Hong Kong, March 20 – April 10, 2016, http://www.hkac.org.hk
The exhibition was part of an ongoing annual series at the HKAC in which collectors of contemporary art show pieces from their collections. Each year the show is regionally delimited, and this year it was Japanese collector’s turn to show some of the treasures of their vaults and living rooms: Keita Arisawa, Daisuke Miyatsu, Yoshiko Mori, Takeo Obayashi, Atom Suematsu, Ryutaro Takahashi and Seiichi Yoshino. It is an “interesting” reversal of roles when the announcement for an exhibition does not feature names of artists, but names of collectors who own some artworks.
As in previous years, what I found most interesting was the interviews that were looping on the TV screen next to the receptionist’s desk. Listening to and observing the collectors as they construct their personas and self-image as “connoisseurs” of art. Compared to the Indonesian collectors two years ago or Taiwanese collectors last year, Japanese collectors were less open in sharing their thoughts and often hid behind phrases acquired from their gallerists. The overall video length seemed to be shorter than in previous years, but that may as well be just my impression.
The works in the show appeared secondary to the overall purpose of the event and unsurprising. The rather dimly lit (with a slightly yellowish tint) and a bit shabby-looking spaces of the gallery and basic installation did not really add much excitement to that. I perceived a gap between the excited pronouncements of awe by collectors in the video interview and the rather ordinary looking artworks scattered across the gallery. I don’t mean the art would be bad. It was all excellent works with proven market value – a Yayoi Kusama here, a Takashi Murakami there and a Kohei Nawa in between. The exhibition gallery was empty of people, and extremely cold, very much the opposite of the overcrowded HKICC where the ABHK art fair was taking place simultaneously, full of heated up shopping excitement. Here: A place to cool down and reflect on what happens after the shopping spree.
