Vision Tunnels is the name of the installation designed by Hong Kong architect Rocco Yim. Within its three “tunnels” are a selection of artworks loaned by galleries, most of which are conveniently located in Central. These artworks are hung up in the tunnels, and you have to look up to see them.

Salvador Dalí, L’oeil fleuri, 1944, Opera Gallery

The first artwork I encountered was Dalí’s. I found it strange yet fascinating; I just absolutely love this Surrealist work! The amount of detail is also notable, like the flowered eyelashes, the scratchy orange color on the stone eye, the contrasting texture between the eye and bricks – so brilliant to me.

Eric Baudart, Concave – Cuivre, 2015, Edouard Malingue Gallery

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Portrait of Pierre Renoir a la Capeline, 1886, Opera Gallery

This is the second time I’ve seen Renoir, the first time at Singapore Pinacothèque de Paris. It’s in his signature light, fluffy style, and the painting comes with a gorgeous gold gilt frame. But I think that Renoir’s small portraits look too lightweight. Naturally, his renowned works seem to look much better, at least in digital images. I’ll like to view them for myself in real life one day and see if I might think differently.

Huang Rui, Dance of I Qing – Yao (1-32), 2015 (left), Dance of I Qing – Yao (33-64), 2015, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery

Tseng Kwong Chi, Hollywood Hills, California, 1979, Ben Brown Fine Arts

Coincidentally, I’d just seen this photograph in an art magazine a little while before I saw it in real life! Always feels good to encounter an artwork you’ve only seen as an image before.

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Hercules and Omphale, early 1620s, Christie’s

I used to be pretty interested in Greek mythology when I was a kid, with their host of gods and goddesses and their classic stories. I didn’t realize how broad Greek mythology was (and how little I knew of it) until I started probing around the gazillions of Greek myths depicted in many European paintings of earlier centuries. I’ve no clue what’s going on in this painting, and I don’t know who Omphale is, though I’d heard of Hercules (thanks, Disney)… So a bit of research it is.

This mythological story is about the Greek god Hercules who had to atone for the murder of a friend, and does so by being lowered from his godly status and becoming a slave of Omphale, the queen of Lydia, an ancient kingdom located somewhere in present-day Turkey. Hercules was forced to do the bidding of Omphale, and he was involved in women’s work like spinning yarn/wool and would also wear women’s clothing. Omphale is often depicted wearing Hercules’s lion skin, while Hercules often holds a distaff or spindle, representing his work. While the story is originally about Hercules’s humiliating punishment, Renaissance and Baroque art took it as a representation of woman’s dominion over men. I assume that’s what Sir Peter Paul Rubens was also going for as he was a Flemish Baroque painter. In this painting, Omphale is the woman in red pulling on Hercules’s ear, who is surrounded by who I presume are Omphale’s maidens.

I’d happened to visit Vision Tunnels while there was a children’s painting workshop going on, and they were either painting after individual artworks or painting the Vision Tunnels. I found one young boy’s painting after Renoir so impressive I had to take a shot!

I really like the idea of viewing art within a mall, but I had one problem with this year’s installation. Most of the artworks were located within the Vision Tunnels, so I had to crane my neck to see them and it didn’t make for the best viewing experience. Reuben’s and Dalí’s paintings were best positioned at the ends of the tunnels and I could view them from a comfortable distance. I’d prefer it if all the artworks could be easily viewed without obstruction. It is interesting though how all the artworks are suspended from the ceiling without occupying any floor space and potentially disrupting shoppers! Probably only in Hong Kong would space be utilized so fully.

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| Cover picture: Alighiero Boetti, Rinaldo Annamaria Luna Rossi, 1993-94, blue ballpoint pen on cardboard on canvas, Tornabuoni Art |

303 Gallery

Another mirror piece in the fair – right side up this time! So perfect for selfies.

Liza Lou, Untitled, #14, 2011, Untitled, #15, 2011, Untitled, (Grid), 2012-14, Untitled, #12, 2011, woven glass beads on linen, Goodman Gallery

Kendell Geers, Four Letter Brand (Evil) 1, Four Letter Brand (Fate) 1, Four Letter Brand (Life) 1, Four Letter Brand (Gift) 1, plexiglas mirror and charred wood, Goodman Gallery

Alfredo Jaar, Other People Think, 2012, lightbox with transparency, Goodman Gallery

Hey, I do too!

Julian Opie, Walking in the rain, London, Walking in the rain, Seoul, 2015, screenprints, Alan Cristea Gallery

Polígrafa Obra Gráfica

Every gallery booth has a table and chairs for their staff, sometimes also for the laying out of books and brochures and whatnot, but this cardboard-style desk and chairs set looked very interesting!

Isabel Nolan, There will be time no longer, 2014, mild steel, wadding, wool and thread, Kerlin Gallery

Isabel Nolan, The emptied room: A rug for the 20th Century, 2014, hand tufted wool, Kerlin Gallery

Liam Gillick, Intermodal Elevation, 2015, powder coated aluminium, plexiglas, Kerlin Gallery

So many people at Art Basel! Just don’t stand too still to be thought of as a sculpture…

Norberto Roldan, Viper, 2015, oil and acrylic on canvas, Arndt

Love it! The quote is perfect, and I like the juxtaposition with an image of a fighter jet.

Leung Mee Ping, Expected Departure, x-rays, light boxes, 2006-14, Osage

I actually find this concept of x-ray images of various vomit bags really interesting! There’s a Hello Kitty bag, Thai Airways bag…

Yifei Chen, Early Morning (Suzhou), 1983, oil on canvas, Hammer Galleries

Yifei Chen, Leisurely Boat Ride (Suzhou, China), 1983, oil on canvas, Hammer Galleries

Yang Maoyuan, THEY are coming to Hong Kong, 2014, mixed media, Platform China

The title made me crack up so hard, HAHAHA! My favorite is the horse, there’s also a mutated camel and blue ball monster in the background. Weird creatures or not, doesn’t the horse look so real? You can really see the meticulousness that Yang put into his work in the details of the horse’s face, with small sweat/saliva beads on its little hairs.

João Vasco Paiva, Mausoleum, 2015, acrylic on stone resin modules on galvanized mild steel structure, Edouard Malingue Gallery

I first saw Paiva’s works in his Near and Elsewhere exhibition at Edouard Malingue Gallery at the end of 2013 and I remember my favorite were his stone resin works representing the styrofoam boxes you often see at wet markets in Wanchai (Hong Kong). That was my first foray into contemporary art! It was really nice to see Paiva’s works again but now in a larger than life format!

Fernando Botero, Man with dog, 2005, oil on canvas, galerie gmurzynska

Pablo Picasso, Femme à la robe verte, 1956, oil on canvas, Acquavella

I love how this painting was hung beside a photograph of Picasso at work. Can you spot the painting in the photograph? :)

Wayne Thiebaud, Four Heart Cakes, 1971, pen and ink on paper; Ten Candies, 2000, pastel on paper, Acquavella

Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (568-1), 1984, oil on canvas, Van de Weghe Fine Art

Jeff Koons, Flower Drawing (Red), 2011, mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating; reflecting Andy Warhol, Endangered Species (Ram), 1983, synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas, Van de Weghe Fine Art

Kitty Chou, Conflation #2, 2012, inkjet on Hahnemühle photo rag paper; Wang Keping, Femme, 2006, acacia;  Tseng Kwong Chi, Paris, France (Female Figure and Eiffel), 1983, silver gelatin print, Ben Brown Fine Arts

Alexander Calder, Poisson Avec Tête Humaine, 1976, metal painted hanging mobile, Ben Brown Fine Arts

Vik Muniz, Forbidden City (Postcards from Nowhere), 2014, digital C-print, Ben Brown Fine Arts

I love Muniz’s Postcards from Nowhere series! He builds images of places and people with scraps of paper, postcards, and the like, with the scraps themselves containing images related to the overall image Muniz creates. The final piece we see is a photograph of his work.

Gavin Turk, Refuse, 2012, painted bronze, Ben Brown Fine Arts

This is too funny. It’s the shiniest and most refined bag of trash I’ve seen because it’s made of bronze! I really wonder where this artwork can be displayed though…

William Tillyer, The Frobisher Paintings, Oranges on a Plate, 2015, acrylic and mesh on canvas, Bernard Jacobson Gallery

Andy Warhol, Mao, 1973, synthetic polymer and silkscreen on canvas, Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art

Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1970, set of ten screenprints on paper, Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art

Andy Warhol, Jackie, 1964, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art

It’s again great to see works from modern artists like Pop Art forerunner Andy Warhol at Art Basel. I’m not a big fan of Warhol’s, but I do find his ideas interesting!

Alighiero Boetti, Mappa acquolina in bocca nell’anno 84 Alighiero e Boetti Afghanistan, 1983-84, embroidery on cloth, Tornabuoni Art

Pinaree Sanpitak, The Hammock, 2014/15, blown glass and steel, Yavuz Gallery

When I was younger, I always had this dream to sleep in a hammock. I never did, and I still haven’t!

Haegue Yang, Sonic Figure – Ancient Revenant, 2015, steel stand, metal grid, powder coating, casters, copper plated bells, nickel plated bells, metal rings, Galerie Chantal Crousel

Yoshitomo Nara, Setsuko the Cat, 2012, bronze, Blum & Poe

Bronze sculptures make up another part of Nara’ wide repertoire. I find this looks a little creepy, I prefer the little girls!

Pablo Picasso, Compotier et bouteille sur un guéridon (Fruit bowl and bottle on a pedestal table), 1913-17, oil on canvas, Richard Gray Gallery

Picasso’s Cubist pieces are always so fun to decipher! Love his work.

Jaume Plensa, Blake in Venice (In Seed Time Learn…), Blake in Venice (Exuberance is Beauty), Blake in Venice (One Thought Fills…), 2013, murano glass, Richard Gray Gallery

Roy Lichtenstein, Sky, Land, and Water, 1984, oil and magna on canvas, Richard Gray Gallery

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1973, drawing paper, transparent adhesive film, staples, oil, charcoal and oil crayon on paper, Galerie Karsten Greve

That’s the end of my review of Art Basel Hong Kong 2015! I highly recommend it! Tickets are pricey, but the numerous artworks you see is worth it. What’s interesting is also all the different types of people attending the fair – besides the art collectors and buyers, there are many families, couples, students and kids! It’s a fun outing idea for everyone. :D

Dates for next year’s Art Basel in Hong Kong have already been released, it’s going to be held a little later during March 24-26, 2016! The Art Basel fairs are apparently planned a few years in advance. O.O

Till then, can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year’s fair!

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