In the Show – 6th December 2011
Fans of German art and design should have been happy over the past couple of weeks. This year’s 9th Business of Design Week, which ended on Saturday, partnered with Germany, and placed special emphasis on the country’s art and design. And while it may be too late to see that, it isn’t too late to go to Innocentre in Kowloon Tong to see “De Sein: German Graphic Design from Postwar to Present”. That exhibition’s open until 28th of this month.
Aardman Animations’ “Arthur Christmas” is a Santa Claus movie for a more knowing age, beginning with a little girl writing a letter to Santa in which she asks how he manages to give toys to 600 million children in one night. Even if he took only ten seconds in each house, there simply isn’t enough time. And why can’t she see Santa’s home on Google maps? The movie explains all this, and also introduces us to the Santa Clause lineage, and the thousands of elves that make Christmas possible. It also tells us how determined “Arthur Christmas” is that not on child shall be disappointed on Christmas morning. Gary Pollard reviews it.
Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design (HKAoD) is a non-profit organisation and registered charity founded in 2006. Each year, at around the same time as the Design Centre organises the Business of Design Week, the organisation arranges DETOUR, which is currently running until 11th December. Aiming to highlight the impact of irresponsible consumerism, DETOUR 2011 is showcasing creative works by artists and design students, juxtaposing the ecologically sound and the wasteful.
There’s another chance to see the work of a German artist at the Art Statements gallery in Aberdeen until 28th January. He’s Stephan Balkenhol. While many artists are no longer interested in making sculptures of human figures, he continues to do so. And he’s particularly interested not in presenting the famous or powerful, but in the subject of the ordinary individual.
And we end The Works this week with the art of Japanese painter Saori Kanda. Saori’s known not only for her paintings themselves, but also for giving live painting performances, often accompanied by live music. In November, Saori gave a live painting performance in Hong Kong. An exhibition of her paintings runs at the Red Square gallery until January 20th.
