Hong Kong is a favourite subject matter for residents Chow Chun-fai and Stephen Wong Chun-hei, who have been friends since art school and have, between them, committed large swathes of their home to canvas. The two men, both born in the 1980s, are highly skilled painters who create intricate, realistic representations while adopting perspectives that allow their monumental canvases to capture more than the eyes – or camera lenses – can see...

Asian galleries have been playing the same game as their Western counterparts, if to less splashy notice in the media: Manila dealers have expanded to New York; Tokyo galleries have opened in Shanghai; Shanghai dealers have spread to Singapore.

Juxtaposing the artist's seminal oil paintings with her enduring experiments with paper and mixed media, Void Flowers, Yearly Portrait at Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing (5 November–8 December 2022) traces Shen Ling's artistic practice since the late 1980s.

Although Wang Zhongjie is quiet and reserved, he eloquently conveys the deeply personal feelings that reside within his heart through his art. During the lengthy and complex process of self-exploration, he manages to escape the grim haze that enclosed him, leaving behind the obsolete realities of life.

Three weeks after the opening of Adel Abdessemed’s solo show “An Imperial Message”, RAM had the special opportunity to interview the curator of this exhibition, Larys Frogier, the director of Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai. Inspired by Franz Kaftka’s short parable “An Imperial Message”, the artist carves out an introspective journey while integrating his own thoughts, creativity and trauma into his exhibition. He invites the audience to come up with their own unique interpretations, prompting their journey of self-exploration.

The quickest and the easiest way to learn about a country’s culture is to visit museums and art galleries to experience the culture and history. Enjoy the ‘Gangnam Art Walking Tour’ where you can visit the art galleries located in Gangnam.

Interview with Jeeeun Hong, Art Project & Exhibition Manager of Tang Contemporary Art, at Art Busan 2022.

Are the memories we cherish solid in reality or are they just segments in our dreams? If the latter is the case, isn't our life only a dream within a dream composed of fantasies and memories?

Under the pressures created by the pandemic, Artron has noticed a substantial difference between the development of local and overseas galleries and their responses to the capricious and unpredictable nature of the art market. Whether it be exhibitions or art fairs, galleries overseas have managed to return to the state they were in before the pandemic. On the contrary, the situation of local galleries seem to worsen as they face their toughest times under this year’s hardships.

Adel Abdessemed’s art is elusive and evokes a sense of ambiguity. He does not limit himself to a fixed medium nor artistic style. Instead, he manipulates, stretches and reinvents in a wide variety of approaches, whether that is through films, photography, sculptures, installations, or performances, all while developing a visual language that is unique to him. In some way, Adel Abdessemed’s art is like a Kafkaesque autobiography that documents the violent yet dream-like events that he encountered throughout his life. As a self-proclaimed “action painter”, Adel Abdessemed uses performance art to capture specific moments in time, expressing his strong disapproval of the oppression of individuals by religious and political systems. As the artist said, “the world is the one that is violent, not me.”

Yue Minjun's caricature of a laughing man, said to be both alter ego and self-portrait, became emblematic of the late 20th-century wave of Chinese contemporary art known as political pop.

The Beijing contemporary artist, who is celebrated for his “laughing man” self-portraits, returns to the art scene after a ten-year hiatus. Here’s what to expect from his Hong Kong solo exhibition opening on March 24, where his new pieces are a dramatic departure from his signature aesthetic

Zhao Zhao has come a long way from his humble beginnings in Xinjiang, China, to his current status as an internationally acclaimed artist. He takes Zaneta Cheng and Stephenie Gee on a symbolic journey from the Jurassic period through to modern-day New York by way of his latest solo exhibition.

German figurative painter Jonas Burgert says he finds it interesting not to show the things that have already been there, but what things imply and indicate.

SHANGHAI, China — UCCA Edge opens in Shanghai with the inaugural exhibition “City on the Edge: Art and Shanghai at the Turn of the Millennium,” on view May 22, 2021 to July 11, 2021. This exhibition looks to the city UCCA Edge calls home at the juncture when China’s art world came to envision itself as part of a global contemporary, bringing together new and important works by 26 major Chinese and international artists, many with deep connections to UCCA and the development of contemporary art in China. Participating artists include Matthew Barney, Birdhead, Ding Yi, Fang Fang, Greg Girard, Andreas Gursky, He Yunchang, Hu Jieming, Huang Yong Ping, William Kentridge, Lee Bul, Liang Yue, Ni Jun, Shi Yong, Xu Zhen, Yan Lei, Yang Fudong, Yang Zhenzhong, Yu Youhan, Zhang Enli, Zhang Peili, Yung Ho Chang, Zhao Bandi, Zheng Guogu, Zhou Tiehai, Zhou Xiaohu. “City on the Edge: Art and Shanghai at the Turn of the Millennium” is curated by UCCA Director Philip Tinari.

The capital of Thailand’s name, Bangkok, hints at the city’s organic nature: Some scholars have suggested that it stems from the contraction of bang (บาง), meaning village, and makok (มะกอก), referring to a plant bearing olive-like fruit. With its rhizomatic structure and bottom-to-top dynamic, Bangkok’s art ecosystem epitomizes this characteristic perfectly.

Chaotic and energetic, the city showcases a genuine contemporary identity, thanks to its juxtapositions and contrasts – tradition and modernity, lushness and urbanity, glamour and rougher edges. With its Buddhist temples surrounded by luxury malls and advertising billboards, the city embodies the contemporary reconciliation between high and low art. Thus, the main characteristic of Bangkok’s art ecosystem is probably its hybrid and syncretic nature, blending traditions with today’s popular culture. Its hectic street culture and intangible cultural heritage – from monks’ chants to traditional tattoo art – have inspired many internationally established artists.

Over the past two decades, Rodel Tapaya has become one of the leading Filipino artists of his generation, gaining international recognition in 2002 when he was awarded the Top Prize at the Nokia Art Awards Asia, followed by the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize in 2011.

A curated selection of outstanding artworks by renowned local and international contemporary artists is exhibited during the pop-up exhibition "The Space Between Us II" which is running at Iconluxe, 1st floor of Iconsiam, Charoen Nakhon Road, until March 3.

This is the second instalment of a collaboration between Tang Contemporary Art and Iconsiam, which presents two dozen artworks, mostly acrylic and oil on canvas paintings, as well as some fine art prints and sculptures by a total of 19 artists.

Random Numbers, the new exhibition by Filipino artist Rodel Tapaya, depicts a chaotic, dense reality where a multitude of fragmented objects and living creatures entwine and decompose. Inspired by Filipino and Mexican mural painters, but also by surrealist artists, Tapaya draws a carnivalesque portrait of the Philippines and, beyond, of our contemporary societies driven by excesses and never-ending consumption.

Long Museum (West Bund) presents the large solo exhibition of Chen Yujun entitled “Sheng Zhang” from 31 January to 9 May 2021. It focuses on Chen’s recent socially engaged practice, which includes the cross-boundary experiments completed in collaboration with creators in other sectors, the repeated attempts to construct his native place as the local field, while highlighting the artist’s latest ink-collage series. The mere aim is to give a comprehensive introduction of his evolving language for the plane constitution.

Jonas Burgert (b. 1969, living and working in Berlin) is one of the main figures of the current international art scene. His works are overwhelming in format and content, full of contrasts and enigmas, timeless and symbolic. Especially for the large solo show at the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, he creates new monumental paintings and expansive sculptures. In addition, there are small-format works – mainly portraits.

Jonas Burgert (b. 1969, living and working in Berlin) is one of the main figures of the current international art scene. His works are overwhelming in format and content, full of contrasts and enigmas, timeless and symbolic. Especially for the large solo show at the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, he creates new monumental paintings and expansive sculptures. In addition, there are small-format works – mainly portraits.

An Opera for Animals was first staged at Para Site in Hong Kong between 23 March and 2 June 2019, with works by over 48 artists and collectives that use opera as a metaphor for modes of contemporary, cross-disciplinary art-making. The exhibition's second iteration takes up a large portion of the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) in Shanghai (22 June–25 August 2019), where works by 53 artists have been curated by Para Site's Cosmin Costinas and Claire Shea, along with RAM senior curators Hsieh Feng-Rong and Billy Tang.

Feng Yan is one of the most renowned photography artists in China. As the title suggests, Psychedelic Bamboo celebrates the nearly surreal ubiquity of bamboo in both Chinese art and nature with a nod to Western psychedelic culture. This abstraction of nature echos both the dynamic nonrepresentational style often used in traditional Chinese calligraphy, yet it is distanced further by the use of photography. The psychedelic effect more or less alludes to the psychological response to the transformation of a rather ordinary and commonplace natural object into a romanticized image.

The works of one of Asia's most famous photographers is on display at the Tang Contemporary Art gallery. Wang Qingsong's exhibition comprises over 20 works created over the past two decades. Wang created "On the Field of Hope" during the pandemic this year. The work shares its name with a popular song from the 1980s. Wang chose the song as the title for his latest exhibition, as the song of hope resonates deeply with him."I lost my father in the 80s. For years, it was very gloomy. This song encouraged me. It gave me strength to move forward. I think it fits now during the pandemic too. We all encounter these undesirable moments in our lives, but we still need to be hopeful for the future no matter what disasters we are facing," said Wang.

He Duoling is a prominent figure in the development of contemporary Chinese painting. He rose to fame in the 1980s and his works such as Spring Winds have Awoken, Youth and The Crow is Beautiful have brought a fresh visual experience to viewers and caused a sensation in the art scene. During his artistic career spanning over four decades, He has always lived in Chengdu, Sichuan province–the city where he was born, except for a short journey to America. Instead of yearning for the so-called 'centre', He Duoling chose to stay at the periphery and adhere to his artistic path. Distancing himself from the bustling, chaotic and restrictive 'centre', he instead delved into his own world without any distraction and roamed the realm of art in response to the call of beauty, and reached his self-determined centre in total freedom and relaxation.

Ichihara Lakeside Museum is holdding an exhibition of 7 Chinese contemporary artists on the theme of “paper” with a guest curator Zheng Yan.


Paper is one of the four inventions (compass, gunpowder, paper, printing) in ancient China. The invention of paper promoted the exchanges of literatures, books, science and culture, which contributed the development of world civilization. Japan was founded under the influence of Chinese civilization, not only close in distance, but also culturally closely linked. The culture developed through the medium of paper, such as calligraphy and paintings, is influenced by China in every way.


In the exhibition, the theme of 雲卷雲舒(Yunjuan Yunshu); how clouds gathering around the sun and unfolding in the sky, shows a horizon of the contemporary artistic expression of using paper as a material.

Since the 1980s, Chinese contemporary artists have cultivated intimate relationships with their materials, establishing a framework of interpretation revolving around materiality. Their media range from the commonplace to the unconventional, the natural to the synthetic, the elemental to the composite: from plastic, water, and wood, to hair, tobacco, and Coca-Cola. Artists continue to explore and develop this creative mode, with some devoting decades of their practice to experiments with a single material. The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China brings together works from the past four decades in which conscious material choice has become a symbol of the artists’ expression, representing this unique trend throughout recent history. Some of the most influential Chinese contemporary artists today are featured in this exhibition, including Xu Bing, Cai Guo-Qiang, Lin Tianmiao, and Ai Weiwei. The Allure of Matter premieres at LACMA before traveling to the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, the Seattle Art Museum, and finally the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

With a penchant for obscure metaphors and cryptic imagery, the “Misty Poets” were a little-known movement that flourished in China during the turbulent years between 1979 and 1989. Challenging Maoist artistic ideology, their poems, like the clouds themselves, were veiled and nebulous. Today, as creative restrictions continue to expand and contract in China, their legacy of ambiguity and oblique condemnation endures.

Held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office, the 11th edition of Abu Dhabi’s premiere international art event, Abu Dhabi Art, will this year showcase 49 galleries and artists from the UAE, Europe, Asia and North America.

Thai artist Kitti Narod sees himself as an underdog of Bangkok’s art scene, an outsider who’s happy just to quietly sell his paintings online. “Have you seen the movie Parasite? I’m the guy in the basement,” he laughs. This self-deprecation and humility, however, is at odds with his thriving career.

Can the involvement of dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and an open letter in support of Thailand’s student-led protesters burnish the image of the Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB)? The corporate-sponsored, star-filled spectacle began its second edition on October 29 amid critics’ assertions that it is merely helping the kingdom’s rulers maintain a pretence of normality as thousands gather daily to call for the government to be ousted and reform of the monarchy.

Supporting Art Macao, the city’s mega international art and cultural event, MGM is presenting the Hua Yuan exhibition at MGM Cotai. An opening ceremony was held at the property’s Spectacle on Friday.

MGM says that Hua Yuan stimulates interaction between art and the public. Through Hua Yuan, the essence of Chinese culture and art is preserved and progressed, allowing the public to experience the beauty of ink and wonder at its possibilities, the gaming operator noted in a statement.

Two full-scale cast-steel pigeons, each with strips of dynamite and a Blackberry phone tied to its back, sit quietly in Adel Abdessemed’s Parisian studio. Dressed in his trademark blue pants, a black shirt and a matching jacket, the forty-nine-year-old Franco Algerian fixes his gaze on these humble city dwellers and contemplates a modern urbanity as described by Marc Augé in which the city is filled with non-places like cash dispensing machines, banks, airports, train stations, autoroutes, parking garages and lots.

The works of one of Asia's most famous photographers is on display at the Tang Contemporary Art gallery. Wang Qingsong's exhibition comprises over 20 works created over the past two decades.

Wang created "On the Field of Hope" during the pandemic this year. The work shares its name with a popular song from the 1980s.

There was a lofty goal behind “The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Positioning the exhibition’s works by 21 artists as their examples, co-curators Wu Hung and Orianna Cacchione attempted to coin the phrase “Material Art,” or caizhi yishu, with the hopes that it would enter the art historical lexicon as a new lens through which to understand contemporary Chinese art against a global (or perhaps more specifically, Western) landscape. According to Wu’s accompanying catalogue essay, the term Material Art more aptly describes the practices of artists who gravitate toward specific materials, but who have been wrongly and awkwardly categorized under Western art labels such as “Conceptual Art, assemblage, readymades or object-based art.” In Wu’s estimation, these artists rely on materials to convey socio-political or personal messages.

Bangkok’s cultural scene never fails to impress us with its new talents and thought-provoking arts. The city has become a hot haven for dynamic up-and-coming artists, welcoming innovative ideas and talents with open arms. Dedicated to all these creatives in town, this series explores the journey and the edgy personalities of some of the most notable rising stars in the country.

AFTER being stuck indoors and watching online virtual exhibitions for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s embark on an exotic and romantic journey to the “Heavenly Bodies in the South” exhibition in He Xiangning Art Museum.

Bizarre and surreal scenes, such as Ho Chi Minh with a group of Edgar Degas’ ballerinas in a moonlight-washed island full of palm trees or Jack Ma in an Arabic outfit leaning against a camel and resting in a desert, can be seen in paintings among the nearly 50 exhibits created by Chinese artist Qin Qi and Philippine artist Rodel Tapaya.

Art fairs are expensive undertakings. This is no secret. From participation fee, artwork logistics, staff costs, to travel expenses and much more, the overheads quickly stack up to a hefty bill. No matter how deep the pockets of a gallery—and trust us, many are very deep—it’s still a financial cost that bears certain risk. So why then, are there an increasing number of galleries concurrently participating in ART021–now in its seventh year—and West Bund Art & Design, which is in its sixth year?

Despite the cancellation of two major contemporary art fairs – Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central – in March because of the coronavirus outbreak, it is business as usual, more or less, for many Hong Kong art galleries.

Feng Yan is one of the most renowned photography artists in China. As the title suggests, Psychedelic Bamboo celebrates the nearly surreal ubiquity of bamboo in both Chinese art and nature with a nod to Western psychedelic culture. This abstraction of nature echos both the dynamic nonrepresentational style often used in traditional Chinese calligraphy, yet it is distanced further by the use of photography. The psychedelic effect more or less alludes to the psychological response to the transformation of a rather ordinary and commonplace natural object into a romanticized image.

Jakarta may be sinking, prompting the announcement last month that Indonesia will create a new capital on the island of Borneo, but the city's longest-running art fair is on the rise. Founded by the license holder of Harper's Bazaar Indonesia, the fair began as Bazaar Art Jakarta in 2008. While it's still owned by the same holding company, MRA Media Group, which owns Harper's Bazaar in Indonesia, it changed names to Art Jakarta in 2017, and received a further rebrand this year. The new logo (perhaps too cutely) adds bold to the middle syllable of Jakarta.

The Chinese Economic Reform (改革開放 gaige kaifang, or ‘reform and opening up’) that began in the 1980s has led to China’s rapid growth, but this advancement has not come without the darker side of capitalism. Public outcry demanding democratization led to demonstrations, while income bipolarization was exacerbated. While the first generation of Chinese contemporary artists manifested a critical attitude towards the system and the government, the most recent trends have involved increasingly diverse responses to the Western modernism that young artists have been exposed to since the opening. Against this backdrop, we have invited three leading Chinese artists reflecting the latest trends in contemporary Chinese art: Zhu Jinshi, a first-generation artist after the beginning of the Chinese Economic Reform; Song Dong, a leading proponent of the resistance art movement of the 1990s known as ‘Apartment Art’; and Liu Wei, who is known for remarkable inter-media approaches. In particular, we seek to not merely show a few important historical moments and their representative artistic styles, but provide a condensed overview of chronological developments starting from the 4th June incident of late 80s, which represented an indelible turning point in modern Chinese history...

Another summer is here, and another amazing number of artistic offerings and exhibitions from Asian artists are made known. Here is a list of Asian artists we think will make waves this summer who is a must to watch out for over the warmer months. Hailing from across the region these artists represent the great works coming out of this continent. From the more established works of artists from mainland China to the exciting works coming out of South East Asia, this list is sure to pique any art lover’s interest.

On a balmy November evening, the 11th edition of Abu Dhabi Art kicked off at the Manarat Al Saadiyat on Saadiyat Island, located on the Gulf of Abu Dhabi, with 50 global galleries and a slew of top-notch exhibitions.

Much of our cultural vocabulary is rooted in belief systems that have constantly evolved throughout the centuries. In the Chinese language, the term used to describe the cause-and-effect of events is encapsulated in the Buddhist phrase, yīnguǒ (因果). The good fortune of making acquaintance with a like-minded person is regarded as yuánfèn (缘分), another expression borrowed from Buddhism. Such language, despite being derived from religion, is at the fundamentals of a secular society.

Another summer is here, and another amazing number of artistic offerings and exhibitions from Asian artists are made known. Here is a list of Asian artists we think will make waves this summer who is a must to watch out for over the warmer months. Hailing from across the region these artists represent the great works coming out of this continent. From the more established works of artists from mainland China to the exciting works coming out of South East Asia, this list is sure to pique any art lover’s interest.

Born in 1985, Beijing, China, artist Chen Tianzhuo received his Master’s in Fine Arts degree from the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. Drawing from his experiences in London, Chen began synthesizing the artistic disciplines of installation, performance, video, drawing, and photography. Adopting an eclectic and multidisciplinary practice, it blurs the boundaries between visual and performative art.