Art Basel Hong Kong: climate change spurs a raft of nature-themed shows

Rising temperatures, deforestation and global warming-induced migration have hit the headlines in the past year. Little wonder, then, that nature is the star of the show at Art Basel Hong Kong.

Among the prominent exhibitions with a nature theme is “Return to Nature”, global art dealer Lévy Gorvy’s show at their 2,500-sq-ft space in St. George’s Building. The famed gallery has brought together some of the world’s most famous artists including Wu Dayu, Willem de Kooning, Song Dong, Wassily Kandinsky, Hao Liang, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Claude Monet, Pierre Soulages, Pat Steir, Yan Wenliang, Wu Yinxian and Zao Wou-Ki.

The inspiration for this showcase comes from an influential book of literary theory, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, written by Liu Xie during the fifth-century Southern dynasty. The gallery explains its galvanising ethos as a crisis of identity in times of geopolitical and environmental uncertainty.

“In times of moral, cultural, and political crisis throughout the histories of Eastern and Western art, artists have returned to such fundamental qualities; they look to the assuredness of ancestral roots and inherited traditions, the vibrant materiality of nature, and the existential mysteries of spirituality,” Lévy Gorvy says in a release detailing the Art Basel exhibition.

The exhibition encapsulates the spirit of returning to nature. Among the artists in the show, famed post-war artist Wu Dayu once wrote, “I have no time for philosophical discussions. All I can do is to adhere closely to nature, breaking from the shackles of staleness in life, to create with my heart, hands and eyes and present to the world something original and pure.”

While this is perhaps the purest form of returning to nature in art, Para Site have taken a more post-colonial slant in their show, “An Opera for Animals”. The gallery has taken the concept of opera in the Western world as “intimately connected to that moment of absolute hubris when Europe imagined that it could dominate and reorganise the entire world”, deconstructing it for contemporary Asian audiences.

The show thus spins the colonial notions of superiority and examines how these “complexities are still alive, even after the demise of the colonial era and of Western opera as a fully living art form”. That the stage is Hong Kong, a city passed between colonial masters, is an apt representation of this sentiment.

Featuring dozens of modern artists across a range of mediums, “An Opera for Animals” looks at how the colonial project deeply opposed the “animist” world of the peoples it was occupying, and radically transformed “the physical, emotional and symbolic relationship between humans and animals, elevating the status of humans, in a view radically different from many indigenous systems of knowledge and value”. The great irony is that in the gallery’s words, “the phantoms, monsters and sacred animals of European empires have always haunted these opera houses, where they were sacrificed, channelled, and embodied within the great shrines of modernity”.

For something inspired by the interplay of industry, the natural world, and artisanal flair, Art Basel visitors will be heading over to Tai Kwun’s Old Bailey gallery for the HyperNature installation commissioned by Perrier-Jouët.

Famed British artist Bethan Laura Wood has taken her work from Design Miami, a tree crafted from materials such as stained glass and sheets of aluminium, and serving as a conceptual framework to serve champagne.

“Day to day, I am inspired by the world around me, different colours, sounds and textures, as well as the way design objects fit into our everyday lives. I am also extremely interested in achieving sustainability in a mass consumption, product-driven context,” Wood says.

The artist took her inspiration from a visit to Champagne and Maison Belle Epoque, the family home of Maison Perrier-Jouët in Epernay. “I was immersed in art nouveau. My palette of references was enriched by the floral universe of the artistic movement present in every detail of the house, like the arched, wooden door frame designed by Hector Guimard, the tones of the stained-glass windows and the emblematic anemone motif designed by Emile Gallé for the maison in 1902,” the artist adds.

And of course, nature is at the centre of the action. “Through my travels, I have observed crossover spaces between nature and man-made, which I draw on to enrich my palettes, structure atypical forms and refine my understanding of the cultural connotations of materials. These elements allow me to elevate the mundane into the extraordinary, an exercise which I excel in,” says Wood.

While this looks like an extravagant way to frame champagne, the artist insists it is a homage to “the way the maison breathed beauty into the world during the industrial revolution. This moved me to choose industrial materials for this collaboration and work with them in an artisanal way to reveal their beauty when treated with respect”.

The link between nature and the work is very important, showing that even Art Basel’s branded entertainment harks back to the natural world. “Free in form, intense in colour and radiant by its presence, HyperNature first and foremost provokes an emotional reaction. Beyond the tangible design, HyperNature is a whimsical champagne experience; a new tasting ritual that immerses you into the world of Perrier-Jouët,” Wood adds.

And if a glass of “bubbly” complements this intensely rich artistic experience, how on earth could anyone possibly argue with that?

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter