Yoo Bong Sang, ‘kjw20100924’, 2010. Image courtesy Opera Gallery.

Opera Gallery will show at Art Central Hong Kong 2018 for the fourth year running. The gallery diverges from the fair’s Asia-Pacific focus by presenting a broad range of aesthetic and geographical dialogues across continents, and will be located at Stand E07 of the fair, which takes place from 27 March to 1 April 2018.

Internationally renowned artists such as Fernando Botero, Yves Klein and Yayoi Kusama will be exhibited at the booth, which will also highlight artists who are relatively new to the Asia-Pacific market, including Manolo Valdes, Mike Dargas and David Kim Whittaker. There will be a special showing of Korean Artists including Cho Sung Hee, Suh Jeong-Min and Yoo Bong Sang as well.    

Manolo Valdés, ‘Retrato IV’, 2017. Image courtesy Opera Gallery.

A key highlight from Opera Gallery’s booth is its introduction of Spanish artist Manolo Valdes to the Hong Kong market. Valdes, a painter, sculptor and mixed media artist based in New York, is often credited for introducing satirical themes to Spanish art. Opera Gallery Singapore has previously presented his work in a solo exhibit in September 2017, as well as at Art Stage Singapore earlier this year.

Another artist whose work will be at the booth is India-based Valay Shende, who employs the mediums of sculpture, photography, video and installation to contest urban Indian historical narratives. His recent work encompasses thematic explorations of migration.

Mike Dargas, ‘I Disappear’, 2017. Image courtesy Opera Gallery.

Fair-goers can expect a large-scale work by the German Hyperrealist painter Mike Dargas, created specifically for Art Central. Dargas had his first solo exhibition, ‘Healing Beauty’ in Asia at Opera Gallery Hong Kong in January 2018. Described by Dargas as “an emotional snapshot”, each of the self-taught artist’s works resemble the photographic medium, and deftly captures the ephemeral beauty of female faces.

Opera Gallery will also bring the works of Andy Denzler and David Kim Whittaker to the fair. Both artists work with the human image. Denzler champions portraiture with the integration of new-media and computer graphics that reflect the alienation of the techno-society, which has been featured in solo shows at Opera Gallery’s spaces in Morocco, New York and Geneva. Whittaker’s metaphysical work primarily questions the existential basis of the self.

David Kim Whittaker, ‘Cream Tea Pavilions’, 2007. Image courtesy Opera Gallery.

The stand will also feature a body of new works by Korean artist Suh Jeong-Min. Suh employs traditional Korean hanji paper recycled from numerous calligraphy shops, signifying the Korean cultural values of harmony and community. Other Korean artists featured are painter Sung-Hee Cho and sculptor Yoo Bong-Sang. To complement Opera Gallery’s showing at Art Central, a duo exhibition entitled ‘Industrial Materialism’, featuring Yoo and Seo Young-Deok will be held at the gallery’s Hong Kong space throughout Hong Kong Art Week. Seo, like Yoo, is a contemporary Korean sculptor who explores the thematic use of industrial materials and fluctuating mediums.

Yayoi Kusama ‘Purple Moment after the Rain’, 1978. Image courtesy Opera Gallery.

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More information at operagallery.com.