Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts: Ink Landscape Paintings by Nobel Laureate Writer Gao Xingjian.. and More
Hong Kong
Alisan Fine Arts: Ink Landscape Paintings by Nobel Laureate Writer Gao Xingjian
For two months every year, Hong Kong hosts the French May Arts Festival, which showcases French art, music, dance, theater, and gastronomy. To celebrate the festival’s 30th anniversary since its inception in 1993, leading Hong Kong gallery Alisan Fine Arts presents “Gao Xingjian: Inner Vision 2023”.
Gao Xingjian (b. 1940) is a France exile Chinese artist, novelist, playwright, and painter. The exhibition presents ink drawings created by Gao Xingjian over the past two years. He used various shades of ink on the rice paper to paint the changing light, shadow, and air. The solitary figures and fantastical, deserted landscapes are reminiscent of his Nobel Prize-winning work, 『Soul Mountain (靈山, 1990)』. The exhibition runs through August 31.
Japan_Tokyo
Tokyo Gendai Art Fair, the First International Art Fair in 30 Years, Soon to Open with Art World Expectations and Government Tax Deregulation
The upcoming Tokyo Gendai Art Fair will take place in Yokohama, near Tokyo, from July 7-9 (VIP preview on July 6). As the first international art fair in 30 years, it is gaining expectations to revitalize the Japanese art market. The fair will feature 74 major galleries from Japan, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the United States.
To ensure the fair’s success, the Japanese government has announced tax breaks for foreign galleries. While foreign dealers will have to pay a 10% goods and services tax to bring art into Japan, the tax will only apply to works sold at the fair, not all works brought in. Magnus Renfrew, the representative of the Gendai Art Fair, said that Japan’s contemporary art market has lagged behind the international market due to burdensome taxes and the lack of international fairs, and expressed optimism that the fair will serve as an opportunity to renew the Japanese art market.
Turkey_Istanbul
Pro-government Conservatives in Istanbul Protest against Public Art Exhibit Deemed “LGBT Propaganda”
In late June, ArtIstanbul Feshane, a public art museum housed in a restored 19th-century factory in Istanbul, opened after a lengthy construction process. However, from the very first exhibition, it was denounced by conservatives as “LGBT propaganda” and temporarily closed. The museum reopened in the evening after the group dispersed. The protesters are believed to be pro-government groups. During the recent parliamentary elections, the ruling party criticized the opposition’s pro-LGBT policies.
The exhibition in question, “Starting from the Middle,” features more than 300 contemporary Turkish artists. Shortly after its opening, pro-government newspapers and online outlets criticized the exhibition. Taner Ceylan’s (b. 1967) ‘Ingres (2015),’ a transsexual portrait modeled after a neoclassical masterpiece, and Ekin Keser’s (b. 1993) installation work ‘Any touch tears me up now (2023),’ which depicts the difficulties of being LGBT in Turkey, were the main targets of attack.
