It was planned as a celebration - successful New York Korean artist comes back to Asia, at least in his creative imagination. Instead the exhibition Nostalgia, at the new Galeriasia, is a tribute to artist Sungpyo Han, who died in September, aged 55. 'He slipped into a coma, and a few days later he died: it was a terrible shock,' said gallery manager Sally Lai. Han's wife had died the year before, and he had taken the loss very badly. From a distance the works look bright and crazy - ring-a-ring-of-roses games on bright canvases. Yet close-up the works have an agony to them: his main subjects are the mask dance dramas that Han remembered from his childhood, and the figures are wearing masks that represent the torments of the human spirit.
The exhibition started when Korean co-owner of Galeriasia, Marisa Chearvanont, contacted Han and asked him whether he did works inspired by his Asian heritage. He said he did not, but might be interested to try. His 'New York' style - very free, full of graffiti, rather reminiscent of Basquiat - has been adapted for this show, with Korean script, masks and a madly bright palette. Galeriasia: 6th Floor Lan Kwai Fong. Call 2529 2598. Show ends tomorrow.
Dancer draws on Asian roots On Wellington Street, Galerie Martini has a show that is not so much about an Asian artist re-discovering Asian roots as it is about a Canadian artist finding Asian branches. Bamboo Horizons was sponsored by MTV Asia, which is appropriate, because the works are big and bright and use an attractive hodgepodge of Western and Eastern tradition and images. The artist, Sofia Wright, 33, is part-Spanish, part-Indian and Canadian, living in Singapore. She started as a professional ballet and jazz dancer, but a serious injury forced her to rethink her career.
So in 1993 she came to Asia, graduating from Singapore's Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts last year with a degree in painting. Her latest works comprise huge horizontal stripes of colour in the most intense acrylics. Each painting includes a symbol - resembling Chinese calligraphy, but with no meaning, and is also reminiscent of a Chinese bamboo ink painting, except it is made of the heaviest black paint. Galerie Martini, 1/F, 99F Wellington Street, Central. Tel: 2526 9566. The show ends on November 27.
Feast of solo acts with Handel There is an impressive series of 'firsts' in the concert performance of Handel's Alexander's Feast at City Hall next Thursday. It is the first performance of the work in Hong Kong. It is the debut performance by an impressive-sounding group called The Hong Kong Soloists, formed by professional musicians to create classical music for chamber-sized ensembles. It is also the first time Hong Kong will see a countertenor soloist singing alto in a major public performance. And Ray Chan - former choral scholar at St John's College Cambridge - is Hong Kong's first 'home grown' countertenor.
The soloists include Rosaline Pi - voice teacher at the APA, graduate from Canada's McGill University and frequently on concert platforms in Hong Kong - Bastien Tai Chun-bun, tenor, and Edmund Kwan, bass. Composer, and head of Radio 4, Richard Tsang, will conduct. The concert also includes Handel's Harp Concerto Op 4 No 5, with Amy Tam Wai-li on harp. November 18, 8pm. Tickets $80-$120. Call 2734 9009.