The University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong is honoured to present COUPLET PAIR REBUS The Principle of Cause and Effect in Art. This exhibition explores the interplay of causality in art in multiple ways. From poem to poem, COUPLET presents itself as a place for reading, as a space of resonances. PAIR is dedicated to balance and symmetry. Here, pairs of artworks form a three-dimensional equilibrium. REBUS presents itself as a space of associations, forming a network of content-related references. The viewer’s task is to be inspired and to decipher the connections.

With poems, and works of art by:

Irene CHOU・David J. CLARKE・Christoph DAHLHAUSEN・DENG Chengxiu・DENG Shiru・DUAN Jianwei・Adrian FALKNER・FANG Zhaoling・FANG Zhiyong・Beat FELLER・Ian Hamilton FINLAY・FUNG Yee Lick Eric・HAN Wo・HUANG Shiling・JAO Tsung-i・JAT See Yeu・JIA Dao・Tobias KLEIN・LAI Jixi・LAM Man Kong・Robert LETTNER・LEUNG Kui Ting・Joseph LEUNG Mong Sum・LI Ki Kwok Victor・LI Jing・LI Zhanzhi・LIANG Qichao・LIAO Zenping・LIU Haisu・LU You・Thích NHAT HANH・Shirin NESHAT・POON Yeuk Fai・Mary Curtis RATCLIFF・Peter SCHLÖR・Debe SHAM・SHE Xueman・SHI Shuqing・Sim SHUM Kwan Yi・SONG Yonghong・Philipp STADLER・Herbert STAREK・SUN Xingge・TANG Yin・TING Yin Yung・TU Chen Tsui・WENG Tonghe・XIN Haizhou・YIK Yuet Sek・YUAN Jiagu・YUEN Hung Shue・ZHANG Huaqing・ZHANG Zhidong・JI Zigao・ZHU Ruzhen

and 88 generally symmetrical objects from the UMAG collection, ranging from neolithic earthenware to Nestorian crosses and wood carvings to papercuts.

Venue address: 1/F, T. T. Tsui Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong is honoured to collaborate with the French May Arts Festival on Pablo Picasso: Paintings in Glass — an unprecedented display of works by the world-famous twentieth-century painter. In the mid-1950s, the workshops of Roger Malherbe-Navarre expanded on the light boxes of French painter Jean Crotti by layering pieces of glass into pictorial depictions (gemmail, French for 'enamel gem') of several of Picasso's paintings. 

Impressed by the gemmistes' masterful assembling and fusing of carefully selected glass, Picasso declared 'A new art is born!' Made and exhibited to explore and display the medium's artistic possibilities, the results are simply astonishing. The selection of works on loan from a private collection, and on view at UMAG during the French May Arts Festival 2023, after a selective preview at the Landmark, shed a light on some of Picasso's most renowned painterly compositions.

Preview
LANDMARK
01 – 15.05.2023

Exhibition
University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong
18.05 – 27.08.2023 

Gallery address: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong

The University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong is pleased to present an exhibition of early glass vessels that display technological and stylistic influences from countries along the Silk Road. Objects have been selected from a recent donation to UMAG along with additional loan items, which are either of Western Asian or Chinese origin. Though the technique of blowing glass was first developed by the Phoenicians in the Roman Empire in the first century BCE, the design outline of many shapes relates to Syro-Palestinian forms of the first century CE, and to Islamic Persian models found in both ceramic and metalware of the sixth century CE. All of these examples show an eastward dissemination of glass-making techniques and decorative styles.

The international transfer of manufacturing practices, object types and design features make this particular collection of glassware a fascinating subject of study, as the knowledge transfer and trade along the Silk Road since the first millennium CE complicates the artefact’s origins and cultural influences. Interestingly, this fine and fragile artform has been treasured for centuries and excavated objects from tomb sites often include both imported and Chinese items.

Venue address: Study Gallery, G/F Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

To coincide with the High Gothic: Christian Art and Iconography of the 13th–14th Century exhibition, UMAG will hold a number of guided tours. All are welcome. Please register by clicking on the date:

Cantonese:

Thursday, 30 September 2021 2:30pm-2:50pm:
https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y...

English:

Thursday, 30 September 2021 2:00pm-2:20pm:
https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y...

Speaker: Ms Tullia Fraser, Exhibition Curator

The University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong will present Painting Across The Threshold: Ng Lung Wai from March 12, 2021 to June 27, 2021 as the first exhibition of the UMAG_STArts series. Launched in 2020, UMAG_STArts explores the symbiotic relationship between science, technology, and the arts.

Drawing inspiration from the traditional art of paper folding, this exhibition presents Ng Lung Wai’s ‘folding paint’ technique. Creating works of great sophistication from seemingly naive and childlike experiences, these vessels made from folded paint transform the artist’s childhood practice of folding paper boats into a highly personal visual language. More than an investigation into his own heritage and cultural roots, his works eloquently speak to our existential experiences, while simultaneously inviting us to delve into our respective memories and feelings.

Venue address: Study Gallery, G/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

Colours of Congo: Patterns, Symbols and Narratives in 20th-Century Congolese Paintings displays a selection of Congolese work created from the 1920s to 1960.

Thanks to unprecedented access to extensive archives and art collections, the exhibition’s narrative presents a generous overview of paintings that were instigated when a single artist from Belgium began a painting workshop so as to collaborate with the indigenous population of Elisabethville (modern-day Lubumbashi). This first studio was followed by other workshops that assisted in developing a hybrid artform that remains a celebrated phenomenon.

The European influence of painting first began with Georges Thiry, who worked for Belgium’s colonial administration starting in 1926. In Elisabethville, Thiry had noticed a series of painted murals of crocodiles and birds. He inquired about the artist and was introduced to Albert Lubaki. Thiry was fascinated by the artist Lubaki, his wife, and the other community members who continued to document their connection to the natural world through wall paintings.

Venue address: 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

Prized by Chinese and foreign merchants as an essential commodity along a vast trade network, silk served multiple roles throughout the ancient world: as fabric for garments, as a form of currency and method of tax payment, and as a medium and subject matter for professional artists and the literati class. Over the centuries, silk fabrics have remained synonymous with beauty and are entwined throughout the history of Chinese art and literature.

Beginning in the Song dynasty (960-1279) and flourishing into the Qing (1644-1911), craftsmen took up shuttles and needles as their brushes and silk threads as their pigments, creating exquisitely woven and embroidered pictorial and calligraphic works. In the hands of the weavers and embroiderers, weft-woven silk tapestry (kesi) and embroidery (cixiu) evolved into an art form—a fusion of painting, calligraphy and hand weaving or embroidering for aesthetic appreciation. When viewed together, the interdisciplinary nature of these vivid depictions of images and text occupy a unique and unbroken place within the history of Chinese visual culture.

Gallery address: 1/F – 2/F Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam