Art Basel Hong Kong

Stephen Friedman Gallery returns to Art Basel Hong Kong with a dynamic group exhibition that delves into themes of identity, memory, and human connection. The presentation includes works by gallery artists Juan Araujo, Leilah Babirye, Jonathan Baldock, Sarah Ball, Kenturah Davis, Andreas Eriksson, Denzil Forrester, Pam Glick, Channing Hansen, Holly Hendry, Izumi Kato, Ilona Keserü, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, David Shrigley, Jiro Takamatsu, Kehinde Wiley, Clare Woods and Yooyun Yang, among others. As part of Kabinett, the gallery will present a recent body of work by Anne Rothenstein, whose solo exhibition is concurrently on view at our London gallery.

Sarah Ball and Anne Rothenstein present distinctive approaches to portraiture. Demonstrating an acute sensitivity to the psyche of her subjects, Ball’s enigmatic portraits explore the way we project images of ourselves to the world. Emma (2024) is the largest work on paper by the artist to date. Using flowing swathes of pastel, Ball focuses on the subject’s spectacular back-combed blonde wig. Rothenstein’s enigmatic paintings, meanwhile, depict figures inhabiting dreamlike interiors and landscapes, drawing inspiration from memory and found imagery to create psychologically charged atmospheres.

Izumi Kato’s paintings and sculptures inhabit the space between the physical and spiritual realms. Coinciding with his first UK solo institutional exhibition at Charleston in Sussex, a striking new twin sculpture crafted in aluminium is included in the presentation. His figures have an otherworldly presence and hint at the influence that Shintoism and the natural landscape of the artist’s native prefecture, Shimane, has on his practice. Kato’s deeply intuitive exploration of the human form is simultaneously connected to ancient traditions and contemporary anxieties.

Kenturah Davis, similarly, evokes an almost ancient mathematical sensibility in her new cloud paintings. Rendered with a meticulous hand on the artist’s signature debossed paper, indigo shadings reflect the unbridled movement of billowing clouds. Davis’ compositions encourage her audience to question systems of artistry, science, philosophy, history, race, and gender. 

Yooyun Yang and Clare Woods explore still lifes and evocative vignettes of everyday life. Yang’s shadowed compositions capture moments of solitude and emotional introspection, articulating the anxieties of contemporary existence through veiled faces and distant gazes. Woods brings a visceral energy to her paintings as she continues to disrupt and adapt art historical genres. Using instinctive, free-flowing brushstrokes, The Withdrawing Room (2024) depicts an ornate chandelier hung with Murano glass. Parallel to the fair, Woods’ solo exhibition A Kinder Time, is on view at our New York gallery.

Kehinde Wiley reinterprets the conventions of classical portraiture to celebrate contemporary African-American and African-Diasporic subjects. His hyper-realistic paintings engage with historical power structures, placing his sitters in heroic poses reminiscent of European and American portraiture, and subverting traditional hierarchies with a vibrant and commanding presence. On view at the fair are works from his most recent series, inspired by historic miniature portraits that first appeared in European royal courts in the sixteenth century.