HK gallery's periodic offer of free space to unknown artists is a winner
Emerging artists' works get exposure between major exhibitions, and some are striking a chord with buyers
Last year Nic Kwok Ting-fung had an idea. Since his father opened the Wan Fung Gallery in 1986, they have faced the same problem that plagues many of the big galleries: the gallery is in limbo with nothing new to bring in art lovers in the down times between the monthly exhibitions.
Aware of all the relatively unknown artists toiling in Hong Kong without a space to display their work, Kwok decided to find a few of the best and let them show rent-free at Wan Fung.
The artists would be able to gain some exposure, and the gallery would have a new attraction, and collect a commission on any works sold. It was a win-win situation. The Art Space Sponsorship Programme was born.
Now in its second iteration, the programme has already proven its worth. The first show, in May, featured three lesser-known artists. It was a low-key success, drawing artists and art lovers to the gallery's headquarters in Kowloon.
The second show, which ran for a week last month, was different. Titled "Moments", it featured only one artist. The paintings - atmospheric cityscapes of Hong Kong, mostly in the rain - were crowd-pleasers. But much of the interest was directed at the artist herself, Rainbow Tse Lok-yau.
Tse is just 17. She had only participated in one small group show before joining Wan Fung's art space scheme, but her works were already starting to command high prices. In the evenings, Rainbow popped into the gallery to see her works being snapped up one after another; in the daytime, she had to go to school.
