Vending art

ART HK debuts this year as its flashy incarnation, Art Basel Hong Kong, the first Asian outpost of the Art Basel conglomerate and the third in a family of fairs that includes annual events in Basel and Miami Beach.

With a focus on Asian art, Art Basel’s third child is set to become the art world’s hottest new destination. And with the globe’s collectors increasingly looking east, a spot in this prestigious fair is an artist’s golden ticket to gaining a more solidified international presence.

At fairs like this, galleries generally showcase their biggest names, and solo outings by artists are the norm. So when Ivan Lam revealed that he would be sharing the limelight with not just one, but 500 other Malaysian artists, our eyebrows naturally raised towards the ceiling.

Having secured a place at the fair in May at Wei-Ling Gallery’s booth, Lam plans to use his spot to promote contemporary Malaysian art.

“This is a post-egotistical attempt by a single artist,” quips Lam, whose artwork aims to transport local art to the international art scene. For too long, he believes, our nation’s art has been overlooked and he’s looking to share his golden ticket with his contemporaries.

“It’s like an artist’s social responsibility,” notes Lam, who argues that his piece titled Coma is a gift back to the art scene. “The community has been good to me,” he says.

Lam’s artwork certainly facilitates this egalitarian form of exhibitionism. Essentially a vending machine, Coma will vend miniature 8 x 8 artworks by living local artists throughout the duration of the fair. Currently in-the-works,Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials. Lam’s goal is to collect 500 pieces for inclusion.

“The artworks will be rotated daily, so the landscape of the piece will change everyday,” he explains, adding that each artwork will be housed in a perspex case with labels bearing their particulars. “It’ll be of premium quality, like a product that you buy,We sell 100% hand-painted oil paintings for sale online.” he says, placing emphasis on the term “product.”

That emphasis isn’t coincidental. Lam’s work straddles the concepts of high and lowbrow art, and it also mimics the fiscal workings of the very art fair that it’ll be exhibited in.

After all, isn’t the trade of contemporary art becoming more like purchasing an item off the shelf? And how different is the art collector from the Average Joe who buys a canned drink from a vending machine?

Well, there are definite differences, such as the price tags and the exclusivity of most artworks, but the element of consumerism isn’t a wholly different ball game. Then, there is one other notable difference as far as Coma goes: Lam’s piece functions as a single entity, so interested parties will have to take home lock, stock, and barrel — an entire compendium of Malaysian art, which is precisely what Coma stands for.

“Basically, I’m getting artists to give me their business card, their artist business card,” he says.

Lam returns to Coma’s larger purpose — to showcase contemporary local art en masse to a wider audience.

He argues that the vending machine will enable viewers to choose with immediate effect. Plus, it’ll also be a lot of fun. He has imported an ultra-modern version of the machine from Japan. Unlike traditional machines that drop the selected item,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. it features a sleek robotic arm that glides across the interior in a rather hypnotising manner.

Effectively,Are you looking for Optical frame, glasses and eye exams? Coma will serve as a moving catalogue and, like the pages of a printed book, the viewer has the autonomy to flip the page and read what he likes. The added bonus is that Ivan will be standing by the machine throughout the fair, explaining the provenance of each selected artwork to interested parties.

In one of Lam’s previous art fair outings, Art Stage Singapore, Wei-Ling Gallery featured his signature paintings, produced with household paint and coated in a glossy veneer. Coma is a big digression from this and a potential head-turner for gallery and artist, who are both stepping into Hong Kong’s largest and busiest art fair for the first time.

“Four thousand people applied for 200 spaces,” notes Lam, illustrating the level of competition behind Art Basel Hong Kong’s selection process, as well as the fair’s demand. Interestingly, he faced challenges in getting content for his vending machine. “My ego has been stepped on so many times,” he admits in frustration, explaining that many of his peers have shown reticence towards the idea.

“The whole project is not about ego, or race, age, or anything else,” he says. Could the concept of a vending machine be too far-out for our local art scene, which as a rule of thumb, remains stuck in formalist trappings and grandiose artworks? Perhaps. And financial dealings aside — an inescapable facet of any art fair or commercial art environment — Coma’s concept is a winner,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. and if one artist can be a crusader with a vending machine, then Lam is that person.