‘Postcapitalism Kidnapping’ is a collaborative exhibition by upcoming French artists Frank Perrin and ZEVS, their first ever showing in Asia. Perrin’s dramatic yet detailed photographs have not only captured the visual spectacles of various fashion catwalk shows, nor do they simply pronounce and accentuate the relationship between man and architectural space, they in truth subtly mirror and reflect on the notion of ‘buying’ into a fantasy world that is built by the believe system of consumerism. The infamous act of ‘kidnapping’ and manipulating symbolic elements from established brand names has been the core of ZEVS’s creative efforts. Although they can undoubtedly be seen as an examination of our materialistic society, the strong presence of our deeply rooted association with these logos and the captivating and intriguing visual quality can hardly be ignored. Together they post an interesting question of our understanding and interaction with ‘consumerism’ through their stunning creations.

Bertrand Lavier is one of the most influential European artists of his generation, and is internationally acclaimed for employing, reinterpreting and presenting everyday ready-made objects as works of art. He has been exhibited extensively in numerous prestigious institutions and exhibitions worldwide, including the eighth Documenta in 1987 in Kassel, Germany, the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Pompidou Centre and the Lourve Museum in Paris, Japan’s National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Bass Museum in Miami, the Tate Gallery in London, the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1985, the seventh Lyon Biennale in 2003 and the Venice Biennale in 1976, 1993 and 1997.

Group Show featuring works by
AES+F
Stephan Balkenhol
Paul Blanca
Chen Qiuchi
Robert indiana
Ung-No Lee
Helge Leiberg
Pascal Lievre
Dennis Oppenheim
Barthelemy Toguo
Yan Pei-Ming

Art Statements Gallery is delighted to present the solo exhibition of Hong Kong artist Patrick Lee. His third exhibition with the gallery and it includes a selection of new works from his latest series --- A Return to Silence.

Patrick Lee (born 1949), as a co-founder of the Para-Site Art Space, is one of most influential and respected figures in Hong Kong’s contemporary art scene for the past decade. Lee has exhibited extensively in Hong Kong and has held several successful exhibitions abroad since 1989.

In his latest series, A Return to Silence, Lee presents a collection of emotionally charged and stunning photographs that can be viewed and interpreted as a spiritual continuation and evolution from his earlier series (2000’s Night Vigil and 2004’s Look!). Primarily focusing on photography as the media of his artistic output, the camera acts instrumentally as a witness as well as a tool for self contemplation and reflection in his everlasting quest for internal truth.

In A Return to Silence, Lee has not only captured his most intimate thoughts and emotional states in these captivating and otherworldly images, he has also exposed his soul visually, without any reservation, in order for us to experience and see complex emotions through a set of often bewildered eyes.

Art Statements Gallery is delighted to present a significant video group exhibition titled Unidentified Emotions by four internationally acclaimed and influential contemporary artists, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler and Salla Tykkä, for the first time in Hong Kong. This exhibition will feature four celebrated and ground-breaking video works from the participating artists.

Each of the four video works reflects and investigates the possibilities of the ephemera of internal feelings. The issues that arise in these films touch on a unifying sense of unidentified emotions. In Ahtila’s Me/We; Okay; Gray, three short films resembling advertisements explore the issues of identity, sex, gender and fragments of reality. They do so in a way that reconfigures our perceptions of traditional video media. In their piece, Cardiff and Miller skilfully transform the role of the viewer by conveying an experiential atmosphere of urgency that is set around a burning house in the wilderness in House Burning. In the third work, the logic of time and space is challenged and dissolved by Hubbard/Birchler in Detached Building, a short film set in an empty house full of activities that alters physical and temporal realities. In the final oeuvre, a moment in a young woman’s life is captured and exposed in Tykkä’s Lasso. The subject’s physically inaction and her undetected emotions remain unchanged while witnessing a surreal and poetic act powerfully echoes the viewers’ role in relation to the work itself.

Together, these four pieces offer an intriguing challenge to the complexities of everyday human experience in a way that transforms the viewer from mere spectator into a willing actor who must confront basic human emotion in a thought-provoking way. The feelings that emerge at first glance may seem easy to label, but upon further introspection become less defined, and more transient.

About the artists

Eija-Liisa Ahtila was born 1959 in Hameenlinna, Finland and currently lives and works in Helsinki. Ahtila has been exhibiting in numerous leading institutions and exhibitions worldwide since 1988, including the prominent Doucmenta 11 in Kassel, Germany and the Nordic Pavilion, 48th Venice Biennale in 1999. She has also shown at Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Tate Modern in London, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Busan Biennale 2004, Museum of Modern Art in New York and 51st Venice Biennale.

Janet Cardiff was born 1957 in Brussels, Ontario, Canada, and George Bures Miller was born 1960 in Vegreville, Alberta, Canada. Both currently live and work in Berlin, Germany and Grindrod, B.C., Canada. Cardiff and Miller presented “The Paradise Institute” in the Canadian Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001, and were awarded with La Biennale di Venezia Special Award. Their most recent museum exhibition, “Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: The Killing Machine and Other Stories 1995-2007,” is at Miami Art Museum in Florida until the 20th of January, 2008.

Teresa Hubbard was born 1965 in Dublin, Ireland, and Alexander Birchler was born 1962 in Baden, Switzerland. They currently live and work in Austin, Texas, USA. Hubbard/Birchler have participated in the prestigious 48th Venice Biennale, and have also exhibited at Miami Art Museum, Mori Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art in Berlin, Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art and Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C. Their first major survey in an American Museum will be held from the 14th of September, 2008 to the 4th of January, 2009 at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and will travel to the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany in 2009.

Salla Tykkä was born 1973 in Helsinki, Finland, where she currently lives and works. Tykkä has been exhibited and collected extensively by major institutions such as 49th Venice Biennale, De Appel in Amsterdam, Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Centre d´Art Contemporain Genève, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Wellington City Gallery in New Zealand, Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain, Musée d´art contemporain de Montréal and Collection Lambert in Avignon, France.