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As the COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing consequences dominate events around the globe, cities and their residents continue to encounter unprecedented challenges to everyday life. In ‘Challenged Cities: Then, Now and Beyond’, Karin Weber Gallery presents a dialogue between six artists with Asian roots or research interests and their exploration of the notion of ‘the city’ — historical roots, the present day, and current challenges — across a range of different mediums. ‘Challenged Cities’ touches on issues such as connectivity, colonisation, trade and globalisation yet retains a confident and optimistic focus on the human interactions and endeavours that render cities dynamic and progressive.

In a city like Hong Kong, where the material and the mundane frequently prevail, gongbi painter Joey Leung Ka-yin (Hong Kong) closely observes the world and city she lives in, referencing popular culture and gender issues in her practice. Her works present the contemporary world as it is – filled with bizarre people, peculiar episodes and sometimes wonderful chaos.

Eric Fok’s (Macau) reconstructed, simultaneously reflective images of ‘paradises’ juxtapose traces from different colonial periods, celebrating the seemingly ridiculous. Contemporary themes such as congestion, urbanisation and landmark architecture from the past and the present are interwoven with mythical figures and historical events, reincarnating a logic formulated by disappearance and repositioning.

Carmen Ng (Hong Kong) captures the urban landscape of her home city Hong Kong with wistful associations about things that may appear trivial. City life can be austere, and Carmen tries to lighten the mood by looking for lightheartedness and patterns in things that are repetitive and mundane.

Emily Allchurch’s (UK) photo collage series ‘Mirrored Cities’ draws parallels between the ancient trading port of Venice, Italy, and historical and contemporary counterpart locations in China, such as Suzhou, Xi’an, Tianjin and Fenghuang, in its exploration of themes such as globalisation, mass tourism and trade.

Core to the works of Daisuke Teshima (Japan) are notions of human encounters and human interactions in complex urban environments.  These are, in his mind, what continuously drives and shapes the human experience, regardless of whether individuals connect or disconnect.

New to the gallery lineup for Art Central 2021 is Timothy Hon Hung Lee, an emerging British-Chinese artist based in London, UK, who explores notions of the ‘sacred’ and our search for meaning in increasingly secular consumer society that is so common in cities today. Lee’s works draw on elements of Asian and Western religions, art histories and cultural reference points, all brought together through the most traditional of Chinese art forms, ink painting on rice paper, which is then mounted on wooden panels.

Six artists, six different takes on cities and multi-facetted explorations of their individual trajectories constitute ‘Challenged Cities: Then, Now and Beyond’ at Karin Weber Gallery; a poignant reminder that we can and must draw on history to imagine a future.

About the Artists:

Emily Allchurch (UK, b.1972) holds a MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London and lives and works in Hastings, UK. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Tokaido Hiroshige Museum, Japan; Minneapolis Museum of Arts, USA; Manchester Art Gallery, UK; Nouveau Musée National de Monaco; States of Jersey, Channel Islands, UK and the Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Canada. Corporate collections include the Financial Conduct Authority, Unilever, Morgan Stanley, Schroders and Rathbones in London, and Fidelity International in Tokyo.

Eric Fok (Macau, b.1990) received his Bachelor of Visual Art, Fine Arts/Art Education, from the Macao Polytechnic Institute and his MFA from the National Taiwan University of Arts. He was a finalist in the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2019. Fok’s works are held in the Museum of the Orient in Portugal, the Macau Government Headquarters and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macau SAR, MGM Cotai, Soho House Hong Kong and private collections worldwide.

Timothy Hon Hung Lee (UK, b.1983) holds a BA from Leeds Metropolitan University, UK and is currently working towards his MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. He has shown at Art Central before, as well as London Art Fair, and participated in exhibitions around the UK, and New York, USA. His works are in private collections in London, New York, Hong Kong, Belgium, Singapore and Malaysia.

Joey Leung Ka Yin (HK, b. 1976) obtained both her BA and MFA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Leung’s works are in the collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, UK and private collections worldwide.

Carmen Ng (HK, b.1988) received her BA in Visual Arts from Hong Kong Baptist University in 2011. She won the Distinguished Print Award at the 29th Hong Kong Print Awards in- 2017. Her works are in the collection of Hang Seng Bank, Procter & Gamble in HK and Guangzhou, China, Soho House Hong Kong, a HK private education foundation, and private collections in Hong Kong.

Daisuke Teshima (Japan, b.1977) holds a BA (2001) and a MA (2002) from Tokyo Zokei University, Japan. Core to his carved and coloured wooden sculptures are notions of human encounters and interactions in complex urban environments. He has shown primarily in Japan, but also in South Korea, Hong Kong and Paris. Teshima’s work is in the collection of Yusaku Maezawa’s Contemporary Art Foundation in Japan and private collections worldwide.