Galerie Urs Meile will focus at Art Basel Hong Kong 2018 on a selection of new works by emerging and established contemporary artists. The presentation will include works by Mirko Baselgia, Cao Yu, Chen Fei, Cheng Ran, Michel Comte, Hu Qingyan, Ju Ting, Lang/Baumann, Li Gang, Qiu Shihua, Tobias Rehberger, Shao Fan, Julia Steiner, Not Vital, Aldo Walker, Wang Xingwei, Xie Nanxing, Yang Mushi, Zhang Xuerui. Rebekka Steiger's works will be presented for the first time at Art Basel Hong Kong and featured within the Kabinett at our booth.
Shao Fan (b. 1964 in Beijing, China) developed his unique visual language out of a thorough knowledge and application of Chinese classical aesthetics. He will be presented with recent ink paintings of animals, whom he depicts in poses, and situated in plain surroundings or in landscapes recollecting Chinese landscape paintings, where they can unfold their individual characteristics. He dedicates his minutely detailed brush strokes to dignify the depicted creatures in his monumental, always larger-than-live paintings on silk or on rice paper, which is mounted on scrolls or onto canvas. In front of Old Ape in the Grass (2017, ink on rice paper, 175 x 130 cm) creature itself in its grace can be contemplated. Shao Fan's solo presentation consisting of his most recent ink paintings is currently on view in our gallery in Beijing (March 23–May 6, 2018).
Yang Mushi (b. 1989 in Jiangxi Province, China) submits himself to a rigorous daily routine. He diligently works on his sculptural materials in vigorous acts of sharpening, sawing and grinding, finally covering them with black lacquer, thus reducing them to dark shapes of violent aesthetics and a martial kind of beauty. Yang's consistent artistic approach, starting by choosing industrial raw materials and only black colour reaches as far as the naming of his works, mainly only giving a technical description of what he did to the materials. Among other works, we will present Sharpening - Block (No. 5), 2017 (wood, black spray lacquer, 245 x 123 x 18 cm).
Michel Comte (b. 1954, lives and works in Zürich, Switzerland) who studied in France and England, started his career as an art restorer specializing in contemporary art. Comte worked with Andy Warhol and Yves Klein. In 1979, he met Karl Lagerfeld who gave him his first commercial assignment for Chloe and later Chanel. Since his beginnings, he mainly collaborated with Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair and connected with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferré, BMW, Ferrari and many others. Comte divided his time traveling into conflict zones to raise funds for humanitarian projects such as People and Places with No Name. In 2008, Comte met Ayako Yoshida. He dedicated more time into art and personal projects. Together they produced their first 3D feature film The Girl from Nagasaki. Comte opened Neoclassic exhibition at the National Gallery in Parma in Fall 2016. Neoclassic is Comte's take on rise and fall of neoclassicism. He completed two solo exhibitions Light at The MAXXI museum in Rome and La Triennale in Milan in November 2017. Comte explores the impact of environ- mental decline on the glaciers and glacial landscapes of the world. Light is study of natural landscapes through large-scale sculptures, photography, video installations and projections. At Art Basel Hong Kong we will present different works from his Light project, among them Untitled (Black Murano Glass, Mountain 1), 2017 (hand crafted murano glass, granite dust; (H) 40 x 29 x 20 cm, edition of 2 + 1 AP).
Wang Xingwei (b. 1969 in Shenyang, China) is prone to depicting scenes that are ambiguous, irrelevant, absurd, vulgar, scandalous, and laughable. His artistic media is painting. His plots are often unexpected and far-fetched, yet charmingly surreal. We will present at Art Basel Hong Kong one of Wang Xingwei's most recent works Son of the Beekeeper - The Painter Liao Guohe (2017–2018, oil on canvas, 240 x 200 cm), which is a very important piece of his recent portraits. The image of the main character is based on the Chinese contemporary artist Liao Guohe, but is delineated with exaggerated "long legs". Liao Guohe's father in real life is also a beekeeper. The heart-shaped cloud in the sky echoes the gesture posed by the artist. The entire work is bright, vibrant and full of power.
Xie Nanxing (b. 1970 in Chongqing, China) is a revolutionary experimental painter who always challenges tradition and the seemingly established rules of art education. He is interested in the human psyche and approaches his practice with a psychologist's line of questioning, inquiring into what is behind the surface. Xie Nanxing's recent series Spices, 2016–2017, will be presented in the artist's first solo show at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing, March 17–May 27, 2018. The series comprises seven large paintings that reconstitute the artist's personal understanding of classic paintings based on his experiences and impressions from seeing them in the museums of the West.
Cao Yu (b. 1988 in Liaoning, China) has developed a remarkably straightforward artistic language with simple and refined monotony and symbolic meaning. Under the title I Have an Hourglass Waist, the young artist presented her first solo exhibition in our gallery in Beijing (until January 28). The artist's highly experimental works are spanning such mediums as photography, video, painting, sculpture, installation and performance. New works from her Canvas series will be included in our presentation for Art Basel Hong Kong: Canvas 171014-171021 ( 2017, sign pen on canvas, 50 x 50 x 15 cm).
Ju Ting (b. 1983 in Shandong Province, China) draws from her experience in graphic printing. She layers a number of overlapping foils of acrylic paint, accepting the injuries of the surface occurring during the production and leaving them as part of the appeal of the work: untitled121817 (2017, acrylic on board, 115 x 109 cm).
Kabinett Rebekka Steiger, Untitled, 2017, Galerie Urs Meile shows a solo presentation by young emerging Swiss artist Rebekka Steiger (b. 1993 in Zürich, Switzerland). The artist chose painting as her artistic medium, in which she expresses herself freely and in a virtuoso manner. Repeated application of layers of colour in a process embracing serendip- ity characterizes her artistic approach, always readily confronting the unknown and the unexpected. Steiger gets inspiration by browsing through old books and photographs. Her abundant visual knowledge is then put into practice in a subtle and playful manner. The procedure of exercising the monotype technique is an additional tool for her to develop ideas for her compositions. While putting layer upon layer of colour, Steiger's paintings become abstract and culminate in works of great ambivalence and enormous intensity. Her figures are situated in floorless rooms (untitled, 2017, oil on canvas, 240 x 200 cm), riding on horseback through diffuse landscapes (untitled, 2017, oil on cotton, 200 x 240 cm) or seeming to be stranded in the limitless image space after a trip through the underworld. Her works appeal to us for their intensive colourfulness deriving from the young artist's strong interest in emotionality and the atmospheric.
HOURS
Private View (by invitation only)
Tuesday, March 27
Wednesday, March 28
Vernissage
Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 5pm to 9pm
Public Days
Thursday, March 29, 1pm to 9pm
Friday, March 30, 1pm to 8pm
Saturday, March 31, 11am to 6pm