Six New Exhibitions to Check Out in Hong Kong This September

It’s September – and galleries across town are buzzing again with a flurry of new exhibitions. Our top picks for this month include shows from Italian sculptor Matteo Pugliese and Chinese couturier Guo Pei.

CREAM OF COUTURE

Fashion lovers rejoice! This September, M+ presents the first major East Asian exhibition of celebrated Chinese couturier Guo Pei, featuring garments from the designer’s four-decade career that include the famous yellow gown worn by Rihanna to the 2015 Met Gala. The couture pieces will be presented in dialogue with 40 art and design objects from the M+ collection. There’s also a screening at M+ Cinema of the documentary Yellow is Forbidden, based on Pei’s extraordinary career. 

From September 21

PICTURE PERFECT

This month, David Zwirner offers a chance to see works by the late Brazilian painter Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato for the first time in Asia. The exhibition also coincides with his inclusion at this year’s Venice Biennale. Pieces on display feature rural horizons, semi-urban landscapes, agricultural scenes and views of favelas, inspired by the artist’s surroundings in his hometown of Belo Horizante. 

From September 12

NATURE’S EMBRACE

Sin Sin Fine Arts in Wong Chuk Hang presents a group show continuing the gallery’s focus on promoting the work of Indonesian artists. Featuring black and white photographs from multidisciplinary artist Dani Huda and plexiglass and mirror sculptures from Talitha Maranila, the works showcase how the artists embrace nature and spirituality in their practice, and will be presented in dialogue with pieces by Sin Sin Man.

From September 13

MODERN MASTER

Contemporary Italian sculptor Matteo Pugliese is the subject of a new solo exhibition at Taiw Kuwn’s Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery. The artist, who’s known for reinterpreting classical and renaissance traditions through a contemporary lens, showcases recent works from four different series that explore themes of strength, movement, tension and limits.

Until November 2

LABOR OF LOVE

Para Site presents Cloud Chamber, a first institutional exhibition by the Ho Chi Minh City-based collective Art Labor, which has spent years documenting and building relationships with the Jrai ethnic community in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Showcasing rai wood-carved sculptures and musical instruments alongside moving images, installations, drawings and archival photographs, the exhibition aims to create a counter-narrative to popular representations of the region. 

Until November 24

HOPES AND ILLUSIONS

Ben Brown presents Chances Are You’ll Like It All Ways, a solo exhibition of works by Puerto Rican artist Enoc Perez, featuring oil paintings of Bacardi bottles and half-empty cocktail glasses. The national spirit of Puerto Rico, Bacardi serves as a metaphor for the hopes and illusions of the cultural era, as well as a comment on the false promise of liquor advertisements.

October 2-November 9

(Hero Image: Para Site Cloud Chamber)