ART CITIES:Hong Kong-Arcadia
Arcadia is a mountainous, landlocked region of Greece, according to Greek mythology, Arcadia was the domain of Pan, a virgin wilderness home to the god of the forest and his court of dryads, nymphs and other spirits of nature. Greek mythology inspired the Roman poet Virgil to write his “Eclogues”, a series of poems set in Arcadia.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Gagosian Archive
The group exhibition “Arcadia” at Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong, explore the landscape both real and imagined, by modern and contemporary gallery artists. Despite their formal and conceptual differences, all the works reveal a fascination with the natural world, its correspondence to an interior world, and the artistic compulsion to depict it, whether via figuration or abstraction, narrative unity or fragmentation. In the exhibition are on presentation photographs of Cy Twombly’s daily life, that range from his time as a student at Black Mountain College during the early ‘50s until his death in 2011, and record the verdant landscapes of Virginia and coastal Italy. The entire frame of Andreas Gursky’s “Krefeld” (1989) is filled with sylvan detai, Jeff Koons’s “Gazing Ball” series, refract the viewer’s own reflection. In a more dystopic vein, Gregory Crewdson’s cinematic stagings present cold and deserted landscapes with traces of human life, while Zeng Fanzhi’s darkly serene vista is enlivened by calligraphic strokes and splatters. The theme is explored further in works by: Balthus, Joe Bradley, Cecily Brown, Albert Oehlen, Nam June Paik, Edward Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Richard Wright, and Giuseppe Penone.
Info: Gagosian Gallery, 7/F Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong, Duration: 26/9-11/11/17, Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, www.gagosian.com
