Hong Kong, H Queens, March 27 – 8 May, 2018, https://www.pearllam.com
The second, new, space of Pearl Lam in Hong Kong, in the newly opened H Queens building showing Arcangelo Sassolino’s works was both complementary and consistent with the other existing Pearl Lam location is in the Pedder Building, showing abstract painter Huang Yanqing. The common element were large shapes and materially present surfaces. Of course in the case of Sassolino we are talking about a more sculptural than painterly realm, but nevertheless, most of the “products” (scultprures? reliefs?) where mounted on the wall and consisted of slightly curved and polished surfaces from a material that looked like concrete. The slight curve of these objects had a counterpart in the freestanding sculptures – brand new perfectly polished tuck tires with one side squeezed by an equally perfectly coated pair of metal beams, and a miniature glass table with a rock on top, seemingly “bending” under its weight. The perfect execution of the objects made them appear slightly real-unreal, a bit like Jeff Koon’s or Gimhongsok’s sculptures. But I also had to think about Pino Pinelli’s show at Pearl Lam some time ago, which did something similar with a different material base, using what appeared as fluffy felt surfaces on his reliefs. The reliefs were also hanging on the wall and they were also sculptural. Very different, but similar in function: Sculptures, but suitable for office wall hanging. And both also somehow related to the “Pearl Lam style” – which is fascinating, that the gallery is able to keep this certain brand, while staying open and exploring totally new styles and generations of artists in some other shows.
