Hong Kong Street Art Series: ufo Gallery quits Hong Kong art scene
Published at Art Radar Asia/ February 9, 2011
By Carmen Bat
GALLERY CLOSURE ART MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVE ART
As we wrote in a December 2010 article called ‘Gallery shake-out expected in Hong Kong in 2011′, a number of galleries in Hong Kong have been forced into closure due, in part, to the city’s rising rents as well as other underlying problems in the art scene. We investigate the phenomenon in a frank interview with ufo Gallery, which announced its closure in late November last year.
Click here to read ‘Gallery shake-out expected in Hong Kong in 2011′.
ufo Gallery announces it closure. Image by Art Radar Asia.
The announcement of closure made on ufo Gallery’s website, as updated on 25 November, 2010:
“As winter draws closer and the temperature drops, we are going to pack up our bags and hibernate for a little while. After 20 months of hard work and a lot of great art shows, we will close ufo Gallery in Graham Street in its current form on the 15th of December, 2010. This will not be the end of ufo Gallery for good, but will give us some time to think about some future projects and how to continue running the gallery in an even better way. We will also be looking into possible new locations in 2011, which will hopefully provide more space for what we want to do.”
ufo Gallery was the first in Hong Kong to bring street art to an art space. As outstanding as it was conceptually among the sea of traditional Asian art galleries in the city, it proved unable to secure a stable profit. After struggling for more than a year, the directors finally made the decision to shut shop and consider new presentation models. They now focus their attention on their main business, uforepublic, a creative design agency set up in 2001 and head-quartered in their home-country of Germany. It was due to the support of this agency that the art space remained open for as long as it did.
Hong Kong street art gallery, ufo Gallery. Image from ufoartgallery.com.
Art Radar Asia spoke with Holger Bartel and Jane Zimmerman, directors of ufo Gallery, and Maice Chiu, their public relations officer, to discuss the Hong Kong art scene and their ideas for ufo’s future.
Hong Kong is not ready for street art
We were the first gallery here in Hong Kong to have that kind of concept [showing street art in a gallery setting], which was quite cool but also hard, because when you are the first one to try something new, people don’t accept it that much, they are not used to that kind of art…. Most of the people in Hong Kong just buy art because of investment – to put it on shelves and to resell it ten years later at a higher price. We sell art for art lovers. The main problem, I think, is that Hong Kong is not ready for [street art] now. In Europe and America, street art is common … and popular…. Most of the people here in Hong Kong don’t even buy art for entertainment. They don’t buy [art] because they love it or they want to have it. The question they are asking [is] “Can I sell it for more?”
– ufo Gallery
Tough to support young artists, Hong Kong art scene
What we tried to do was to promote different styles of art and, secondly, we wanted to give a platform for younger and emerging artists…. In Hong Kong, we just have modern stuff, but it is up-scale and crazily high-priced, so we wanted to be … a platform that gave chances to young people and supported the art scene in Hong Kong, which in the end didn’t quite work out.
– ufo Gallery
Holger Bartel (left), Maice Chiu (middle), Jane Zimmermann (right). Image by Art Radar Asia.
Disappointment with government’s creative policy
[The government] were talking about making Hong Kong more creative…. They gave the [Central Police Station] to The [Hong Kong] Jockey Club, and The Jockey Club put down three billion [dollars], and what are they going to do? A restaurant, another gallery, a theater. That’s not going to make Hong Kong more creative. If you want to make it more creative, you need to bring in artists; if you need to bring in artists, you have to provide cheap space; it’s not working out.
– ufo Gallery
I mean, the Police Station would have been a perfect place to give to 100 artists, each getting a little booth, and to hold events, and that would draw people there. But putting a gallery there is not going to make Hollywood Road more creative because of the crazy rent it is going to have, and [has].
– ufo Gallery
Hope for Hong Kong creativity?
Bartel wanted to make it clear that he isn’t completely disillusioned with the Hong Kong creative art scene and pointed out a number of its important features, such as the annual Hong Kong Art Fair (ARTHK). He also felt grateful for the opportunity to rent a booth at the Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair, held in Hong Kong last year. However, he recalled that the hotel fair was under-visited by locals, with much of the audience coming from Korea and Japan, and that the gallery didn’t make many sales.
“Brick the Wall”, by ufo-represented Hong Kong street art group Start from zero, featured more than a dozen pieces related to stickers, stencil, poster collage, mixed with wood discarded on the street. It showed at the gallery from October to November, 2010. Image from startfromzero.org.
Street art in Hong Kong is growing
The decision to open the gallery was “a jump into cold water.” The directors had never considered the possibility that locals would not be interested in something that sells like hotcakes in Europe. They simply loved the idea of bringing something new to Hong Kong, made the brave move and were encouraged by followers such as No Borders and Above Second who also sell contemporary and street art. While disappointed with their closure, they applaud the efforts of Above Second, which has just moved its space to a new location in Central.
Jimmy Lam's 'Untitled', fiberglass. Hong Kong artist and designer Lam (a.k.a. (R)-ice) was represented by ufo Gallery. Image from ufoartgallery.com.
While the ufo team brought the medium into the gallery, they still believe street art is best viewed in the streets. Hong Kong’s tough local graffiti laws, however, make it difficult to create art in public spaces and often gallery shows are the only alternative.
High Hong Kong rents force new business models
The directors would love to reopen the gallery, but only if rent prices in Hong Kong decrease substantially. But, as they said, since Hong Kong property developers prefer leaving spaces empty to renting them out at a cheap price, the chance of being able to reopen is slim. They are currently considering alternatives such as opening pop-up galleries or going online.
This is the fourth article we have published in our ongoing Hong Kong Street Art Series, which we began in October 2010. Click here to view and read all the articles in the Hong Kong Street Art Series.
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Hong Kong Street Art Series: Above Second imports new energies and aesthetics to local art scene
Published at Art Radar Asia/ October 14, 2010
By Carmen Bat
HONG KONG STREET ART URBAN ART SERIES
In this first feature in our Hong Kong Street Art Series, Art Radar Asia will introduce you to one of the newest art spaces in Hong Kong to show street and urban art, Above Second. In this post, co-owners Jasper Wong and May Wong discuss the importance of supporting the local art community and encouraging people to consider creative career options, as well as explain their choice of location and their first-time buyer appeal.
In a steep lane in Sai Ying Pun, Above Second stands aloof from busy streets and is a fifteen minute walk from the gallery-saturated Central district. This glass-fronted art space with a graffiti wall on the side was founded and is run by Jasper Wong and May Wong.
Above Second, one of Hong Kong's newest art spaces dedicated to street and urban art. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Before Above Second came into being, May dedicated most of her time to a nomadic gallery called Apostrophewhich travelled to different spaces to do shows for artists from predominantly Denmark, the US and the UK. She found out about Jasper a year and a half ago after discovering his works on the blog of hip hop artist Kanye West and then inviting him to do a show at G.O.D, a Hong Kong-based lifestyle store. After some talking over a gallery plan in Hong Kong they ended up opening Above Second together earlier this year.
Half a gallery and half an art space
Above Second is very different from other mainstream galleries in the Central district in many ways. To begin with, Jasper won’t even consider it a gallery.
“It’s not a gallery in the strictest sense in what people usually perceive galleries to be. People see galleries to be like blank white walls… but we decided to turn it into more like a, I guess you can call it a creative club? That’s why we leave the word gallery in front of the name, ‘cause we don’t want to be specifically one thing.”
Above gallery is special in a way that it is a combination of a gallery and an art space. Jasper uses the gallery space at the front for painting and exhibition while May uses the art space at the back for art classes in the weekend.
Children drawing in the Above Second art space on Saturday. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Adults painting in the Above Second art space. Image courtesy of Above Second.
May elaborates on this concept:
“I think the main reason [for teaching art classes] is to generate more people to come into the gallery to see art. In a way, we enjoy teaching and we enjoy people coming in to share what art is and just be creative.”
“Basically when we teach (I’m talking about [teaching] three-year-olds to adults; everybody can come), we’re just giving them the materials, and then they can do whatever they want, usually. But we kind of try to give them a concept or give them some kind of inspiration for arts. For instance, we did a class that was based on Mondrian paintings, so we kind of restrict the colors to red, yellow, blue, and black, very Mondrian. Then we just let the students do what they want with it.”
Hong Kong street art gallery Above Second held exhibition "King for a Day" in July this year. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Mission to support local art and promote art as career
Jasper also hopes that, through the art classes for children, the young generation in Hong Kong will come to consider art creation as a career path rather than just a hobby. He says,
“A lot of times I feel, from what I’ve experienced here, is that a lot of the parents tend to steal their kids away from creative pursuits. Their tendency [is] that if their kids are interested in music or art or dance or something creative, then it is seen more as a hobby, rather than something that they can dedicate their life to.”
Unlike many mainstream galleries in Hong Kong, Above Second is also less business-oriented and more driven by the goal to improve the creative environment in Hong Kong. Jasper states,
“Most galleries in Central, you probably see, they are all very commercial. They are all pretty much paint stores. They are trying to sell what’s hot, what’s the hot trend, and what people will buy at the time. They tend to show all the same kind of art. So when you go to one gallery it’s pretty much all the same. And it’s not very accessible to a lot of local people and they don’t tend to promote emerging artists or even to try to make the creative scene better in Hong Kong. So we started our gallery … there’s an altruistic mission to it: to try to make [the Hong Kong art scene] better, to try to bring in the emerging artists that have never been shown in Hong Kong or to try to promote local artists…. There’s a goal to try in a small way to make Hong Kong’s creative community better.”
Above Second doesn’t formally represent any artists as most of the traditional galleries do. Instead, it continually organises shows for different artists from around the world with intriguing “energies” and “aesthetics”. “We are showing the creative energy all around the world [by] supporting young and emerging artists from all around the world,” says Jasper.
Price range attracts young first-time buyers
As May points out, works in most of the Above Second shows are for sale at affordable prices and because of this the gallery has attracted a number of first time buyers.
“For the show King for a Day, we had three prints there and they all sold. Most of (our buyers) are under thirty years old or around thirty and they are all first time buyers. It’s really great to see, because the prints themselves are pretty reasonably [priced], and when people come in they are like ‘Wow! This is the first time that I have gone into a gallery where I can afford to buy something.’ So we kind of encourage that trend…. [In] some galleries the price ranges are at least 10,00 dollars. We [are] like a couple of hundred, four digits, five digits.”
Visitors and guests crowd outside Above Second at an exhibition opening. Image courtesy of Above Second.
Currently, Above Second is showing Nebula, an exhibition of paper-cut and stencil works by Danish artist Mathias and illustrations of another Danish artist Michael. This Friday, Above Second will open Primary, an exhibition of work by Hong Kong street artist group Graphicairlines. Says May of her hopes for the space,
“For me, in five years, I hope that the gallery will grow, have a couple more staff…. For us it’s still difficult to pay for all the expenses, the shipping and stuff, to get artists here, but we’re trying….”
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Hong Kong Street Art Series: No Borders not boxed in by graffiti art label
Published at Art Radar Asia/ December 1, 2010
By Carmen Bat
HONG KONG STREET ART SERIES
In this third feature of our Hong Kong street art series, Art Radar will take you to No Borders Art Gallery, established in the city in September 2009. Founder of No Borders Alina Dickey and gallery manager Zoe Dulay discuss the gallery’s unique concept, its established international reputation and how they plan to attract a more local audience.
An inside view of No Borders Art Gallery at 39 Aberdeen Street in Hong Kong. Image courtesy of No Borders Art Gallery.
No Borders fills gap in Hong Kong art scene
Situated in the commercialised art district in Central (also: Central District), No Borders Art Gallery naturally stands out from other galleries as one of the few showing street art in Hong Kong. When the founder of the gallery Alina Dickey travelled to Hong Kong with her husband a few years ago, she noticed a distinct lack of graffiti art in Hong Kong.
Previously a lawyer, she had little connection with the arts, but the potential of “the missing gap” in the Hong Kong art scene persuaded her to move into the art market. She says,
“It’s pretty interesting right now that, you know, graffiti is supposed to be outside, and when you look at the definition of this word it’s the art that is out on the wall outside the buildings. Right now we can see that graffiti and street art is coming to the galleries, and more and more interesting artists appear in new galleries with this kind of art. I think that is what Hong Kong needs, because in my opinion Hong Kong is kind of, how to say it, not old fashioned but kind of close to something [like that].”
“If we believe in this art, we [show] this art.”
Making street art commercial is a tricky business. No Borders has never set any restrictions on the kind of urban art that hangs in their space. A small team, including Dickey and Dulay, decide which works to buy or show based on a common “concept” or “philosophy” which basically consists of choosing what they like according to their own taste, and what they believe would sell. Dickey elaborates,
“We believe [in] our own taste, first of all. Sometimes I don’t need any help with a decision. For example, sometimes I just look myself and I know that the gallery wouldn’t work with this kind of art. And when I see something really amazing … then the whole team, Zoe and one other person that works with us, we decide all together. If we all agree that we have to get this artist then we get [them].”
“From our previous experiences [of] how people react to this and that [style of] art … we know, for example, which show was more interesting. We [have also had shows] that for some reason didn’t work how we expected them to work. So basically, we analyse our previous experiences and we analyse people’s taste as well. [By] putting together all these [things], we can make our choices and maybe sometimes [it is] not the right choice but… we all learn from it.” Zoe Dulay
No Borders' summer 2010 show "Mining For Splinters and Diamonds" featured the paintings and drawings of acclaimed New York artist Michael De Feo. This was one of the works in the exhibition. Image courtesy of No Borders.
Dickey adds that No Borders also takes advice given by international gallery partners (from Paris, London and New York) into consideration when buying art pieces.
Word of mouth builds reputation for No Borders
Previous shows, particularly those held in 2009, have yielded future artists and other industry contacts. No Borders has found that many of the artists whose work they have exhibited like their curatorial approach and have recommended their gallery to other artists. One year ago, friends helped organise a group exhibition for the space’s opening, explains Dickey by way of example. “Once we started working with these artists … they liked how we worked, that we were responsible for everything, and they recommended us to [other] artists.”
Due to No Borders’ rapidly increasing international profile, the gallery is becoming more demanding when choosing artists to represent and works to be shown. In particular, they look for up-and-coming artists with the potential to produce something absolutely new, extraordinary and interesting. Dickey says, “Almost every day we [receive] several letters or some people [make] an appointment [to meet with us] and we have some choices.”
For its October show this year, No Borders presented Alaskan artist Gretchen Sagan's solo exhibition "First Contact". 'Force' was one of his exhibited works. Image courtesy of No Borders.
For its October show this year, No Borders presented Alaskan artist Gretchen Sagan’s solo exhibition “First Contact”. ‘Force’ was one of his exhibited works. Image courtesy of No Borders.
No Borders set to promote itself locally
While No Borders is well-known internationally, it struggles to find an audience in Hong Kong. Says gallery manager Dulay,
“France probably knows us more than Hong Kong, or New York, because we [show] big artists from those countries. I think what would be the best direction … find extraordinary street art and get more in touch with local street art.”
“We do have local people that buy art but the majority of people are foreigners. It’s also our goal to get more local people … interested in art. It’s just good to be more relevant to local street art because right now [the art market is] saturated with fine art, Chinese contemporary fine art. But local people [are] kind of conservative.”
“Slowly we’re trying to touch base with Hong Kong street art. [At the] last opening we met Narse and there are two local street artists that we’re going to meet with in the next couple of weeks. They’re locals, so that’s good for the gallery because we like to showcase good local street art as well. You know, with No Borders being in Hong Kong it has to be relevant to where it is rather than relevant abroad.”
Until now, No Borders have worked with few local artists. Names they have worked with include artists Jonathan Tang and Dorothy Tang. Dulay elaborates,
“We exhibited a couple of [Jonathan’s] pieces for our very first show. During the year we became friends and we decided to do his solo shows. I think we met Dorothy through Jonathan – her big piece was also in the first show.”
“Jonathan is a pretty open person, [so] it was pretty easy to find him. [We] just made an appointment, [had] a meeting with him and visited his studio and he agreed to give us a couple of his artworks for our first show. And the same for Dorothy, we visited her studio.”
Dickey has her own ideas about how to get local artists into their gallery:
“It’s more about meeting people and having access to the street art here. Basically it’s [about doing] more research on what’s happening in Hong Kong…. I mean not just street art, just the art scene in general. [For example,] Jonathan is not really a street artist, he’s more illustrative. I think the best way to put it would be [that we] find good local art rather than being put into a box of just street art [or] graffiti art.”
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