – jewellery is also, depending on the creator and the intention, wearable art. Artists have been designing jewellery for centuries – Hans Holbein the Younger made beautiful drawings for elaborate gem-set gold pendants as … Continue reading
Published on ocula.com, 7 April 2017 For one week each year, Hong Kong, the capital of capital, transforms from a tycoon’s Monopoly board dotted with luxury malls and expensive real estate into Asia’s art centre. During Art Basel’s annual week in Hong Kong in 2017, art could be found everywhere. Malls were filled with art … Continue reading
Published on ocula.com, 23 March 2017 Hot on the heels of the Hong Kong International Arts Festival, Hong Kong this week welcomed the fifth edition of Art Basel. You’ve flown thousands of miles, endured over eight hours of screaming spawn on a long haul flight, paralysing jetlag, and visual and social overload at the Art … Continue reading
Published in Artomity, Spring 2017, Issue no.4. I never interviewed Howard Hodgkin, who passed away on March 9 aged 84. The artist didn’t like to talk about his paintings, or attempt to explain them into relevance, although for the purpose of this review I’m going to do just that. Hodgkin’s paintings aren’t about narrative or … Continue reading
Published on Cobo Social, 16 February 2017 As far as you look back in history, the arts have always interacted with the power structures of their time. Artists, writers, poets, filmmakers and musicians have been indispensible critical voices, reacting to cultural and political discourse, connecting with social movements. They can be a powerful voice of … Continue reading
Published on ocula.com, December 2016 On the third floor of the Pedder Building in Hong Kong’s CBD, a series of bright, loud, rhinestone-encrusted paintings shout and leap from the walls of Lehmann Maupin Gallery like a troupe of Folies Bergère girls. They demand attention, seducing, cajoling, and tempting the viewer to come closer. These large, densely-layered, and … Continue reading
‘Tis the season for curling up under a blanket by the fire with a nice whisky, and catching up on all those books you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t had time. Here are five modern and contemporary classics to pack in your holiday suitcase to satisfy (almost) every mood, from the political, nostalgic, poetic and … Continue reading
