Past
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Margot Bird
Diving Boards and Vehicles 14 June - 6 July 2024 SEEFOOD ROOM Gallery proudly presents Diving Boards and Vehicles, a Margot Bird solo exhibition curated by Ascend Projects between 14 June and 6 July 2024 at G/F, 1 Prince’s Terrace, Mid-Levels. Bird opts for an innately whimsical approach when working. She lets her intuition take over the paint brush, placing... Read more -
MJ Torrecampo
ready... set... 27 January - 17 February 2024 Read more -
Yang Du
A Mayfly Gazes Upon The Sea 16 December 2023 - 20 January 2024 With profound humility and admiration, Gallery Ascend is thrilled to unveil the transcendental exhibition titled "A Mayfly Gazes Upon the Sea" showcasing the remarkable works of emerging artist Yang Du @du___yang . Born in the celestial year of 1993, Yang Du's artistic journey delves into the depths of existence, weaving a tapestry of introspection and profound contemplation.
The exhibition takes flight under the evocative banner of "A Mayfly Gazes Upon the Sea" a title that encapsulates the artist's humble exploration of the intricate interconnections that bind all life. Drawing inspiration from the cosmic genesis born of the resplendent Big Bang, Yang Du's mesmerizing masterpieces embody the eternal dance of creation, metamorphosis, and renewal. They serve as gentle whispers of celestial remnants and echoes of ancient landscapes, inviting viewers to contemplate their own place in the grand tapestry of existence.
Enlightened by the timeless verses of Su Shi's venerable "Ode to the Red Cliff," Yang Du finds solace and profound wisdom that transcends the boundaries of time and space. This revered text reveals a world of interconnected wonders, offering the artist a glimpse into the profound mysteries of the microcosm and the macrocosm. Amidst the vast cosmic symphony, her art becomes a humble testament to the fleeting nature of life's beauty, celebrating the significance of each ephemeral moment woven into the fabric of universal consciousness.
Gallery Ascend beckons, inviting you to embark on a poetic odyssey within "A Mayfly Gazes Upon the Sea" by emerging artist Yang Du. Discover an oasis of tranquility, a sanctuary of respite amidst winter's embrace.
Opening reception: December 16, 2023 (2pm -6pm)
Exhibition : December 16, 2023 - January 20, 2024
Opening Hours : Tue - Sat, 11am - 7pm
Venue : Gallery Ascend, 8B The Arca, 43 Heung Yip Road Wong Chuk Hang Read more -
Daniel B. Dias
Pneumatic Porcelainn 16 November - 2 December 2023 Read more
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Art Taipei 2023
"Sanctuary" - Jang Koal 19 - 23 October 2023 Read more -
Yutaka Watanabe
Blue Attraction 14 October - 11 November 2023 Read more -
Alexis Jang x Takuya Kamioka
"The Light She Carries" x "California Dreamscape" 16 September - 7 October 2023 Read more -
Kai x Fandi Angga Saputra
Colorful Shadows : A Duet 12 August - 2 September 2023 Prepare to be swept away on a whirlwind of artistic ecstasy as Gallery Ascend presents a spellbinding exhibition that blurs the boundaries of creativity and captivates the imagination. KAI and Fandi invite you to embark on an exhilarating journey through a realm where contrasts collide and colors converse. KAI, the... Read more
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Annabel Faustin
‘Le Soleil se lèvera de nouveau’ : The Sun will rise again 15 July - 2 August 2023 For her first exhibition in Hong-Kong, Annabel offers us the most joyful and poetic exhibition. Behind the freshness of the painting,’The Sun will rise again’ has a political and philosophical message: learning to enjoy and to watch the simplest things in life with the purest gaze.
Opening reception : July 15th 2023, 2pm - 7pm
Exhibition period : July 15th - August 2nd 2023 (TUE - SAT), Closed on Mondays and Sundays
General Opening hours : 11 am - 7pm
Venue : 8B The Arca 43 Heung Yip Road Wong Chuk Hang Hong Kong
#annabelfaustin #galleryascend #thearcahotel Read more -
Jun Makita
Oh, Summer Days 27 May - 24 June 2023 Jun Makita Solo Show at Gallery Ascend “Oh, Summer Days”: A Fusion of Energy and Popness in Contemporary Art Get ready to be blown away by the incredible artistic vision of Jun Makita, a trailblazing contemporary artist who brings a vibrant pop twist to the world of art. Makita's captivating... Read more -
Ryu Ju Young
Hidden Words 6 - 20 May 2023 Unveiling Hidden Words: A Journey Through Emotional Landscapes by Ryu Ju Young Gallery Ascend proudly presents 'Hidden Words,' a solo exhibition by Korean artist Ryu Ju Young, featuring a stunning collection of paintings that explore the depths of human emotions and the essence of communication beyond words. Ryu Ju Young's... Read more -
So Youn Lee
In Limbo 8 - 29 April 2023 So Youn Lee's solo exhibition 'In Limbo'. 'This body of art work explores themes of the afterlife and love. Death and the afterlife have been a source of inspiration for many artists and creators throughout history. Despite its inevitability, we still don't have a way to fully comprehend its scope,... Read more
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Art Central 2023
Group Show 22 - 25 March 2023 On the eighth edition of the Art Central Hong Kong, Gallery Ascend presents ten artists’ new works at this year’s Art Central fair in Hong Kong, featuring @chenweiting_art @jun.makita @kang_jun_seok @lin.art2006 @maikok.in.tokyo @moon_seonmee @du___yang @bechan186cm @walkingbrixton @zacharylankart #ChenWeiTing #JunMakita #KangJunSeok #LinYenLiang #MaikoKobayashi #YangDu #ZacharyLank #MoonSeonmee #YutakaWatanabe #Yuza #ArtCentral2023 #ArtCentralHK #GalleryAscend Read more -
Maiko Kobayashi
A Place for Wandering Hearts 18 March - 1 April 2023 Maiko Kobayashi’s oeuvre is a profoundly colored and cartoonish creature. One of the most prominent aberrations of the creature is its ever changing form, while it has no direct correlation with any actual being in reality. Kobayashi used her own feelings as a point of departure, the creature accentuates her emotions through child-like simpers, captured in numerous moods such as peacefulness, emptiness, fear and bliss. Her graphical compositions are often accompanied by soft and crumbly textures, which have given a complex depth to the portraits.
Mental state is a touchy subject to get on with, it could be a hurricane for a second and a marshmallow heaven the next. To survive both, Maiko Kobayashi created an extension of her feelings on 11 canvases, showcasing her cosmos at the gallery’s home-field in Wong Chuk Hang.
人の心というものはとても頼りないものだと思う。日々のさまざまな個人的社会的事象に私の心はあっというまに揺れ動かされ、その度に、私は必死でその時々の自分自身やそれら出来事について思いを巡らせる。
絵を描くということは、私にとって、そういう「考える」こと、「感じる」ことの延長線上にあるものだ。「ある存在」を描き出すことによって、内側に積もり続けるそういう目に見えないものを私の身体の外側に生み出す行為と考えている。
「私」という生命体を通して、人が生きるこの世界について観察し考え続けること。その時々で見つかる答えは、私の描く生き物たちが語ってくれるだろう。ここはそういうものたちが集まり、鑑賞者のあなたと話すことを心待ちにしている、そんな場所なのだ。 Read more -
Han Choong Seok
Negative Space of Relationships 25 February - 11 March 2023 A relationship is defined as “the connection between two or more entities; the way they are connected.” All men begin relationships from the moment of birth, and the family invariably becomes the starting point of every person’s relationships. Whereas forming a relationship requires all involved parties to invest time in becoming familiar with each other. A proper relationship involves a period of aging, one could say. In other words, forming a good relationship needs practicing. Even the family, a set of close relationships tied together by destiny, is not an exception to this principle. The attempt to explicate the nature of relationships forms the foundation and pillar of Choongseok Han’s painterly practice. “Don’t expect too much from people. Don’t be jealous, either. People stay when in love and leave when they aren’t, and that’s the nature of relationships. So, don’t be too concerned with too many things. Also, always be open to learning new things, and remember to take care of yourself!”Han’s paintings have continuously evolved in style, but he re-uses a set of the same titles for his works, indicating that the paintings, in fact, are the parts of a series. This choice could be seen as part of him affirming the “identity” and “absolute value” that served as the spine throughout his practice. To name a few, Relationship Exercise, River of Healing, Without Fear, and Pierrot are the titles most frequently used in his recent works. Whereas the preference for repetitive titles could be seen as the sign of Han’s artist spirit tightening its own “relationship ties.” Han says that he must always remain alert as if he were carrying a “razor-sharp awl” in his pocket. His paintings show how much one could enrichen one’s life by keeping an appropriate degree of alertness at all moments of his life. All relationships must begin with a question mark, but their ends will always be exclamation marks. The grain of a relationship is formed by the various modes of love involved and the multitudes of emotions and metaphors they produce. Trees live hundreds and thousands of years, but inside them, the growth rings show that even they take pauses in their lives. Like them, we need an appropriate amount of negative space in our relationships. But this time, we do not need to reach as far as “the hedgehog’s dilemma” because Han’s paintings demonstrate to us that having “negative space” in our relationships can allow us to communicate and exchange emotions at sophisticated levels — the key to a happy life. His paintings proclaim how important it is to constantly confess to oneself and others and the importance of it being an attitude of life. And the narrow, squinting eyes in Han’s paintings now seem like the gesture of accommodation and respect, which provide a breathing space in relationships rather than the eyes of a person excessively aware of others’ opinions. The gazes of Han’s characters now guide us towards symbols of faith, the evidence that allows us to trust in each other. Read more -
Keigo Nakamura
Living with History and Philosophy 17 - 23 February 2023 All the way from Tokyo, Keigo Nakamura is kicking off his latest ‘away game’ at Gallery Ascend this February, where monarchy style crosses paths with contemporary friskiness.
Nakamura adores the everchanging existence of art, his imaginative side is a safe haven to his anxiety. So to play against history and philosophy, it is where the Japanese artist inherited his cinematic painting style, subliminally from art movements and philosophical masters. “I create mimical scenes in my head, there were moments that I revisit history, and that was where I met legends from the past.” Going down the rabbit hole of illusion advocates his motif in combining the antique-like craftsmanship with prominent elements.
Being a history geek in the public spotlight, Nakamura adopted the 17th century French Baroque shading technique with a twist of hype-ness through his stuffed animals and toys. Under the dominance of industrialized productions, Nakamura decided to go even further with handcrafted frames. Each element in the portraits projects a different message from Nakamua’s mentality towards modern living, the artist stressed on sharing spiritual richness with loved ones, especially when complexity and busyness have occupied us during these contemporary days. “Value the obvious,” Nakamura said, as he preached about never overlooking simple blessings. Read more
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Hyun Jung Ji
Fairytale Dream 17 January - 4 February 2023 We all live with many things dear to our hearts. Invaluable emotions and memories have deep meaning in our lives. There is a small pocket in our minds where we keep our stories alive. We hear various stories of memory from the pocket. We are drawn into these stories, recollecting forgotten memories and emotions and re-imagining the many possibilities we missed in the past. Life might be summed up as a process of forging new stories and reflecting on those forged in the past. All that we learn from others and ourselves stays in us as memories and experiences. Through our little stories, we construct our own world bit by bit, which drives us to move forward. Read more -
Ksusha Lastochka & Maxim Trulov
Nowhereland 23 December 2022 - 7 January 2023 Within the universe of Maxim Trulov and Ksusha Lastochka one can
often find characters and locations that refer to a current happenings
in the world. The Nowhereland project is a reinterpretation of contemporary
realities yet that are closer to surrealism. But no disturbances
can change the habitual way of life of the place the authors
represent in their works. There is a light in the windows, the smoke
rises from the chimney and the police still patrol the streets. The characters
in Nowhereland reflect different types of people: some are in
doubts and have endless inner monologues, some ignore what’s happening
and some simply don’t understand what’s going on. Darkness
has come to the artists universe, but don’t forget that after night
always comes the dawn. Read more -
Yosuke Ueno
Portrait of You 26 November - 17 December 2022 Born in Japan 1977, based in Chiba, Japan. Creating colorful, unique, and original worlds as a child, this lead to the first solo show at the age of sixteen. Self-taught, artworks are shown around the world for 30 years, established a career as an artist in contemporary art. Released limited... Read more -
ArtTaipei 2022
21 - 24 October 2022 Gallery Ascend is pleased to present our first fair oversea, for Art Taipei 2022, featuring international artists ranging from our represented artists Jun Makita, Yang Du, Kang Jun Seok, as well as Chen Wei Ting, Choi JaeYoung, Kebeyo Chen, Lin Yen Liang, Sally Kindberg, Willem Jacques Hoeffnagel, Yunseob Kim and... Read more
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Jade Kim
Communications and Relationships 1 - 23 October 2022 Korean visual artist Jade Kim was born in 1981, currently live in the South Korea.
During Jade's earlier career, he used to work in the field of exhibition and product planning. Which led to the beginning of his artistic career, where he devoted himself to share what he loves and treasures with the audience.
Kim mainly works with paintings and sculptures to create his character "MIN", the childhood version of
his beloved wife. Most of his works are inspired by her taste, personality, their conversations and some
including prominent social problems.
Dreamy eyes, child-like features and innocent traits characterise "MIN". She is often portrayed as a
protective and loving character. Read more -
Ha Haeung Eun
Border Riders: Dreaming of Love, Hope, and Freedom 23 August - 10 September 2022 Ha Haeng-Eun was born in Jindo, South Korea in 1985. After majoring in Western painting at Deokwon Arts High School, she went on to study art at Hongik University, where she indulged in Oriental painting, Oriental philosophy, Zen, and Indian mysticism. She liked to draw from an early age, but it was after reading a book called Zhuang-zi’s “Butterfly Dream” in college and feeling mentally free and liberated that she started working on art in earnest. She dreamed of expressing ‘art’ through painting. Read more -
Hikaru Narita
Hybrids as Fluids 30 July - 13 August 2022 Narita's visual language is based on animation and toys, and his worldview, full of lovable characters, is at first glance pop and catchy. However, when one examines the changes in his work over the course of his career and the relationships between his works, it becomes clear that his work is a hybrid of distortion, weirdness, smells of death, and a love towards these motifs. Read more -
Kebeyo Chen
Circle of the Universe 30 June - 15 July 2022 As Kebeyo's first exhibition in Hong Kong, this series selects paintings and sculptures created during 2019-2022. The growing braids is her language to connect everything, including dimensional space, life and real objects. Everything runs in contradiction. It can be opposite or complementary, like light blending with darkness, softness wrapped up... Read more
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Rooo Lou
POLYTOPE 4 - 18 June 2022 The main theme of this solo exhibition is “Fragment of memory'. ”My inspiration comes from memories and photographs. I paint people who are significant in both places, in a sense to depict “my reality”. Before I have everything in place, I caught myself drawing inorganic gestures and lifeless portraits. Poses... Read more -
Yang Du @ Art Central 2022
The Price of Immortality 26 - 29 May 2022 This group of works by Yang Du reflects her thoughts and questions about the consequences of mutual promotion between human society and the rapid development of science and technology. Since ancient times, humans have made numerous attempts to live forever, but they all failed. According to the current level of... Read more -
Millie Kelly
Precious Cargo 30 April - 21 May 2022 Gallery Ascend is pleased to announce a solo presentation by British artist Millie Kelly. Millie Kelly’s recent paintings explore the imagined and natural world through caricature, figuration and at times, abstraction. Her love for painting and the inherent experimentation involved in the process is clear to see in a melee... Read more -
EXODUS
Exodus | Group Show 23 April - 13 May 2022 Read more
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Kang Jun Seok
My Mate in HK 26 March - 16 April 2022 Dreamlike Utopia in Child’s Eyes The new philosophy spread by the generation Z who are leading a modern culture has created a so-called mantra that we should prioritize individual’s happiness and sense of accomplishment. Rather than chasing higher position or higher salary, they come to realize the value of a... Read more -
Moonassi
Face to Face 15 - 28 February 2022 “As relationships grow and deepen, to a point where I lose myself, the borders separating the others and I start to dismantle.”
People meet and part to form relations. To Moonassi, the repetitive interactions arise from relationships are just like scenes laid out in a pantomime, which do not need specific explanation or description. Rather than forcing an explanation or meaning to these interactions, he chooses to focus on what the protagonists formulate on stage just as how his paintings capture the moment and actuality of interactions.
Relationships are abstract and difficult to define in one word. Sensations of the body on the other hand, seem honest and clear. The body in this sense is often the channel to materialize the intangible. The converging and diverging movements are represented by the curvy lines, the sunlight forms perfectly white planes and the shadows construct dark planes. Together they create a sense of diversity and tranquility. The gaze and body gestures encompass his world view. The infinite shifting presence, emotions and questions for relationships touch us profoundly through the dark ink strokes. Hundreds and thousands of countless intricate lines depict borders between oneself and the others, which remind us of the uncertainties in relationships.
Moonassi centers his thoughts around relationships yet avoids defining it, neither does he demand answers from the viewers. The artist simply hopes to emphasize the physical sensations rather than on the ambiguous and immaterial borders of intimacy. He is simply telling the story of relationships as they are.
“I want to first focus on the sound, contact and visual joy I feel, rather than on the fear of the intangible and invisible heart to heart connection when I meet you. I think this makes our relationship and encounter slightly lighter.” Read more -
Yok Joaquin
Proof of Yok 8 - 25 January 2022 Yok's works transcend the simplicity in everyday life and situations. Based on his architectural background, Yok creates art with combining clean lines and simple figures in his unique style. Under his distinctive painting vocabulary that is different from the traditional art that we are used to such as the effusive... Read more -
Noritishi Mitsuuchi
Cutism 5 - 20 November 2021 Read more
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Jun Oson
DISTANCE in HK 1 - 23 October 2021 When I held a solo exhibition in Tokyo last November, the world was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and people's actions were restricted by the declaration of a state of emergency in Japan. It was said that “Don't get close to people. It's better to stay home alone as much as possible”. Such rules have greatly changed people's lives and even changed their values. The Tokyo exhibition “DISTANCE” depicted people who have been forced to change their lives due to the pandemic. Read more -
Auto Moai
Big Ass Beyond Mountains 4 - 25 September 2021 AUTO MOAI started their artistic career in 2015, initially focusing on black-and-white drawings. In 2018, around the same time as the publication of the 300-page art book Endless Beginning (Funshosha), AUTO MOAI began to shift their focus to working with acrylic on canvas. At the book launch and art exhibition,... Read more -
Chen Wei Ting
I don't want to change you 1 - 25 August 2021 "What is painting?” I often ask this question to myself, a question that constantly deconstructs and constructs my thoughts. Specifically, instinct drives me to write about these fragments of my childhood, like words and poems in my images, figurative but present. I still recall this moment in my childhood, when I was watching television and playing by myself with toys, which I still have with me, all alone in the room. Maybe, this kind of childhood experience is common in the era of declining birthrate, and some might share the same feeling—desire to be with someone and growing up without noticing the desire. Read more