The Best Booths at Art Basel Hong Kong, Where Poignant Artworks Explore Various Crises
BY REENA DEVI March 22, 2023 4:22am
The scene at Art Basel Hong Kong 2023. MAXIMILÍANO DURÓN/ARTNEWS
Art Basel Hong Kong launched its first quarantine-free edition since 2019, with two VIP preview days beginning March 21, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Reportedly its largest edition since the pandemic, with 177 exhibitors from 32 countries and territories participating in the 2023 edition, there is a lot for visitors to see.
Inadvertently, the latest edition of ABHK heighted the divisive discourse on whether Hong Kong still possesses the status of established art capital amid the rise of rival cities, not to mention the notion of soft power wielded by problematic governments across the world.
Yet proving two things can be true all at once, there were a fair number of gallery booths at the mega fair that brought something new, different, and even probed and explored the specific crises and conflicts of our time.
Below, a look at the best eight presentations on show at the 2023 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, which runs until March 25.
Denny Gallery, based in New York and Hong Kong, hit a homerun with its spectacular exhibition of Tehran-born, Los Angeles–based artist Amir H. Fallah, known for his vibrant and confrontational paintings, sculptures, and public art. The artist’s capacity to command a space visually comes across even in a modest staid art fair booth. For example, To Kill A Sunrise (2023) features a figure covered entirely in detailed black-and-green prints who makes a peace sign while holding a bundle of black hair, imagery inspired by the recent “Women, Life, Freedom” protests in Iran. The artwork makes the visitor equally uncomfortable and enthralled, hopefully inciting further deliberation.