Art Exhibits in Hong Kong This April and May 2022

The fifth wave of COVID-19 infections that slammed Hong Kong in January saw the city employ various restrictions to control the spread of the virus, leaving malls and streets deserted and establishments closed.

Many events were also postponed, such as Art Basel and Art Central (to May), as well as the Hong Kong International Film Festival (no schedule yet), all of which were supposed to be held this March in celebration of Hong Kong Arts Month. Despite these postponements dampening the spirits of art lovers, however, we can hope that things will begin to look up for the region soon. The government will relax most of its social distancing measures in three phrases beginning April 21, while face-to-face classes will resume on April 19.

As for art, it remains accessible for those who need it just as it always has. Here are art exhibits you can check out in Hong Kong this April and May.

We advise you to contact the galleries mentioned regarding their operational hours and social distancing measures, as well as other guidelines before visiting (e.g., booking appointments).

'2022' — Until April 7

"2022," a group exhibition on show at Sansiao Gallery on Wyndham Street, Central, brings together new works by Hong Kong artists Muses Sze Mei Ting, King Lau, Iris Tsang, Stephanie Sin, and Fung Chim based on how they perceive the year, or number, 2022. The artists began planning the exhibit in 2020, which was supposed to be released in early 2021 only for its release launch to pushed to 2022 due to the health crisis. "2022" showcases the diversity of the artists' artistic expressions, from geometric ceramics and painting to embroidery.

'Click... Clatter... Clunk...' — Until April 23

"Click... Clatter... Clunk..." is another group exhibition, this time at the Karin Weber Gallery on Aberdeen Street, Central. On show until April 23, the exhibit brings together the works of Andio Lai, Carmen Ng, Kate Ouyang, Rainbow Chan, Tse Ngo Sheung, Victor Wong, and Yo Chow Tsz Yiu, encompassing audio, painting, printmaking, fabric, and fiction writing.

The exhibit is a celebration of the traditional printing companies in Central and Sheung Wan in the 1960s and '70s, which have now mostly been replaced when digital printing came to the fore in the ‘90s.

'Cafés' — Until May 14

The "Cafés" exhibit at Axel Vervoordt Gallery along Wong Chuk Hang Road is the first presentation of the late Ida Barbarigo's art works in Hong Kong. Barbarigo, who passed away in 2018 at 97 years old, often used chairs as a prominent feature in her paintings, so much so that it became her leitmotif.

"Her expressive work gives body to the energy surrounding the chairs at the cafés on the public squares in Venice or Paris, where she loved to sit for hours observing people," the gallery said. "The chairs express aspects of melancholy, mystery, or even darker themes when they resemble human skeletons or demons."

The exhibit, which includes 22 works from the 1960s to the 1970s, is a collaboration between the Archivio Barbarigo-Cadorin-Music and the artist's estate.

'Weigh All Tears' - Until May 29

"Weigh All Tears" is South African artist William Kentridge's first solo exhibition in Hong Kong and his first ever project with Hauser & Wirth gallery.

"‘Weigh All Tears’ is a phrase that cycles through Kentridge’s work, one of an evolving miscellany of phrases that recur in his work," the gallery said. "They are ‘unsolved riddles, phrases which hover at the edge of making sense…"

One of the works featured in the exhibit is a new six-metre-wide triptych showing silhouetted figures laid against a collage of Africa's maps and other archives. The figures are also seen in four new tapestries: "Orator" (2021), "Spinner" (2021), "Mechanic" (2020), and "Colleoni" (2020).