Fotanian is in its 10 years. There are few surprises - or it could be me getting old and unadventurous? We went to the same studios - Chow Chun Fai, Stephen Wong, Joey Leung, etc. Wilson Shieh's new studio is the few additions to the scene. Other than that, there really isnt too much new discovery (unlike last year when I got quite excited seeing Stephen's works; whom I took my frds to check out as well and most seem to like them!)
But the Fotan Open Day is an important part of the HK art ecosystem - if there is such a thing. The "older guards" and first generation of Fotanians, like Lee Kit, Lam Tung Pang, Tsang Kin Wah are no longer opening their studios - understandably. On the promotion front, I still hear people criticising Sino's sponsorship - but come on, whats wrong with free promotion? I think artists need to be less adversary towards business, and business less commercial towards art. They are clearly interwoven, and its plain unproductive to try to break up the two.
Perhaps the more worrying thing is that people are checking out not just the art during the visits, but also the artist studios as flats to buy and invest in. There's a protest downstairs this time to petition for landlords to not raise rent. Now that will indeed be hard, when it comes to capitalist HK.
No comments:
Post a Comment