The Works："An Age of Luxury: the Assyrians to Alexander" from the British Museum, Wang Yuping, Awol

There’s a strong emphasis on local flavour in the second part of our show today. First, we’ll be looking at Hong Kong’s iconic neon signage as reflected in the work of the Ethiopia-born artist, Awol Erizku. And we’ll have local music, as the indie band, “The Benefactor” will be with us in the studio to tell us more about their newly released mini-album. But first, a trip back in time, to the empires of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Achaemenids. For thousands of years, they dominated the region that’s now often generically described as the Middle East. The History Museum is currently exhibiting 210 objects from these periods found at historic sites such as Nimrud and Nineveh. Most are luxury items that reveal just how the richer and more powerful individuals of the time lived.
There’s a lot less luxury, and much more down-to-earth everyday life, in the works of artist Wang Yuping, as shown in the solo exhibition “Tedious Paradise” at Tang Contemporary Art. The exhibition showcases work that Wang created on a series of trips to Thailand over more than a decade, as well as sketches from his Beijing-based Beihai Park series.
For decades, Hong Kong’s brightly coloured neon signs were an indelible part of its streets and culture. The neon boom started in the 1970s, and only began to fade at the turn of this century as the government increased restrictions on signage and LED lighting provided a cheaper alternative. There are still quite a few neon signs left, although their number diminishes by the day. Their iconographic combination of colours, text, graphics and craftsmanship underpins the works of artist Awol Erizku in a current exhibition at Ben Brown Fine Arts.
The members of the Hong Kong indie quintet “The Benefactor” say they love Brit-pop, and especially the Brit-pop of the 1960s. They got together as a band in 2013, and, collectively are fans of the music of such groups as Blur, Belle and Sebastian and the Beatles. Early this month, “The Benefactor” released their mini-album “Belle Epoque”.
They’re here to tell us more.