This is really pretty late to the game, but tthe Julius Baer Sovereign Asian Art Award finalists are on display at the Rotunda at Exchange Square until tomorrow, and the works are really worth seeing in person. Traditionally the Geeks are all about materialistic pleasure to adorn the body, but this selection of works by up-and-coming artists really does blow the mind and excite the wallet. Particularly because some of the pieces are pretty darned affordable. The soldier piece above, for example, (which isn't a painting so much as a relief made of ceramic toy soldiers) is estimated at US$2,400-$3,600. It's not like shopping at Ikea, but it's not all that much more than a Proenza PS1 at Lane Crawford. That is, of course, if the prices stay within that range, which is unlikely because everything that I want is usually unavailable to me. The upside is that while your PS1 will only get more and more beat up, the artwork will only increase in price, and quickly, I expect, as the Sovereign Art Award gives plenty of good exposure to these artists.
What I like about the pieces is the diversity -- when you live in Hong Kong and pass by Wellington Street too often, you tend to think art is confined to the Yue Minjun school of big faces with big mouths, or a sculpture of a pig with an affinity for medicinal cupping. After the jump are some more pieces, which I will egregiously not caption or attribute in any way whatsoever, but you can view on the website here.
There are two prizes available, a Judge award which is given by experts, and a people's choice kind of thing, which is open to the public. I voted for the soldier, which is stupid, because I want it, and I shouldn't drive up the price by voting for it, or blogging about, but... oh well.
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