The 2023 Sovereign Asian Art Prize

Estimate: HK$67,800 – 101,800

Parul Gupta (b. 1980, India) holds an MA in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham (2011). She is interested in movement in architectural spaces as a generator of perceptual experiences, primarily through parallax and the exploration of geometry and light. Her perception is moulded by suggestions of shifting lights, shadows, and perspectives, essentially morphing space into a dynamic entity. Viewers can consider both the scientific and perceptual registers of space-time that the artist translates into site-specific drawings and interventions. In her work, the site and its structural elements become active participants; the viewer leads the participatory role to decipher the experiential nature of the work.

In Notes on Movement- Layer #115, Gupta attempts to capture movement on a still surface. Exacting layers of the same drawing are drawn with pen on top of each other at different angles, creating a fuzzy, vibratory effect. White paper acts as a source of light, creating gradation between the different colours. The work feels as though it is charged by a magnetic field, with its own gravitational push and pull.

Gupta has exhibited extensively in her native India, including Infinite Reminders and Still, on the verge, Nature Morte, Delhi (2022, 2021) and When is Space?, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur (2018). Her work has featured in System, a conversation with Shveta Sarda, FUKT Magazine on Contemporary Drawing, Issue #18, Berlin (2020) and In Focus: Abstraction, edited by Geeta Kapur and Jyotindra Jain, Marg Publication, Volume 68, Mumbai (2016).

Estimate: HK$49,900 – 74,800

Alisa Chunchue (b. 1991, Thailand) holds a BFA (Visual Arts) from the Department of Sculpture from Silpakorn University, Bangkok (2016). Her interdisciplinary work relentlessly investigates physical and mental states, questioning what it means to be human and how we perceive reality. Through her investigations of the human body, Chunchue discovers that we are all intertwined with each other. By correlating the body with other ephemeral materials, she reveals multilayered interconnections between us all, most notably on the topic of sickness and mortality.

Wound is a meditative drawing inspired by autopsy wounds on human cadavers at the Condon Anatomical Museum in Bangkok. Using pencil on linen in the same way that a surgeon’s needlepoint pierces flesh, Chunchue replicates running surgical stitches and suture patterns. Her work reflects on the transformation process of a scar, referencing her own experience with surgery and the autopsy scar on her family member’s body. According to the artist, whether or not a wound heals into a scar, we will always remember the pain. This repetitive drawing process is a meditation that motivates her to fully heal from a state of devastation and grief.

Chunchue was a recipient of the Prince Claus Seed Awards (2022). She has participated in local and international exhibitions including REA ART FAIR, Milan (2021); The exhaustion project, Forecast Festival, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2018); Absurdity in Paradise, Kasseler Kunstverein, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel (2018); and Early Years Project #2: Anticipation, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok (2018).

Estimate: HK$15,600 – 23,400

Cop Shiva (b. 1979, India) migrated from his village in Ramanagara to join the Indian Police Services in 2001, later pursuing an artistic career. This negotiation between artist, policeman, and migrant is the driving influence in his body of work. Shiva gravitates towards the fringes of society, to those who refuse to accept their pre-determined destinies. Through his practice, he documents the complexities of rural and urban India: fascinated with the concept of masquerade and the roles people play in their public and private lives. This interest has led to a portfolio of intimate portraits of urban migrants, the LBGTQ+ community, and street-performers.

No Longer A Memory is dedicated to the artist’s mother, who ‘followed the script’ of any typical, rural woman of her generation; she married and had her children young. Shiva feels as though he grew up alongside his mother, considering her his closest companion and hero. A cherished activity from his childhood was dressing up and playing make-believe. Later realising he had no photographs from this time, Shiva now hopes to honour and archive those fantasies he and his mother played out by candlelight in their tiny village hut many years ago.

Shiva’s work has been exhibited internationally, including Urban Ecstasy, Konstepidemin Gallery, Gothenburg (2019) and Being Gandhi: The Art and Politics of Seeing, John B Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, San Diego (2019). He has been awarded the Pro-Helvetia Swiss Art Council Residency Award, Zurich (2018); the Swedish Art Grant, Gothenburg (2017); and was shortlisted for the Robert Gardner Fellowship, Peabody Museum, Harvard University (2016).

Estimate: HK$28,900 – 43,300

Bjorn Calleja (b. 1981, Philippines) holds a BFA in Advertising from Far Eastern University, Manila (2004). He draws inspiration from identity, spirituality, history, memory, and politics. By utilising perspective and playing with scale as a metaphor, Calleja explores how humans affect the world at large. His work is heavily influenced by 80’s and 90’s popular culture, kitsch, the internet, and the aesthetics and textures of Manila’s landscape.

Land of the Mongrel is a portrait of the lost Filipino Identity. The monstrous figure, holding both a crucifix and a hamburger, is composed of abstract and familiar textures and elements representing the variety of colonial cultures to which Filipinos have had to learn to adapt. Calleja wishes to capture the struggle of finding a common identity as a people. Spread across the painting are miniscule characters depicting satirical moments in Philippine history, deploying a sense of sarcasm and humour which the artist believes to be a collective coping mechanism born out of suffering.

Calleja has exhibited throughout Asia, most notably at Living System: An NFT Show, SEA Focus, Singapore (2023); NFTs + The Ever-Evolving World of Art, Art Basel, Hong Kong (2022); Unknown Unknowns, Art Fair Philippines (2022); and Antonyms of Meaning, West Gallery, Philippines (2022). His work is published in Philippines: Inter Tropical Convergence Zone Contemporary Artists from the Philippines, Imago Mundi – Luciano Benetton Collection (2014).

Estimate: HK$87,400 – 131,000

Cao Yu (b. 1988, China) holds a BFA and an MA in Sculpture from CAFA, Beijing (2011, 2016). With her distinctive interdisciplinary practice and sharp artistic language, she has become a leading figure for the next generation of Chinese female artists. Cao pushes boundaries and articulates a bold new voice for both her own and succeeding generations. Her work challenges propriety and breaks social conventions, questions the identity of contemporary society, sheds new light on social problems and women’s issues.

In Fountain, the artist lays flat and forcefully squeezes both of her breasts towards the sky: pure white milk shooting out like a fountain. In 11 minutes, her once full breasts became saggy until they were empty. Despite being too exhausted to squeeze out the last drop of milk, here she musters a moment of energy in which her bosom resembles active volcanoes. During this bitter struggle, she realised that her body was flooded with infinite explosive force. She experiences a sense of inherent masculinity within femininity for the first time – her milk engraving memories of love and hate. Through the creation of the Fountain monument using her body, she engages in a conversation and extension with classical artworks historically associated with fountains.

Cao is a decorated artist, having won Best Young Artist at The 12th AAC Award (2018); being shortlisted for the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (2018); chosen as Generation.T Asia’s Leaders of tomorrow (2020); won the Nomination Award of Yishu·8 Chinese Young Artist Award (2017). Notable exhibitions include Empowerment, Kunstuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (2022); China Streaming, Palais-de-Tokyo, Paris (2016); Chinese Whispers, MAK Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (2019).

Estimate: HK$34,300 – 51,500

Celine Liu (b. 1990, China) holds an MFA in Photography from Tsinghua University, Beijing (2016) and a BA in Photography from Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang (2012). She has always been drawn to using photography and post-production techniques to create unique images. Her artistic process involves collecting historical and pop culture photos online, later creating collages integrating her own image. By doing so, she deconstructs the relationship between herself and celebrity, the present and past, privacy and publicity. Liu’s ultimate aspiration is to deconstruct inequality, truth, and established fact through these fictional images. According to the artist, this ‘reality beyond reality’ is not an illusion: it has been created to represent its real existence.

Of Ping Pong, the artist says the following: “It’s show time, pay attention please. Everybody will be captured in the same space, wave your fingertips, zoom into a wonderland of unexpected lives. All past, present, pending unbelievable happenings, the whole world is off-line at this moment. The login setting from virtual reality doesn’t recognise you. Value yourself, seize the day, just be.”

Liu is an award-winning artist, having been awarded the ARTE | PiB Photography, Berlin (2018); the NICE Art Award of Parallel, Vienna (2018); and the Jimei x Arles Discovery Award, Arles International Photography Season, Arles (2016). She was also shortlisted in reGeneration3, an exhibition and publication project of Musée de l‘Elysée, Lausanne (2015) and in the TOP20 Chinese Pioneering Contemporary Photography, Hangzhou (2015).

Estimate: HK$93,600 – 140,400

Cian Dayrit (b. 1989, Philippines) holds a BFA in Painting from the University of the Philippines, Diliman (2011) and is currently enrolled at the Department of Geography. His interdisciplinary work investigates notions of power and identity as they are represented and reproduced in monuments, museums, maps, and other institutionalized media. Created in response to different marginalised communities, his work encourages a critical reflection on colonial and privileged perspectives. Whilst informed by the experience of colonialism from the perspective of the Philippines, Dayrit’s work transcends specific position or location, instead encapsulating a universal struggle against oppressive powers.

Espasyo at Soberanya interrogates notions of power and agency. In the background, young boys rummage through a bone yard in American colonial Philippines. The scene provides fertile ground in which to question existing power relations, where contested spaces speak of contradictions to sovereignty. Embroidered drawings annotate the historical photograph with commentary on the legacy of colonial dominance and the current status quo. According to the artist, life is annexed through gestures of revolution growing through the cracks of authoritarian ground – this tapestry seeks for cracks to live through.

Dayrit is an internationally acclaimed artist, having featured in the Bangkok Art Biennale (2022); the Biennale of Sydney (2022); and the Kathmandu Triennale (2022). Notable exhibitions include Lonely Vectors, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2022) and Magical Hackerism and The Elasticity of Resilience, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin (2022).

Estimate: HK$18,700 – 28,000

Indu Antony (b. 1982, India) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in feminism. Having initially pursued a career in medicine, later pivoting to study art, she has overcome many social obligations upheld by her conventional Indian family. Through her practice, Antony explores the presence of gendered bodies in public spaces and creates awareness around women and LGBTQI+ issues: working with individuals on the fringes of society. She is known to explore tonalities of inward discussions which later burst out into communal spaces, having set up two art centres to support her community.

I brought her up like gold is a saying Antony’s mother uses when speaking about the fact that she raised her daughter with so much care; and yet Antony did not fulfil her mother’s wishes of getting married and having children. This multi-faceted piece is deeply personal to the artist and acts as a dialogue between herself and her ancestry. The artist’s own hair delicately embroiders the coordinates at which her mother tried to instil certain values within her, now written down and rolled inside gold vials. The works are framed within jewellery boxes discarded by a local jeweller – something once so precious, now cast aside – and the linen backing was created by women from her mother’s village.

Antony’s work has been exhibited widely, most notably at India Art Fair, New Delhi (2022); While I Slept, Ada Slaight Gallery, Ontario (2019); and Lokame Tharavadu, presented in six venues, Alappuzka and Ernakulam (2021). She was also awarded the Toto Award for Photography, New Delhi (2011). She was a guest speaker art Art Basel Hong Kong (2023).

Estimate: HK$28,700 – 43,000

Faris Nakamura (b. 1988, Singapore) holds a BA in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts, Goldsmiths, College of London (2014). Living in an urban cosmopolitan environment, he is especially curious about the tectonics of space in relation to its functional uses and architectural design. Nakamura’s practice studies spaces of liberation and freedom as well as concealment and shame, and the role architecture plays in this discourse. His work often refracts the layers of history and their relationship to the wider socio-political environment.

In geometry, a hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle. In Midnight Hour, the perspective of the hypotenuse is compelling as it indicates an ascending stairwell, interrupted only by the hint of a crevice. At first glance, this detail seems like an innocuous, slightly vexing wedge in the otherwise seamless flow of the structure. However, on closer inspection, the fixture reveals our conceptions on the laws of space and our notions of certain “rights” to different spaces. There is a particular fascination with a larger social statement, of how spaces have become unspoken echo chambers of the irrationality in legislative systems.

Nakamura is a decorated artist, having won the IMPART Art Prize, Visual Artist Category, Singapore (2020); the Young Talent Programme Winners’ Solo, 2017/2018; and the Grand Prize for the Shitsurai International Art Competition, Kobe Biennale, Kobe (2015). Notable exhibitions include The Periphery of the Other and Remember This Place, For We Will Be Back Here Again Someday, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (2021; 2019).

Estimate: HK$59,900 – 93,600

Gyempo Wangchuk (b. 1987, Bhutan) studied the thirteen traditional arts and crafts of Bhutan at Choki Traditional Art School, Thimphu (2012). These skills span various artistic disciplines; from painting, ornament making, and embroidery, to masonry, bronze casting, and blacksmithing. Drawing inspiration from Buddhism, the rich culture of his homeland, and historical tales, Wangchuk sees his work as a tribute to Bhutan and a medium through which to inspire global interest in the region. However, his innovative use of a traditional palette transcends the threshold of the typical Bhutanese artwork.

The Virus was created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its great disruption to the world. According to the artist, even as we begin to recover from a time of so much suffering, the pandemic will leave behind deep scars. From a Buddhist perspective, everything that happens is because of Karma: referred to as ‘Lay’, meaning ‘cause and effect’. ‘Lay’ does not infer punishment for wrongdoings, but simply states that any occurrence is rooted in something else. Wangchuk believes this to be the nature of existence.

Wangchuk’s work was featured on the cover of Spiral Magazine, ‘Healing Practices’, Rubin Museum of Art, New York (2022); in United Nations – symbol of life, freedom & happiness, a virtual exhibition celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, New York (2020); and in the 17th Asian Art Biennale, Shilpakala (2016). Notable achievements include receiving 1st Prize in Contemporary Art, 17th Annual National Design and Art Competition, The Textile Museum and Royal Textile Academy, Thimphu (2018); and 1st Prize, Creativity and Innovation Skill, 1st National Zoring Day Celebration, Thimphu (2012).

Estimate: HK$59,900 – 93,600

Joseub (b. 1976, South Korea) holds an MFA and a BFA in Painting from Kyung- Won University, Seongnam (2001, 1999). His work confronts his idea of ‘self’ and the ambiguity he feels in a post-capitalist reality. Joseub questions reality by juxtaposing contradictory concepts, such as reason and violence, logic and the illogical, grief and joy. Through his cheerful yet disturbing imagination, he presents a type of barrenness that viewers must grapple with to obtain a mutual understanding with the artist. Joseub does not see his work as reasonable, but rather an implementation of new ideologies worthy of idealising.

In AeAe-pig 愛哀–豚, Joseub questions why he is constantly drawn to creatures in the darkness. Is the savage beast waiting for his chance to attack, or hiding and trembling with fear? His work deals with the darkness in modern Korean history, ridiculing, parodying, and attacking a reality riddled with madness and deviation rather than reason and justice. According to the artist, the darkness of our ridiculous, denuded world is as stark in broad daylight as it is at night-time. However, in his eyes, Korea’s recent history has thrown itself into pitch darkness – even in the middle of the day.

Joseub has been awarded the 16th WuMin Art Award, Wumin Foundation, Cheongju (2017) and the 13th Today’s Young Artists Award, Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism, Seoul (2005). Notable exhibitions include Masquerade, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea, Gwacheon (2022); MangMang 亡望, Sahngup Gallery, Seoul (2019); and GwangGwang 光狂, Gallery Lux, Seoul (2018).

Estimate: HK$62,400 – 93,600

Justin Lim (b. 1983, Malaysia) holds an MA in Fine Art from the Open University and Lasalle College of the Arts, UK/Singapore (2006). His work examines the relationship between people and their environments. Lim is interested in creating dreamlike spaces that exist between reality and the imaginary: juxtaposing them with everyday life. Using a ‘cut and paste’ method, these disjointed environments are constructed to create a sense of artificiality, echoing the artist’s belief that, in contemporary society, seeing is not always believing. In our highly saturated visual culture, Lim seeks to create paintings that mirror the sentiment of an extremely uncertain world.

According to the artist, life has changed as we know it. Post-pandemic, Lim has been reflecting on the years spent under lockdown. This experience led him to continually look inwards; he has become aware that one is never fully in control of one’s life and that the world is constantly in flux, changing rapidly every day. During these times of reflection, he spent hours sitting and painting on an old red plastic stool. This object accompanied him through lockdown, and now reminds him to occasionally remove himself from the bustle of everyday life: to sit down, contemplate and dream a little.

Lim has exhibited extensively in Asia, including Art Basel Hong Kong (2023), Art SG, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (2023); Sometimes I’d rather talk to flowers, ART21 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai (2021); Sanctuary, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore (2021); and Asia Young 36, Jeonbuk Museum of Art, Jeonju (2016). His work is published in In Our Own Frame, Richard Koh Fine Art (2022).

Estimate: HK$46,800 – 70,200

Kyunghee Lee (b. 1961, South Korea) holds an MFA and a BFA from the College of Arts, EWHA Women’s University, Seoul (1986, 1984). Her work contemplates her subconscious and expresses once-suppressed emotions. For Lee, inspiration emerges through the weaving of coincidence and inevitability between states of consciousness. As she follows the flow of unconscious images, her mind leads her to animals, landscapes, nature, and mythical figures. By using a method of ink painting and smearing, then grafting her work onto a wood engraving, her aim is to express the unconsciousness of the abyss with her own formative language.

The Sorrow of Venus is a motif of the relationship between Venus and Zeus, capturing emotions of human desire, ugliness, dread, and fear observed in the war between Ukraine and Russia. The work aims to embody the concept of opposite things mutually influencing each other: creation and extinction, consciousness and the unconscious, beauty and ugliness, coincidence and inevitability, figurative and abstract. Lee employs elaborate wood engraving techniques and the spontaneous spreading of ink to express her imagined inner world of contemporary society.

Kyunghee’s work has been presented internationally, most notably at Contemporary Print Show: Arise, Asean Culture House, Busan (2022); Gravure Contemporaine sur bois, Korean Cultural Center, Schools Des Beaux Arts De Versailles, Paris (2022) and ArtsKoCo, Luxembourg (2022); From Seoul To Merida, Centro de Artes Visuales, Aguascalientes (2022); and The Novosibirsk International Triennial of Contemporary Graphic Arts, Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk (2021). She is recipient of the New Discourse Excellence Award, Cyart space, Korea, 2016.

Estimate: HK$21,800 – 32,800

Latifa Zafar Attaii (b. 1994, Afghanistan) holds a BA in Fine Arts from Beaconhouse National University, Lahore (2017). Through her work, Attaii grapples with the concept of being born, raised, and now living in a society where one is intrinsically deprived and forgotten as a female. The artist considers her isolation and labelling as ‘other’ in her own homeland, where femininity and ethnicity become one’s entire identity. Struggling with this identity in a patriarchal society, self-expression becomes a necessity for the artist.

In Self Portrait, a black and white image of the artist is embroidered with black and red cotton threads. Through the work, Attaii is fighting against the exclusion, deprivation, and expectations of her society. She embroiders the pain: stitching untold stories that society refuses to acknowledge. Each stitch holds love, hatred, fear, and hope.

Attaii has participated in various exhibitions including Art & Embroidery, Rätisches Museum, Chur (2022); The Other Kabul, Kunst Museum, Thun (2022); Made in Afghanistan, Etihad Modern Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2019); and Fadjr International Festival of Visual Arts, Tehran (2018). She was the Second Prize Winner of the Allegro Art Prize (2021).

Estimate: HK$41,500 – 62,200

Li Ning (b. 1992, Hong Kong) holds a BA in Fine Arts (Painting) from RMIT University, Melbourne (2015) and a Higher Diploma in Fine Art (Painting) from Hong Kong Art School, Hong Kong (2014). His creative process involves the construction of a bizarre ‘fourth dimension’, in the form of mixed-media prints, copperplate engravings, pencil on paper or canvas, ceramics, and videos. A professional tattoo artist, Li’s intricate skills are reflected in his art. He has accumulated a library of visual motifs over time, collaging them into his print work, drawings, and linocuts. The results are visually stunning sci-fi landscapes populated with imaginary extra-terrestrial beings.

Hybrid is typical of Li’s artistic narrative, filled with metaphorical imagery and symbols. His work often incorporates elements of popular culture such as film, manga, and animation, as well as global myths and legends. In Hybrid, the artist provides insight into his imaginary world, that of nomads, biochemical species, and apocalyptic ruins. To create this effect, the image was first printed on coloured Gampi paper, then details were traced with ink and three-dimensionality added with spray paint. Gampi paper toughens the painting’s surface, adding texture and variety to the images and lines.

Li has garnered prominent recognition in Hong Kong, having exhibited at Welcome Jon Looka, Gallery Exit, Hong Kong (2022); Art Basel Hong Kong (2022); 20/20 Hong Kong Print Art Exhibition, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong (2020); and Asia Art Archive Annual Fundraiser, Christie’s Auction, Hong Kong (2019). He is the recipient of the Hong Kong Open Printshop Award, Hong Kong (2019).

Estimate: HK$82,300 – 128,700

Li Shun (b. 1988, China) holds an MA and a BA in Intermedia Art from the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou (2015, 2011). He has long been deeply focused on the existence and authenticity of images, as well as the re-presentation and re-exportation of images from bygone eras, highlighting the development of technological media. His artworks are stylistically diverse, with a particular focus on the expressiveness of various mediums and materials.

Unable to travel due to the pandemic, Li embarked on a virtual trip to a ski resort in Utah City via Google Maps. From street view, he discovered a broken red flag floating in the sky and found it both charming and thought-provoking. Li photographed the scene, later sketching the negative effect on a page of ‘1984’ by George Orwell and thus creating Internet Sketching- Flying the Red Flag-’1984’. The work reflects on the reality of using a VPN to access Google from China, resulting in glitches such as this ‘floating flag’. Li posits that, somehow, these realist regulations lead to surreal illusions.

Li’s work has been exhibited internationally, most notably at In Virtual Bodies: Absence/Presence in Media, Chinretsukan Gallery, Tokyo University of the Arts), Tokyo (2022); The 10th Anniversary Academic Review Exhibition of Top 20, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou (2021); Futurism of the Past —Contemplating the Past and Future in Chinese Contemporary Art, Beijing Exhibition Hall, Beijing (2021); Chinglish, Make Room, Los Angeles (2019); and Art Basel Hong Kong (2018). His accolades include being selected in the Annual List of Chinese Photography (2020) and being nominated for JIMEI x ARLES Discovery Award (2020).

Estimate: HK$89,200 – 133,800

Lindy Lee (b. 1954, Australia) holds a PhD (Art Theory) from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney (2001); a Post Graduate Diploma (Painting) and a BA (Visual Arts) from Sydney College of the Arts (1984); and a Diploma of Education (Art, Secondary School) from Kelvin Grove College of Advance Education, Brisbane (1975). Her practice explores her Chinese ancestry through Taoism and Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism, philosophies that see humanity and nature as inextricably linked. Lee employs chance and spontaneity to produce images that embody the intimate connections between human existence and the cosmos. Her works are meditative, often revealing themselves through time.

In Snowflakes and Fire, Lee questions how one single life could possibly mean anything in the face of the vastness of history, time, and the ocean of birth and death: especially when faced with climate change, political unrest, and the chasms of divisiveness in our world. Lee doesn’t claim to have the solution. What she does know is that we are all bound to each other and to the cosmos, unable to extricate ourselves. Despite the sheer enormity of the universe, and how inconsequential we might feel, we each hold up our personal corner of the sky.

Notable works of Lee’s include Eye of Infinity, Peak Tram, Hong Kong (2022); Moon in a Dewdrop, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2020); and Garden of Cloud and Stone, Chinatown, Sydney (2015). She is recipient of The 2022 Innovation and Excellence Award for Best Public Art Project, for Vault of Heaven & Seeds of Cosmos (2019), 60 Martin Place, Sydney.

Estimate: HK$21,800 – 32,800

Luis Antonio Santos (b. 1985, Philippines) explores the fragility of memories and entropy in his work. He considers what we remember and what we forget, how this distortion and deterioration informs our identity, and how we locate ourselves in the world. He is intrigued by using contradictions and dichotomous relationships to build tension and produce distortion. By making objects, he negotiates how he sees and understands his place in the world: from his immediate environment to the universal. His works explore and blur the boundaries between painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, image and object, presence and absence, material and representation, and personal and collective.

Each time I looked around, the walls moved in a little tighter is comprised of layered images of a single set of Venetian blinds, resulting in the appearance of disarray. Each mechanism of the system is dilapidated, causing it to lose its overall function. Named after a line in the film Apocalypse Now (1979), the work is ultimately about isolation. Drawing on thematic parallels between the film, our current situation of involuntary detachment, and the toll that lost connections take on us, the work is a testament to losing track of days and an embodiment of meaningless repetition.

Santos has received accolades throughout Asia, having exhibited at The Flowers are Blooming Again, But They Have No Scent, Fost Gallery, Singapore (2023), An Echo Made Tangible / (sun in an empty room), MO_Space, Manila (2022); Falling, Tang Contemporary, Beijing (2021); and (sounds fading distant, sounds distant, muted), Silverlens Gallery, Manila (2018). He has been nominated for the Signature Art Prize, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2018) and shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards, Quezon City (2015, 2014).

Estimate: HK$49,900 – 74,900

Maha Ahmed (b. 1989, Pakistan) holds an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London (2015) and a BA in Fine Art: Miniature Painting from the National College of Art and Design, Lahore (2012). She composes intricate, otherworldly paintings that reflect an ongoing reconciliation between the self and other. Her work is centred around ‘otherness’, solace, stillness, and a feeling of hope and progression. Ahmed is inspired by her studies of historic Persian illuminated manuscripts, using a dry brush technique to simulate this effect. Using a bruised colour palette, her landscapes are populated by collectives of animals that hold deeper meaning.

Behind every shadow is part of a series created after Ahmed gave birth to her daughter, Roshaneh, meaning ‘the giver of light’. The work provides insight into becoming a mother while navigating the world post-covid. A lone bird is surrounded by untamed foliage, extending into the barren rocks where a dragon inhabits the unknown terrain. The crane is integral, functioning as a symbol of hope and good fortune, as in Japanese literature. The rocks and foliage embody a disconnect between sadness and harmony, softness and irregularity, fertility and growth.

Ahmed has exhibited internationally, including at The Spaces Between, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2022); A place that cannot be, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020); India Art Fair, Galerie Isa, New Delhi (2022); Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Galerie Isa, Abu Dhabi (2021); and ArtDubai, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai (2019).

Estimate: HK$23,700 – 35,600

Nguyễn Thế Sơn (b. 1978, Vietnam) holds an MA in Fine Art (Photography and Experimental Arts) from China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (2012) and a BA in Fine Arts from Vietnam University of Fine Arts, Hanoi (2002). He has been a professor in the Vietnam National University (VNU), Ho Chi Minh City, since 2022. His work is often influenced by sociological research, questioning and reflecting on the brokenness and disappearance of humanity’s memories and values. This interrogation is set to the backdrop of changing and conflicting Vietnamese values.

Helios Tower 1 forms part of a photographic series recording a strike in an apartment building where the artist once lived. Nearly 1,000 Vietnamese flags were hung on the balconies of almost all the families residing in Helios Tower. Two days later, all the flags were removed. The event was a media spectacle, allowing many people within the community to share their stories and resulted in long-awaited benefits to the community.

Nguyễn is an accomplished artist, having exhibited at the 2022 Bandung Photography Triennale, Bandung (2022); Expo 2020 Dubai, Dubai (2022); Saigon in a wink, Wink Hotel, Ho Chi Minh (2021); City and memory, Seoul Biennale, Seoul (2019); and Journey to the will mild land, Academy Minerva, Groningen (2019).

Estimate: HK$12,500 – 18,700

Priyanka Singh Maharjan (b. 1992, Nepal) holds a BFA in Studio Art from Kathmandu University, Kathmandu (2018). Embodying her ongoing research on time, memory, and images, her work investigates how personal history and memory are tied to certain places, people, and objects. She explores how those visual representations can be used to communicate personal experience. Maharjan is drawn to using local, traditional mediums in a contemporary format. Her works are mostly process-based, allowing for experiments and new discoveries.

According to the artist, memories are strange phenomena, bringing both warmth and loneliness. The former comes from what remains, and the latter from the distance that time creates. Memories do not always come in waves; they may be a faint ripple on the surface, or completely unnoticeable. Sometimes they are an itch that you scratch, either for relief or until you open an unfillable void. Maharjan sees photography as the most vivid capturer of memory, swiftly transporting us to past events in a glance. In The passage of time and what remains, Maharian hand-embroiders old photographs. Embroidering feels close to home for the artist and is therefore the perfect medium through which to re-interpret the past and communicate her experience, giving power to seemingly mundane memories.

Maharjan has exhibited throughout Asia, including at Kochi Students Biennale, Fort Kochi, Kerala (2018); Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap (2020); and In the realm of recollections, Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu (2021). She is recipient of the Himalayan Light Art Scholarship Award, Kathmandu (2020).

Estimate: HK$12,500 – 18,700

Saule Dyussenbina (b. 1971, Kazakhstan) holds a Diploma in Painting from Kazakh National Academy of Arts, Almaty (1997) and a BA from Almaty Art School (Design Department), Almaty (1990). Her multi-media practice studies the objective world that surrounds her home, her body, her history, and her memory. Her recent works often take reference from the field of applied design, including interior design and the production of household items. Vacillating between tactility and optical perception, her work seizes familiar images and translates them into objects of thoughtful contemplation or makes them part of our home “shell”, returning them to the zone of tactility.

‘Aurora’ is the name of a holiday home on the shore of Lake Issyk- Kul in Kyrgyzstan, a former republic of the USSR. It’s also the name of a ship and, according to the artist, a symbol of revolution and the USSR. In Wallpaper Holiday home “Aurora” Issyk-Kul, village children play on the beach and women sell hot corn and takeaway fish. Local Muslim families breathe the sea breeze while secular urban families mill around in swimsuits. The architecture of modern umbrellas juxtaposes a crumbling Soviet cinema and radio hall, creating a giant panorama of a changing society following the collapse of the USSR. Only the sea, noise, clouds, and seagulls remain unchanged.

Dyussenbina’s work has garnered international recognition, having exhibited at Clouds, Power and Ornament, CHAT, Hong Kong (2023); Supa Venezia, Venice (2022); Art Dubai x Bybit, Dubai (2022); Silk Web, The Dowse Museum, Wellington (2021); News from Central Asia, NYC Jewelry Week, New York (2021); and Cultural Ecology of Asia, Dallas Art Fair Projects, Dallas (2021).

Estimate: HK$62,400 – 93,600

Shaarbek Amankul (b. 1959, Kyrgyzstan) holds a BA in Art from Frunze Art Academy, Bishkek (1980) and a BA in History from Kyrgyz National University, Bishkek (1989). His work aims to articulate cultural and historical phenomena, reflecting on the social, political, and economic processes that took place in modern Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Themes of his work include the formation of an independent Kyrgyzstan, the upheaval of authoritarian regimes, and subsequent changes to the economy, civic life, and wider society. Amankul reflects on the seemingly conflicting cultural manifestations in Central Asian life and instead aims to highlight their harmonies.

The distinction between need and desire has always been an integral part of Amankul’s nomadic worldview. HOMO HOMINI LUPUS EST captures the gradual loss of this distinction and the resulting cost to society, leading to a quiet yet catastrophic conflicting relationship between humankind and the natural world. As predator, the wolf kills other animals to satisfy his hunger, taking from nature only as much as necessary. In contrast, humans take from nature as much as we wish: far more than is necessary for survival. The human went even further, creating laws to protect nature while also providing permission to hunt. Thereby, the social predator hides his sick existence from himself.

Amankul has exhibited extensively throughout Europe, including at Taking Flight: Birds& Bicycles, MOMENTUM, Berlin (2021); Waldwolfwildnis, Kunststation-kleinsassen, Hofbieber (2022); We are the flood, MUSE Science Museum of Trento, Trento (2022); and Shamanism, Gallery 46, London (2022). He was shortlisted for The 2021 Sovereign Asian Art Prize.

Estimate: HK$68,600 – 102,900

Sharon Lee (b. 1992, Hong Kong) holds an MFA and a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2022, 2016). She is a cross-disciplinary artist with a photography-based practice. Concerning history and memory of cultural identity, Lee works with images, objects, text and sites to explore solitude and itinerant belongings related to human resilience. Combining analogue and digital imaging, Lee embraces slowness and disappearance in her art. The material transmutation and tactile sensitivity in her photography works are a nod to her early explorations in ceramics.

Combining porcelain and photography, The Remnants of Yesterday (2022) examines the material culture encapsulated in objects, weaving the fabric of family history into the collective past of Hong Kong, unfolding the tactility of memory. Lee’s grandfather owned a small textile factory in 1970s and shipped clothes worldwide, with the “Made in Hong Kong” labels. Her grandmother used the fabric remnants to make clothes for herself and the family. Having found the very cheongsam in the first family portrait, Lee pressed it against a thin clay slab indexically imprinting each crease of the fabric. Lee transformed the photographic process into actions of repetitive tracing, which present the delicate relations between the attempts to recall and the memories one could hold on to.

Lee’s artworks were presented at local and international art institutions, including Tai Kwun Contemporary (2022), Peer to Peer: UK/HK (2019), Hong Kong International Photo Festival (2018–2021). Lee debuted her solo exhibition The Presence of Absence (2017) at Lumenvisum and won the WMA Masters Award with The Crescent Void series (2018-2019).

Estimate: HK$20,600 – 30,800

Shrimanti Saha (b. 1987, India) holds an MA and a BA in Visual Arts (Painting) from M.S. University, Vadodara, India (2011, 2009). In her work, Saha develops layered story structures with references from a range of sources like literature, history, mythology, science fiction, comic books, miniature paintings, news reports as well as memory, conversation and personal experiences. These multi-faceted fictional narratives can be construed as a personal mythology, alternative history or as a collection of untold stories touching upon the themes of identity, gender, ecology, exploitation and control.

The dystopian landscape in The Stone Pelter depicts fragmented architecture, organic forms, humans and animals. It draws upon a myriad of historical and contemporary references, touching upon the themes of ecology, violence and human-animal relationships.

Saha recently held a solo exhibition entitled Reveries in the Atelier at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2023). She has exhibited at Frieze Art Fair, Vadehra Art Gallery, Seoul (2022); and at India Art Fair, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2022). She received the Inlaks Fine Arts award (2015) and Amol Vadehra Art Grant by the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, New Delhi (2019).

Estimate: HK$28,000 – 42,200

Sophie Cheung Hing Yee (b. 1983, Hong Kong) holds an MA in Applied Anthropology and Community Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London, London (2022) and a BA in Fine Arts from RMIT and Hong Kong Art School, Hong Kong (2020). A life-long advocate of social inclusion, with a particular interest in disability rights, Cheung explores in-betweenness: acts of simultaneous addition and subtraction. Reminiscent of classical painting, yet rooted in contemporary social issues, her practice harnesses found objects in oblique reference to ‘arte povera’ and ‘mono-ha’. Her use of plastics delineates the passage of time and draws comparisons between colour and art history in the East and West.

Erasing News: Stone & Plant Variation Under the Flyover captures ink from Hong Kong newspapers published between September and October 2022. Cheung’s use of newspaper ink recognises the validity of heritage and history. When rubbed together, both erasers and newspapers undergo a transformative process. The erasers, at first with the distant impenetrability of stone or marble, gradually reveal their softness, and their inherent imperfections upon contact. Through this work, which references the Chinese proverb of crossing the river by feeling the stones, Cheung seeks pathways which navigate their way between past and present, and between opposite viewpoints of history and current affairs.

Cheung has exhibited at Art Basel Hong Kong (2023); in Erasing Time, Ora-Ora, Hong Kong (2022) and Asia Now, Paris (2022). She is a decorated artist, having been first runner-up for the Hong Kong Human Rights Art Prize (2018); receiving the Leap Initiative Hong Kong Emerging Artist Award (2017); and achieving Bronze for The Art Next Hong Kong Artists Award (2017).

Estimate: HK$57,400 – 89,700

Stanley Shum (b. 1989, Hong Kong) holds a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2013) and an Associate of Arts (Visual Arts) (Distinction) from Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong (2010). His expressive and ambiguous figurative works investigate the mentality of individual and social ideologies of reality, the changes in regional culture, as well as the nonentity of social power. Shum aims to depict imaginary new works of hope with dazzling promises. His compositions combine imaginary scenes, natural landscapes, and man-made urban landscapes. These bright-coloured visual spectacles exhibit a paradoxical mixture of melancholy and hope.

In recent years, many Hong Kong residents have chosen to emigrate. This includes Shum’s sister, who now lives in Taiwan. The truth is I never left you No. II depicts his confusion towards the changes to his relationships with those who have left Hong Kong, while also contemplating what has been lost or faded in our society. Lyrics from Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (1976) are scrawled across the top of the work, referencing the life of Argentine leader and activist Eva Perón. Shum disambiguates the classic lyric and in doing so reflects on the changes in Hong Kong society.

Shum has exhibited throughout Hong Kong, including at Love is all you need, SC Gallery (2022); The Blazing World, Gallery Exit (2020); Art Basel Hong Kong, Gallery Exit (2023, 2022, 2021); and Shining Moment, TANG Art Foundation (2021).

Estimate: HK$57,400 – 89,700

Tam Tak-Hei (b. 1996, Hong Kong) holds a BA (Hons) in Visual Arts from the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong (2019). Interested in the overlooked spaces and objects that surround us, he uses elements of architecture and infrastructure to create his work. Tam adopts the idea of the “miniature”, interpreting and capturing the essence of archetypical forms and architectural structures using metalsmithing and jewellery-making techniques. Using the body as an architectural interface, his works are often wearable, addressing the intimacy between architecture and humankind.

When wandering around near his studio in Taiwan, Tam encountered a building near a crossroad. It was a classic Taiwanese ‘walk-up’ apartment building, aside from being completely covered up by various large-scale billboards. In essence, the billboards became the new architectural façade. Tam wondered what the original façade looked like. The transition from the original façade to The Figmental Façade, which is only accessible through imagination drifts between states of tangibility and intangibility. The piece is built with a detachable part that can be worn as a brooch, letting part of the work merge into the façades of our bodies.

Tam is a decorated artist, having been awarded the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) Award, Hong Kong (2019) and the Gaffa Award for Excellence in Contemporary Jewellery, Hong Kong (2019). His duo exhibition, From Rubbles to Wonders was presented by Grotto Fine Art in 2020. His works have also been shown at Art Basel Hong Kong (2021-2023) and Fine Art Asia (2020-2021).

Estimate: HK$100,000 – 150,000

Tang Kwong San (b. 1992, China) holds a BA in Fine Art from RMIT University, Melbourne (2019). His practice combines photography, drawing, objects, and videos that trace intergenerational family memories and social history. By re-organising and reinterpreting old belongings, family photo albums, and documents in a range of media, Tang explores the subtle, intricate, and complex connections between longing, loss, and belonging.

In Night Birds IV, Tang rearranges and transforms pre-existing texts and images centred around Babara Demick’s nonfiction book entitled Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2009). Tang extracted excerpts from the book which tells the story of six North Korean defectors living under the Communist regime and how they crossed the border on moonless nights. Tang believes history is a ‘never-ending loop’. The book makes him think about this generation’s youth, and what their futures might hold.

Tang has exhibited throughout Hong Kong, including in Midnight Sun, Contemporary by Angela Li (2022); Nightbirds, Gallery Exit (2021); Wandering. At sea, Hidden Space (2021); Landing on the East, Diana Cheung Experimental Gallery of Hong Kong Art Centre (2021); and SPACE and MEMORY, Whitestone Gallery (2021). Forthcoming in 2024, Tang will present his most comprehensive solo exhibition to date at Galerie du Monde, reflecting his multimedia practice by combining installation, videography, painting and drawing.

Estimate: HK$31,200 – 46,800

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (b. 1990, Syria) holds an MFA in Fine Art from the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco (2016) and an MA in History of Art from the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh (2014). His work resurrects complex histories from the South Asian, Southwest Asian, and North African region. Bhutto’s process unpacks the intersections of religion, storytelling, futurity, and ecology through a multi-media practice rooted in printmaking, textile, and performance. His current project seeks to understand the cultural, ecological, and social history of the Indus River through the eyes of one of Pakistan’s most elusive animals: the Indus River Dolphin.

Sindh in flood 2022 AD to Sindh 2,500 BC is comprised of six maps and demonstrates how the Indus River has changed over time, starting by depicting the catastrophic floods of 2022, from which the country has still not recovered. The only constant in the work is the city of Sukkur, represented as a mirror, showing how radically the river has changed over time. Traditional embroidery stitches mimic topographical features of the region. Going backwards in time, these maps show how manmade processes, such as torrential rain caused by climate change and heavy river engineering, have radically altered the river’s natural processes of change, exacerbating natural disasters such as droughts, heatwaves, floods, and cyclones.

Bhutto has shown work and curated exhibitions globally, as well as spoken at Columbia University, UC Berkeley, NYU, Stanford and the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. He is recipient of the MAP Fund, New York (2020); the San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant (2020); and the YBCA 100 Award (2019).