ART BASEL HONG KONG REVEALS 2025 EXHIBITORS AND HIGHLIGHTS
Art Basel Hong Kong is fast approaching, with 242 galleries gathering in March 2025 for the fair. Over half of the galleries are from the Asia-Pacific region with 23 newcomers, including Berry Campbell, blank projects, and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. Alongside the main sector there will be the Insights sector spotlighting photography in Asia from the 1970s until the present; artists like Nakahira Takuma and Birdhead will be showcased. In addition, independent art space Para Site will be curating a new public film programme that will celebrate artists from both the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. The MGM Discoveries Art Prize winner will also be announced, with the cash prize shared between the artist and their representing gallery. Angelle Siyang-Le, Director of Art Basel Hong Kong, has shared that the fair will “[reinforce] the fair's position as a cultural crossroads and vital anchor in Asia's ever-growing art scenes.”
TOURING EXHIBITION OF GRAFFITI ARTIST BANKSY TO OPEN IN SINGAPORE IN DECEMBER
The Art of Banksy: Without Limits, an exhibition that has seen more than 2.1 million visitors globally, will be making a stop in Singapore in December at the Royal Plaza on Scotts hotel. The exact dates will be announced on November 13, but the ticket wait list is now open. Highlights of the exhibition include Dismaland (2015), described by Banksy as a "family theme park unsuitable for children,” and a print of Flower Thrower (2003-2007), originally stencilled on a mural in the West Bank in 2003. There will also be a custom-built entrance lobby, exclusive to the Singapore exhibition, inspired by Banksy’s boutique hotel The Walled Off Hotel, that opened in Bethlehem, West Bank, in 2017. Kemal Gurkaynak, the managing director of exhibition production company Muse Marketing and Entertainment, has shared that organisers are “certain that locals and visitors will relish in Banksy’s ability to provoke, shock and even disturb society – all of which he does with great humour and poetry.”
RARE PAIR OF MING DYNASTY JARS SMASHES ITS $1 M. HIGH ESTIMATE, HAMMERING FOR $12.5 M.
This week Sotheby’s sold a pair of rare 16th-century Ming Dynasty Chinese jars for $12.5 million, significantly surpassing the $1 million estimate. In a battle between 10 bidders, the bidding continued for 20 minutes before eventually being sold to a private Asian collector. The jars, having been in a collection of a German family for more than a century, were also the highest priced Chinese artworks that have been sold at auction worldwide this year. The only other pair of jars similar to this pair is currently held in the Musée Guimet in Paris, further adding to the rarity of these pieces. During the Second World War, the pair were moved along with the rest of the family’s art collection to safety, before the family home in Wiesbaden was destroyed. Sotheby’s has shared that the jars were made during Jiajing Emperor’s reign, between 1522 and 1566; during this period porcelain production evolved exponentially due to breakthroughs that brought the Imperial kilns into a new era.
ART X LAGOS MAKES THE CASE FOR ART FAIRS HAVING DIVERSE OFFERINGS BEYOND JUST VISUAL ARTS
The largest art fair in West Africa, this year’s fair brought in the largest number of attendees. Held from October 31 to November 3 in Lagos at the Federal Palace Hotel, this year’s programme was unique in its diversity. The theme of this year’s fair was “Promised Lands,” a theme that allowed for numerous interpretations. The Development Forum was introduced as a mentorship program to support emerging African artists. Jumoke Sanwo, the fair’s director emphasises how artists also need to focus on establishing “their practice on the continent, rather than just focus on leaving.” In addition, the Access Art X Prize returns, which offers emerging Nigerian and African diasporic artists residencies in London and Lagos and a cash grant. The fair also holds its Schools’ Programme, a project that focuses on bringing art to a wider audience and addressing the accessibility issues that often come with fine art. There will also be a night of live music, called Art X Live, featuring a mix of African musicians. Missla Libsekal, the main curator of the fair, notes that, “within the African art context, there’s this complexity that actually is so great because it’s not boxed in. We can have it in textile. We can have it in music. We can have it in hair—anywhere.”
5 MUST-SEE SHOWS IN SHANGHAI: FROM A PIONEERING SCULPTOR TO A BREAKOUT PAINTER
ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair and West Bund Art and Design are poised to open this week, with a range of exhibitions accompanying this exciting week of art. With international artists like Marina Abramović, César Piette, and Rindon Johnson headlining the museums, Artnet have shortlisted 5 of the top gallery shows to catch in Shanghai. Yin Xiuzhen: Piercing the Sky is currently showing at the Power Station of Art, curated by Wu Hang, an acclaimed art historian and critic. The exhibition will feature around 20 multimedia works, focused on the relationship between heaven and earth, human and the divine, and the inner self versus the external reality. Prada Rong Zhai is presenting Distance of the Moon, featuring the works of artist Li Shuang. The exhibition will include sound installations, resin objects, and video art- all created during the pandemic years. At the Long Museum, Daniel Crews-Chubb will be debuting his first solo museum show. Daniel Crews-Chubb: Immortals, explores the concept of art as a manifestation of immortality, a sense of timelessness rippling throughout the pieces. Another Avant-Garde. Photography 1970-2000, a collaboration between Centre Pompidou and West Bund Museum, showcases works from the Pompidou’s photography collection. Finally, Tank Shanghai is showcasing Issy Wood: What I Eat In A Day, featuring Wood’s intimate works that capture everyday moments of her life. Alongside this, the group exhibition Pictures of the Post-80s Generation – Generational Leap, is showcasing 35 Chinese artists of the 1980s generation. Curator Sun Dongdong describes it as “a reflection of the connection between modern Chinese society and the evolving global landscape.”
Daniel Crews-Chubb (b. 1984) in his studio
MARIA PINIŃSKA-BEREŚ AT GALERIE FÜR ZEITGENÖSSISCHE KUNST LEIPZIG (GFZK)
The GfZK presents Maria Pinińska Bereś’ first solo exhibition in Germany, curated by Heike Munder and Jarosław Suchan. Bereś’ works explore themes of femininity and feminism within the socialist context of 20th century Poland. Her works have been associated with those of Natalia LL and Ewa Partum, both pioneering Polish female artists in their own right. Her body of work features a range of forms, from installations to sculptures, objects, and performances. While her earlier works fall within modernist traditions, from the 1960s onwards we see them take on a more biomorphic form, along with her signature reappropriating of the colour pink. Her signature pink criticises gender role politics while addressing her own trauma. This exhibition is important not only in its celebration of Bereś’ works within a feminist context, but also within the historical and socio-political context of Poland. Heike Munder and Jarosław Suchan have shared that, “Maria Pinińska-Bereś’s works and practices defy easy and unequivocal pigeonholing. They are partly bulky, partly erotic, subtle and charged with humour … They articulate the complex existential experience of the artist who in the specific conditions of the Polish People’s Republic, during the Cold War, sought her way out of the tight corset of society’s restrictions and the patriarchal order, as well as her path–as a woman–in the art system.”
Maria Pinińska-Bereś (b. 1931), Banner, 1980
Jordan Tan holds an MA in History of Art from the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art. With a passion for fine art and the art market, Jordan plays a key role at Art Works by researching and interpreting trends across the primary and secondary markets, delivering valuable insights and business intelligence for the fine art department.
