A number of art collections worldwide explore and trace the history of modern and contemporary Asian art. Art Radar profiles four books that represent influential collections of Asian contemporary art – and offers a book giveaway.
Art Radar has two copies of The No Colors: William Lim to give away, please scroll down for details.
The DSL Collection e-book cover. Image courtesy DSL Collection.
The DSL Collection is a private collection primarily focusing on contemporary Chinese art, founded by Dominique and Sylvain Levy in 2005. The Collection represents 110 Chinese avant-garde artists who have been, and still are, playing a major role in the development of China’s contemporary art. The Collection has a museum approach, in that it acquires a wide range of art and provides opportunities to share it with the public.
The DSL Collection has a strong internet presence through its website, Facebook and LinkedIn, as it believes in sharing art with everyone and inspiring people. To this end, the DSL Collection has published its second book, with a printed as well as a digital e-book available for download. The latest publication represents the current state of the collection, which with its constant flux of artworks kept at about 160 and periodically changing, evolves with the development of contemporary art in China and is open to constant redefinition. The publication was recently awarded the first Art Newspaper Asia Prize.
‘The No Colors William Lim’ book cover. Image courtesy The Ministry of Art.
William Lim, an architect, started systematically collecting artworks by emerging Hong Kong artists about a decade ago, in 2005. Lim’s collection follows the unpredictability and the constant evolution of contemporary art: he challenges the notion of what a private collector’s role is in response to an artist’s creativity and as a bridge with society. In an interview with The Ministry of Art’s Christoph Noe, Lim says about collecting: “In my opinion collecting is almost like going on a journey. It is always open-ended.”
Lim is also an artist, and he has already created large-scale installations for Hong Kong. His private collection was open to the public during Art Basel Hong Kong and is now considered a cultural highlight in the city. The book provides an insight into Lim’s large multimedia collection with essays by art professionals and experts such as Birgit Donker, Hu Fang, Fionnuala McHugh and Christoph Noe, among others. Among the artists in the book and the collection are Nadim Abbas, Tang Kwok Hin, Tsang Kin-Wah, Lee Kit, Tozer Pak, Kwan Sheung-Chi, Ho Sin Tung, Lam Tung-Pang, Wong Wai-Yin, Kacey Wong, Morgan Wong, and more.
Art Radar has two copies of The No Colors: William Lim to give away, please scroll down for details.
Swiss collector of Chinese contemporary art Uli Sigg.
Collecting Contemporary Chinese Art: Uli Sigg in Conversation with Patricia Chen
“Asia’s Leading Art Patrons in Conversation” is a publication project that seeks to provide an insight into art collecting by some of the leading patrons of Asian art. The series of books is presented in a Q&A format, which allows these patrons to talk about:
The Uli Sigg publication is a conversation between the collector and Patricia Chen. It is of special interest as Sigg is considered to be the only collector to have witnessed the development of Chinese contemporary art history from its infancy while he was attached to China as the Ambassador of Switzerland to the People’s Republic of China, North Korea and Mongolia. Uli Sigg began collecting art 30 years ago.
The Samawi Collection I and II e-book covers. Image courtesy Ayyam Gallery.
The Samawi Collection I and II
The Samawi Collection includes over 3000 works of art in a variety of media by modern and contemporary artists active in different periods in the Middle East and internationally. The range of art represented in the collection remains at the cutting-edge of global art with technologically driven approaches.
The two publications on the collection were launched alongside two exhibitions that displayed parts of the collection to the public at the Ayyam Art Centre in Dubai. The exhibitions and publications were part of an initiative to bring museum-quality exhibitions of private and public holdings to regional audiences. The first exhibition, “Selections from the Samawi Collection”, took place in March 2011, while the second, “The Samawi Collection II”, was held in March 2012.
Both volumes are available online as e-books on issuu.com or are downloadable from the Ayyam Gallery website, and include images and essays on the collection and its artists.
Art Radar has two copies of The No Colors: William Lim to give away.
Here’s how to participate in the giveaway:
Step 1: Share any article published on Art Radar on or after 4 July 2014 (click here to subscribe to our free email newsletter) on any social network and take a screenshot of the share.
Step 2: Email the screenshot to hello.artradar@gmail.com with ‘June 2014 Book Giveaway’ in the subject line and your full name and postal address in the email body by 20 July 2014.
Winners will be chosen after the submission deadline through a draw of lots. Good luck!
C. A. Xuan Mai Ardia
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Related Topics: art resources, book reviews, art collectors, Chinese art, Middle Eastern art, Hong Kong art, promoting art, overviews
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