Hong Kong 2025: A Journal
Last week in Hong Kong, I visited young, up-and-coming gallery, PHD Group – at 11.30 at night. I’d been at dinner with a wellknown French art dealer, who asked me if I’d seen the gallery, when I said “No,” he said, “Let’s go there, it’s only a block away.” It was just as he said - in an unprepossessing building in Causeway Bay, at the end of a rickety elevator ride and a flight of steps. In a set of rooms, stripped back to the brick and crudely whitewashed, one meets the young owners, Ysabelle and Willem, and a completely crazy show by Japanese artist, Yuriko Sasaoka, who made hyper-decorative sculptures of animals with TV monitors for eyes and mid-riffs.
While we were there, two other groups of people turned up, even though it was nigh on midnight. It was one of the stranger experiences I’ve had during my decades in the the galleries, but characteristic of the unusual style and innovation that PHD has shown in its brief existence. It’s also characteristic also of the liveliness of a Hong Kong art scene that refuses to accept that it’s now a fully-fledged part of China.
Hong Kong will always be different, always ready to throw up surprises. This year’s Art Basel fair felt incredibly lively, although the volume of sales probably didn’t equate with the buzz. The PHD group was also represented in the Encounters section of the fair, with a series of brass sculptures by Christopher K. Ho. They were chosen by Alexie Glass-Kantor, as part of her swansong as the curator of this component, which brings together a succession of large installations. This year, 4/18 artists were Australian, a record that will probably stand for a long time.