S.E.A. Focus, the new boutique art fair by STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, will take centre stage during this year's Singapore Art Week (19–27 January 2019). Running between 24 and 27 January 2019, 26 galleries will participate in the inaugural edition, showcasing modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art within a pop-up structure in...

'There is nothing more boring than the story of decline,' a journalist remarked at an art criticism panel I attended the evening before making the trip to see Art Taipei (26–29 October 2018). As I attended the opening night of Asia's oldest art fair, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, those words rang in my head. Wandering up and down...

'With a strong selection of returning exhibitors, the 2018 edition welcomes 87 galleries in the Galleries section, among which 39 are participating for the first time.'– West Bund Art & Design (8–11 November 2018).

PHOTOFAIRS | Shanghai held its fifth edition between 21 and 23 September 2018. As in previous years, the event was held in the Shanghai Exhibition Center—a neoclassical construction dating from 1955, built in the form of a central hall with two curved wings, topped with an ornate and unmissable 110-metre spire. The building is surprisingly...

'Frieze London 2018 showcases the best of international contemporary art, with a discerning selection of around 160 galleries presenting their most forward-thinking artists and imaginative presentations. Opening for the first time with a two-day preview, Frieze London coincides with Frieze Sculpture and Frieze Masters in The Regent's Park, together...

Condo Shanghai (7 July–26 August 2018) is the first Shanghai edition of the Condo project, which was initiated in London in 2016 by gallerist Vanessa Carlos, of Carlos/Ishikawa. Since its inception, Condo has toured to cities like São Paulo (2018), Mexico City (2018), and New York (2017 and 2018). It connects local and international galleries by...

To coincide with the second edition of Gallery Weekend Beijing, taking place between 23 and 30 March 2018, various institutions have brought out the big guns, including a list of international artists from Sarah Morris to Paul McCarthy. Galleries are also gearing up for the weekend, from Liu Wei showing at Long March Space, to Richard Deacon at...

In a career spanning more than half a century David Diao has conducted a many-faceted exploration of the assumptions and comprehension of contemporary painting, which has been underpinned by vast erudition, a sharp critical intelligence, and a sustained sense of humour. Not surprisingly he enjoys a reputation as an insightful and stimulating...

A pair of glasses with the lenses blown out, as if the viewer has seen something so hot his eyeballs exploded. A folding chair in a cell spattered with hurled tomatoes; an accomplice in the execution of a clown. Chinese photographer Chen Wei made his name staging and photographing scenes like these—sets from films that don't exist; stories...

Already recognised in the Western art historical canon, 71-year-old Irish-born, American-based artist Sean Scully’s oil paintings are characterised by their geometric constructions and painterly expression. These two disparate modes marry in the artist’s canvases and act as a retort to the rigidity of last century’s hard...

Yorkshire-born businessman Howard Bilton is the founder and chairman of the Sovereign Art Foundation, established in Hong Kong in 2003. The Foundation focuses on both recognising the abundance of artistic talent in Asia and bringing the benefits of art therapy and education to underprivileged children.In both endeavours, the Foundation is...

When Sydney art dealer Ray Hughes visited Swiss collector Uli Sigg at his Mauensee residence near Lucerne some years ago, a mutual friend asked the dealer how the visit went. ‘Did you feel comfortable and find a place to kick your feet up and read?’ ‘No, to both,’ answered Hughes, ‘it seems there was only art...

Art Basel Hong Kong has started early this year. I don’t mean just the dates, which have been pushed forward from May to March. I mean inboxes are already flooded with invitations for previews and dinners taking place well ahead of the March 22 VIP preview. There are more events, more exhibitions, and certainly more collectors descending...

Contemporary Singapore, as most observers of the island state will know, is a place that has grown enormously successful despite the shock of its early separation from a federation with Malaysia. Celebrating its golden jubilee last year, and branded in typical Singaporean fashion as ‘SG50’, there was excitement in some circles over...

The opening of ART021 on Friday, 20 November ended at Shanghai Night Club (上海之夜), a four-storey karaoke bar run by Chinese collector Qiao Zhibing. Painter Ding Yi held a cigar in his hand and wore a bemused expression on his face as singer QT tottered around the venue’s main stage, watched over by several large Yang Fudong photographs,...

Lyrical, nostalgic and profoundly beautiful, Yang Fudong’s photographs and multi-channel videos have immediately become iconic. Ocula spoke to Yang on the occasion of his new solo shows:  Twin Tracks: Yang Fudong Solo Exhibition at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai (until 15 November 2015) and Yang Fudong: Filmscapes at Auckland Art Gallery...

The much-anticipated National Gallery Singapore opened its doors to the public for the first time on 24 November 2015. Following an extensive renovation by Studio Milou Architecture, the museum now occupies two important historic buildings in the heart of Singapore’s Civic District, the former City Hall and Supreme Court buildings. The...

With an ultra slick website that enables easy navigation of its 400 plus artworks from many of the leading artists of today, the Tiroche DeLeon Collection is unique in its focus and ownership structure. Established in 2011 by Serge Tiroche and Russ DeLeon, the collection is focused on artworks by both recognised masters, and emerging talent from...

There was something different about Art Basel this year, and it wasn’t just the redesign of the first floor in Hall 2, or the reshuffle of Hall 1, in which Magazines and the Conversations sections were placed at the entrance preceding Unlimited. There was a celebratory atmosphere more often associated with Art Basel’s Miami edition:...

Yang Zhichao’s Chinese Bible is both unyieldingly monumental and humble. In the latest presentation of the work in Sydney, all 3,000 of the diaries he has collected from Beijing’s fleamarkets are placed in neat rows on a large, rectangular plinth. Dated from 1949 to 1999 they record 50 turbulent years in China’s...

When Australian collectors and philanthropists Gene and Brian Sherman moved from South Africa to Australia in 1976, Gene says they instantly recognised a “buzz about Asia” that they weren’t expecting.As an academic teaching French literature, the push towards Asian languages also put her out of a job. “I went into...

Two private museums beside the Huangpu River are celebrating their first birthdays this spring. The Long Museum West Bund, which opened in March 2014, is marking the occasion with a Xu Zhen solo show, while the Yuz Museum, which opened last May, has at last launched its second exhibition. Both shows are milestone moments in the...

Duddell’s, the restaurant and bar which has also become one of Hong Kong’s most important art spaces, recently collaborated with London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) to present the exhibition, Duddell’s Presents: ICA Off-Site: Hong Kongese. The exhibition, which opened earlier this year to coincide with Art Basel...

Biennials are inherently messy. Gathering hundreds of pieces by international artists working in different mediums creates an exponential number of echoes and dissonances. Their messiness differs, though, in kind and degree, as exemplified in recent Shanghai Biennales.