Yuxi Tan, We are here, 2015, Inkjet print, 60 x 85cm, 1/8 edition, Courtesy of the ArtGemini Prize, is one of the lots in the Asia House Benefit Auction, which commences on Tuesday 7 June online

Asia House Benefit Auction 2016

Asia House’s first ever charity auction to celebrate 20 years since it was founded in 1996 and to raise funds for its ongoing arts and cultural programmes launched online on Tuesday 7 June 2016 on the Paddle8 website here. Bidding continued until 15.00 on 22 June.

The Asia House Benefit Auction featured a total of more than 25 artworks, generously donated by artists and galleries from across Asia, as well as those who have strong links to the region, including artists who have exhibited at Asia House in the recent past.

A preview of the auction works took place in the Asia House Gallery from the 14 to 21 June between 10.00 and 18.00.  For more information about that click here.

A champagne reception and dinner with the theme ‘white gold’ took place on June 21 at Asia House with a live auction in association with both Paddle8 and Sotheby’s auctioneers.

Several key lots were auctioned exclusively at the dinner. There was also live music and a special guest appearance.

“European ceramists only discovered the secrets of white gold, a synonym for early Chinese porcelain, during the 18th century. Today, both white gold and platinum are the most traditional gifts given in celebration of 20 year anniversaries,” said Head of Arts and Learning at Asia House Pamela Kember, who organised the auction.

One of the key lots at auction was Suki Chan’s beautiful light box Sleep Walk Sleep Talk (2011)  which captures life in the fast-moving capital of Britain. It had been on display in the Asia House Reception. This piece formed one of five originally which were previously on show at the Museum of London.

 

A quirky ink drawing on paper by Taiwanese artist Ting Tong Chang titled Art is boring was another lot to go under the hammer at the auction. Ting-Tong Chang was born in Taiwan and received his MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2015 Asia House hosted two installations by the London-based artist ‘Future Free and Just Society’ and ‘Chinese Tree.’

Chang has exhibited and received a number of awards internationally.

 

Kim Lim (1936-97) was a British sculptor and printmaker of Singaporean birth, who developed a strong reputation worldwide over her long career. Pictured is Black Wash (1993), a lithograph on paper that was kindly donated by the Estate of Kim Lim for the auction. Currently held in the Tate collection, it was presented in memory of Cecily Lowenthal by the Tate Guides through the Contemporary Art Society in 1999.

Lim’s work has exhibited all over the world and is held in many public collections including the Arts Council of Great Britain; Contemporary Art Society, London; National Museum of Art, Singapore; Nagaoka Museum of Modern Art, Japan; Tate Gallery, London and Liverpool and Middelheim Museum, Belgium. To read more about Black Walsh and Kim Lim click here.

A work by one of Hong Kong’s leading artists, Leung Mee-ping, was also auctioned. The piece, Kee Wah Bakery, consists of five paintings, and is part of her ‘Made in Hong Kong’ series of souvenir paintings, which the artist undertook as a project to reproduce mundane or ordinary subjects like shop fronts, or toilets, to mimic those old master paintings that are reproduced in mainland China for the Western Market. Watch a video here to see more information about the work and the process behind Leung Mee-ping’s project.

Pakistani artist Farina’s Alam’s Crow Crow Crow (2014) is a pen and ink work from her My Kolachi series which was shown at Asia House in 2015 and was also in the Asia House Benefit Auction. The feeding ground for her research is rooted in Pakistan and its chequered existence as a nation strained by a power battle between the army, the feudals, and the Islamic fundamentalists. To read more about Farina Alam and Crow Crow Crow click here.

Japanese artist Eiko Soga’s site-specific work exists somewhere between reality and imagination.Through her sculptural and installation work, Soga considers herself an extension of the different mediums she uses; wood board, natural and artificial light, sound, sites, paints and digital. Pictured is Elastic Foam and Piano (2012). This was a lot in the auction which commenced on Paddle8 on 7 June, as was Untitled (2012).

Hong Kong artist Au Hoi Lam’s work often reflects a detached sensibility, however she is fascinated with colour and perception and how we might begin to see something uncanny in the familiar. She often references ordinary everyday objects, or symbols which connect to architecture or elements within buildings in Hong Kong and the human body. Pictured is Memorandum (2nd October 2014 Hong Kong), also auctioned to help raise funds for our ongoing arts and cultural programme.

London-based Korean artist Bada Song is a multidisciplinary artist who works across sculpture, drawing, photography, installation, film, sound and performance. Based in London, her work translates Korean culture within a broader dialogue of global, contemporary art. Pictured is Drawing the Line (2010) which was auctioned. The notion of drawing the line references artist Paul Klee’s pictorial thinking who was the first to ‘take a line for a walk’ in relation to drawing, but it also has a more contemporary connection for a number of artists such as Francis Alÿs, and Richard Long to crossing lands and borders.

Maha Ahmed graduated from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan. After receiving the Caspian Arts Foundation Scholarship, she completed her postgraduate degree in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. She is represented by Display Gallery, London, where she will have her solo show ‘A Mute Land’ in July 2016.

With her paintings she encourages the audience to seek, in attempt to find solace in the little things. Untitled (2015), which was on offer in the auction, invites the viewer to seek and look closer, in attempt to find solace in the little things. To read more about Maha Ahmed and the artwork click here.

London-based Iranian artist Ghazaleh Avarzamani received her MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London. Her works have been exhibited in Iran, Dubai and London. She enjoys exploring obsessions with hybridity, gender, religion, sex and identity. Following Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s exhibition at Asia House in 2014, Apologie for Undertstanding, the artist donated a pair of figurine pieces for the auction, from her Eastern Delight series. The series comprised a number of English baroque inspired sculptures that were imported into Iran from China and personally brought back into England. It derives inspiration from kitsch sculptures, crude derivatives of refined European porcelain figures, displayed in Iranian households. Positioned on miniature Persian carpets, these figures ridicule the concoction of Oriental and Western aesthetics that characterise the Iranian domestic environment.

Nicole Coson is a Filipino artist currently living and working in London. She graduated from Central Saint Martins with a first degree honours in Fine Art. Coson works in a variety of mediums, but with a primary focus on analogue printmaking methods and techniques. Coson’s work revolves around the analogy of the ghost, an enigma, or a loose and ever changing form that cannot be grasped yet it invades our tactile and physical world. Kindly donated by the artist and Display Gallery for the Benefit Auction was the below piece, Untitled (2015). Part of Coson’s How to Appear Without A Trace series, it was part of an exhibition held at Asia House in 2015. To read more about Nicole Coson click here.

In Antoni Malinowski’s paintings, and in life, colour does not exist so much as happen. Colour is created by the human mind, responding to electromagnetic waves and particles of light. Malinowski has captured those movements and created his own visual language. Two of Malinowski’s works were kindly donated by the artist for the artist for the Benefit Auction. Drifting I (2015) (pictured) and Drifting II (2015) both were offered in the auction.

Born in Hong Kong, Angela Su received a degree in biochemistry before pursuing visual arts, graduating from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1994. Fascinated by illustrated science books, her work investigates natures through metamorphosis, hybridity and transformation. The incredibly detailed work that was donated for the Benefit Auction, Epitheca Spinigera (2007), is an ink drawing on drafting film. To read more about Angela Su and this piece of artwork click here.

An oil canvas painting of the retired chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata, by internationally recognised portrait painter Andrew Gow, was also offered for auction online in the Asia House Benefit Auction which commenced on Paddle8 on 7 June. The portrait was commissioned for Asia House in 2012 after Ratan Tata was honoured with the Asian Business Leaders Award in 2011.

“As Asia House marks its landmark 20th anniversary we want to show enormous appreciation to our supporters and friends who have assured our cultural programme has thrived since its founding in 1996. I also want to offer my heartfelt thanks to all the wonderful artists, dedicated gallery owners and collectors who have generously donated works to date for the Benefit Auction,” Kember said.

The Asia House Benefit Auction of artworks was organised in association with online collecting destination Paddle8 and supported by K Pak Ltd Fine Art Specialists.

Bidding started at 15.00 BST on Tuesday, 7 June.

For more details about the auction click here.

If you would like to support us, please consider making a donation towards the Asia House arts and learning programme below. We accept donations by credit card, debit card and PayPal.