Art agenda: 5 Hong Kong exhibitions to see in May 2021

With the return of both Art Basel and Art Central this month, here are our picks of must-see exhibitions around town in Hong Kong during the new Art Month:

Villepin: Myonghi Kang

Villepin’s latest exhibition showcases Korean artist Myonghi Kang’s interpretation of nature. Having painted for over five decades, Kang explores ways to represent nature on paper and canvas, combining painting, poetry and philosophy. By applying oils and pastels to create abstraction and figuration, Kang reconnects urban dwellers with nature through her meditative paintings and questions the notions of perception, embodiment and understanding of nature.

On from May 17 to October

Villepin, G-2/F, 53-55 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong, +852 3709 0913

Perrotin: Spectrum

Famous for his sculptural paintings, American contemporary artist Josh Sperling uses his signature pop-art colours on his new 3D structures. He slices stretched canvases into wavy lines to construct them over three-dimensional layered plywood structures. Through combining the curves with geometric shapes, Sperling blurs the line between sculpture and painting. This show features “double bubble”, which was originally shown in Shanghai, but the colours have been changed since then.

On from May 8 to June 12

Perrotin, K11, Atelier, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Photographs from the 1950s: Marjorie Doggett’s Singapore, Lee Fook Chee’s Hong Kong

One of the most iconic Hong Kong images is of the Star Ferry crossing Victoria Harbour. But what did that look like some seven decades ago? Self-taught photographer Lee Fook Chee’s iteration lets us in on the Hong Kong of the 1950s. Unearthed by chance by exhibition curator Edward Stokes, Lee’s photographs capture Hong Kong’s streetscapes and people. This exhibition also showcases photographs from Marjorie Doggett, who captured Singapore in a similar time period.

Sino Plaza, Unit 305, Sino Plaza, 255-257 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Creations Enlivened: Metal

Crafts on Peel’s latest exhibition spotlights metal. The tough, robust connotations of the material are showcased in the form of sculptures as well as installations. The works of art by craftsmen from Hong Kong and Japan, both traditional and contemporary, aim to highlight a softer side to metal. The highlight of the exhibition is a copper gin still, created by traditional craftsmen Luk Shu Choi and Luk Keung Choi of Ping Kee Copperware to refine a copper still by adapting techniques from handcrafted herbal tea vessels.

On from 20 March to 24 July

Crafts on Peel, 11 Peel Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2510 0637

Ben Brown: What Is A Head?

Featuring portraits by two of Britain’s leading figurative painters, Frank Auerbach and Tony Bevan and curated by Michael Peppiatt, What is a Head? is inspired by the philosophers Descartes, Sartre and Heidegger. This exhibition explores the complexities of the mind as well as the physical structure of the head. Together, the artists reflect on and reshape the way we see one of the most common subjects in art. The concept for this show is based on the exhibition organised by Peppiatt in 1998 at the Musée Maillol in Paris titled L’Ecole de Londres de Bacon à Bevan, which traced the influence of Bacon, Freud, Auerbach and Kossoff on the younger generation of figurative artists working in London.

On from 15 May to 3 July

Ben Brown Fine Arts, 202, The Factory, 1 Yip Fat St, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong

See also: Art agenda: 5 Hong Kong art exhibitions to see in April 2021