The Works：Artist Kurt Chan, William Kentridge@Hauser & Wirth & in the studio: Justin Siu & Joyce Che

Kurt Chan is known not only for his calligraphic and mixed-media work, but also for his career as a well-respected professor of art. An alumnus of the Department of Fine Arts of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he later returned to teach there for almost three decades. During his tenure, he nurtured many members of Hong Kong’s new generation of artists. In 2016, he retired and says that now he finally has time to focus entirely on his art.

William Kentridge was born in South Africa, to lawyer parents who frequently represented people victimised by apartheid. He has said that coming from a Jewish community, he had a unique position as a third-party observer of the country’s social and political changes. Such concerns remain a major part of his oeuvre. His works include prints, drawings, sculptures, tapestries, theatre and opera direction, and animated films based on his own charcoal drawings. On show at Hauser & Wirth, “Weigh All Tears” is Kentridge’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. The exhibition includes a new six-metre-wide triptych, tapestry, installation, a series of large and small bronzes and an animated film derived from his libretto for the 2019 opera, “Waiting for the Sibyl”. The works can be viewed by appointment.

Last year, after Hong Kong had already faced months of strict anti-Covid-19 restrictions, bassist and cellist Justin Siu came up with the idea of bringing jazz to the community via a series of streaming concerts. Supported by a Hong Kong Arts Development Council grant, “Jazz, from the Ground Up” live streamed jazz from a Sheung Wan noodle restaurant. This year, the project is back with another edition, and Justin’s with us right now, in the company of pianist Joyce Cheung.