Monkey business: Michael Jackson and Bubbles, which Jeff Koons created in 1988, is having its first outing to Hong Kong Rob Corder/Flickr
Jeff Koons is making a splash in Hong Kong this week with an exhibition of early works at the Art Intelligence Global space in Wong Chuk Hang (until 26 April). Called Jeff Koons: 1979-1999, the show includes his headline-hitting porcelain sculpture Michael Jackson and Bubbles (1988), a high-kitsch depiction of the late Thriller pop star and his favourite chimpanzee. The work is making its debut on these shores, Koons told Prestige magazine: “I believe this is the first time that Michael Jackson and Bubbles will come to China, and so that’s exciting,” he gushed. The art-world prankster seems to always have his finger on the pulse; so is he considering creating a tribute to the biggest name of 2024, namely pop princess Taylor Swift? “I love contemporary culture. I have a daughter who’s 13 and we went to one of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts,” he says. “It was phenomenal; she’s an amazing performer with an incredible work ethic and communicates a lot of very strong values to people,” he tells us. Jeff—just shake it off.
Blooming lovely: Alexandre Benjamin Navet has transformed Central’s Landmark shopping mall, in collaboration with Van Cleef & Arpels Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels
Spring has sprung in the Central district of Hong Kong, thanks to the French artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet, who has transformed the walkways and doorways of the Landmark luxury shopping mall with his striking floral compositions. Joining forces with the French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels, Navet has taken over the public space with his nature settings, presenting flowery canvases designed to lift the spirits of Hongkongers. (“I thought it might be too much, but it’s made me feel blooming great,” said one city dweller.) An accompanying online video shows Navet sketching flowers in all shapes and sizes, with a knowing nod to Matisse, who was apparently inspired by the “intense glow” of the jeweller’s Frivole pieces made of curved heart-shaped petals. “Visitors passing through Landmark will step into the artist’s open sketchbook, finding themselves in the midst of a bucolic stroll,” says a statement. Devotees of Navet’s flower renderings can even take home their own mementoes, as Van Cleef & Arpels will be giving away coffee and flowers from dedicated carts created by Navet dotted around Landmark this week.
If the cape fits: fans of arty band The Tetorapotz went incognito at M+
The most raucous party so far this week was at M+ museum, which held its fabled opening party for Hong Kong art week, drawing the great and the good of the city’s art scene. Guests flooded through the doors, keen to see exhibitions such as Madame Song and sample the beats. The highlight of the night turned out to be a performance by The Tetorapotz, a five-man band that includes the artist Izumi Kato, who were greeted by a legion of fans bedecked in bespoke masks and capes. “The live performance at M+ was produced by CHAT [Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile],” Kato tells us. “The leather mask worn by The Tetorapotz is a symbolic item. For this performance, CHAT created a unique cape for them. They then created 60 masks and capes, each unique for the participating audience members.” The masked attendees whooped as the artist Frog King Kwok took to the stage, along with the singer Snatch— real name Noriko Sunayama—who delivered a series of memorable ditties. Snatch drove the crowd wild as onlookers quaffed champagne—without removing their remarkable headgear and capes.
Toot, toot! Wong Ping's show, anus whisper, is at Kiang Malingue gallery Courtesy of the artist and Kiang Malingue
For a scatological journey head to Kiang Malingue gallery for the Hong Kong-born artist Wong Ping’s latest show (until 4 May). The title of the show, anus whisper, sets the tone as mischief-maker Wong takes the viewer on a ride that plumbs new and naughty depths. In the show, anus whisper, “Wong is seen conversing in bed with a stranger before heading to work; the newly found experience of anal auditory hallucinations reminds him of an irreconcilable relationship with another stranger,” says a gallery statement. Confused? The information gets even more opaque: “Interwoven into Wong’s story is Georges Bataille’s early Surrealist text The Solar Anus (1931), repeatedly and freely parodied in the film that confounds both the senses… the anus is taken as a mouth through which whispers are emitted, and words are in turn transformed into abject things.” But bum noises are not the only focus of the show. Ear gunk also makes an appearance via the three-channel video installation Crumbling Earwax (2022) and blah-blah-blah (2022). The latter piece “employs earwax fired into a copper ear sculpture to produce paracusia [auditory hallucinations] sounds reminiscent of church bells”, adds the statement. Toilet humour is, after all, hilarious.
Wong Ka Ying’s adorable kittens and puppies scratch the (fluffy) underbelly of the fetishisation of the temporary Photo: Felix SC Wong; courtesy of the artist and Square Street Gallery
The Hong Kong artist Wong Ka Ying is showing mega-kitsch works at Square Street Gallery that might just kill you with kindness (Plastic Love, until 5 May). Wong’s universe brims over with fluffy kittens, heart-melting cuddly toys and wide-eyed pups that put a spring in your step and joy in your heart. But there is a darker, more melancholic underside to the cute cats and cuddly bears, often seen on posters adorning restaurants and cheap eateries. Wong tells us that the show is “based on my own sadness [linked to] pets considered as objects, and bred cruelly for pure pedigree, and the shining toys won from micro-gambling [activities] in a city where people have endless hours and plenty of money, where humans project their love on fetishised temporary items. It is about loneliness in Hong Kong after 2019, when there was no hope, shops had shut down, relationships had deteriorated quickly, and my cat had passed away.” On the upside, the exhibition includes an arcade claw machine filled with the winsome cuddly toys that usually bring such happiness. “You can try to win a soft cat sculpture for HK$5,” Wong adds, striking a cheery note.
Sky’s the limit: Esmeralda, Kingsley Ng’s billowing work above the Peninsula Hotel, is inspired by Italo Calvino’s fictional city Courtesy of The Peninsula Art In Resonance
The Peninsula Hotel’s Art in Resonance programme is back with a bang during Hong Kong art week, kicking off with newly commissioned works by Lachlan Turczan and Kingsley Ng. The latter’s sculpture Esmeralda—a series of jade green fabric pieces criss-crossing from window to window—hovers over the hotel’s famous façade, turning heads in Kowloon. Ng says that the floaty piece is inspired by Italo Calvino’s celebrated 1972 novel Invisible Cities, which features a city called Esmeralda. “The labyrinthine layout [of Esmeralda], depicted as a zigzagging network of routes ascending and descending through steps, bridges and streets, can possibly be a metaphor of Hong Kong’s urban complexity,” he explains. But this is no ordinary public art piece; it required feats of engineering to control the fabric in high winds. “There is a Chinese saying: every minute on stage takes ten years of hard work—so every project takes a tremendous amount of time and effort,” Ng adds. “Most importantly, it takes a collaborative village to see to every aspect and carry the project through.” The “village” included the company Prime Consulting Engineers, which stepped in to help Kingsley construct the piece (phew).