Author: Ann Williams
Shahzia Sikander talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Sikander, born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1969, was trained in the Indo-Persian tradition of manuscript painting and has used its forms, techniques and language as a springboard for a wide-ranging engagement with colonial and postcolonial history, feminism, gender and sexuality. , and with narratives about cultural identity and race. of Shahzia Sikander the witness (2023) in Madison Square Park Havah… breath, air, life (2023)Photo: Yasunori Matsui, courtesy of the artist and Madison Square…
Hong Kong is full of cultural events this month. In addition to Art Basel Hong Kong and its satellite fairs, there are regulars on the calendar, such as the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and newcomers such as the city’s first ComplexCon, which focuses on contemporary pop culture. . Sensory overload could be on the cards; therefore, planning is essential to enjoy the season. To help you navigate the options, here are nine unmissable works to see, some of which will appear exclusively for Hong Kong Culture Month.Lee Ka-sing at the Asia Art ArchiveThe…
Over 35 years of collecting, Hong Kong-born Patrick Sun has been one of Asia’s foremost patrons and promoters of queer art.Through the Sunpride Foundation, founded in Hong Kong in 2014, Sun has organized pioneering group exhibitions of works from his collection in Asian museums. The inaugural show, at the Taiwan Museum of Contemporary Art in 2017, was said to be the first LGBTQ+ themed exhibition held at any museum in Asia. Subsequent iterations of the exhibition were presented at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center in 2019 and Hong Kong’s Tai Kwun in 2022-23. The Sun’s collection includes works by…
The 1-54 brand is known for its contemporary African art fairs in London, New York and Marrakech. However, a different kind of event is being organized in Hong Kong this week. After launching a program to sell exhibitions in New York and London last year under the title 1-54 Gifts, the fair has brought the new format to Asia. As before, the show is organized by Christie’s auction house, 1-54’s global partner.Coalescent lights It has been curated by Kami Gahiga, who joined the fair last spring as head of VIP and gallery relations. It features 27 artists, including industry heavyweights…
The 11th edition of Art Basel Hong Kong opened its doors earlier this week, with a steady stream of eager collectors descending on the fair, which this year features 242 galleries from 40 countries and territories. Waiting in line to get in were two young Asian collectors, including Youngho Kuk, a South Korean fashion designer, he said. Art Newspaper that, armed with a budget of between 30,000 and 70,000 dollars, he wanted to buy some “art installations”.Other young Asian art buyers were also on hand for the VIP preview, including Ruby Huang, a Hong Kong collector who works in finance.…
An extensive exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s work will open next year at Hong Kong’s M+ Museum, and will feature his work alongside pieces by modern and contemporary Asian artists. All works in the exhibition, Picasso for Asia: An Interview (March 15 to July 13, 2025), on loan from the Musée National Picasso in Paris.Picasso for Asia: An Interview It will feature over 60 works by Picasso (1881–1973) from the late 1890s to the early 1970s, alongside over 80 works by Asian and Asian-diasporic artists from the M+ collection. “The exhibition takes a new and unique approach to interpreting Picasso’s legacy,…
Bahman Mohas, Untitled (Fifi) (1964)Modern and Contemporary Middle East, Sotheby’s, London, April 25Estimate: £150,000-£200,000Bahman Mohasses, called the “Persian Picasso”, painted this work during a prosperous period of his career. It focuses on a faceless female fictional character, Fifi, who appears in a number of his works over the decades, including the same Sotheby’s sale (also estimated at £150,000-£200,000). This character also inspired the title of a documentary about Mohasses, Fifi Howl of Happiness, released in 2013, three years after his death. The film documents Mohasses’ last years, living alone in a hotel room in Rome, and also captures the moment…
More than 400 workers at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), a member of Local 535 of the Public Service Employees Union of Ontario (OPSEU/SEFPO), went on strike Tuesday (March 26) over low wages due to the rising cost of living. As a result, the museum has been closed to the public since Tuesday.According to a statement from the union, after ten months of meetings, negotiations with the museum’s administrators broke down. The union says AGO’s latest offer fails to make significant improvements on key issues, including wage increases and protections against the hiring of precarious part-time workers.”As public service…
XVII By the end of the 19th century, Europe was beginning to see China as more than the legendary land of Marco Polo. As luxury goods—especially porcelain—flowed west and scientific tools and ideas flowed east, the two civilizations were a little more familiar and a little more envied. This period of what might be called respectable greed ushered in a golden age of collecting, with the French royal court at Versailles, then Europe’s finest, and its Chinese counterpart, the imperial court of the Forbidden City in Peking, buying, commissioning or simply receiving. from both worldsNow, the remnants of those two…
Inigo Philbrick, the shameless art dealer who was found guilty of an $86 million fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison, has been freed. The seven-year sentence (including two years already served) was handed down in May 2022, meaning he will serve just under four years of the seven-year sentence.Philbrick’s attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, confirmed his client’s release: “Yes, Inigo is out of jail and at home with his family.” He announced before his release Daily Mail, citing a Federal Bureau of Prisons source who said he was released in February. according to Vanity Fairhe was released in January to…