Ho Kan: The World Opens Between Forms brings the work of 94-year-old postwar geometric abstract master Ho Kan (霍剛, b. 1932) to Hong Kong for his first institutional solo-presentation in the city. Through 70 artworks and never-before-seen archival and personal materials from the newly-launched Ho Kan Art Archive, this exhibition offers a comprehensive retrospective of Ho's artistic evolution over his seven decades, tracing his role in co-founding Taiwan's pioneering Ton Fan Group and his fifty years in Milan’s avant-garde art world.
Based in Taipei since 2014, Ho continues to draw from memories collected across Nanjing, Taipei, and Milan, refining his fusion of Daoist and Buddhist philosophy with Chinese calligraphy and Western abstract geometric forms. Ho deconstructs and recombines the essential formal elements of art into character-like symbols, assembling stroke, weight, direction, and interval into an emotionally resonant visual language for each viewer to decode, completing the work by drawing from their own inner world and feelings. This exhibition invites viewers to examine the “worlds” that unfold in these meeting points, from the relationship between colors and forms to artistic cultures and philosophies.
On the 70th anniversary of the Ton Fan Group’s foundation, the spirit of Ho Kan’s painting philosophy, namely, that no form operates independently of others, underscores this exhibition’s aim of reframing the relationship between Asian and Western modernism as one of mutual collaboration rather than one-way influence. Just as Ho’s Milan studio once served as a gathering place for both Asian artists abroad and members of the European avant-garde, his practice today invites viewers to consider the possibilities that emerge through unexpected encounters and intersections.
Drawing from private collections across the Asia Pacific region, this exhibition is curated by guest curator Nataline Colonnello, with specialist consultant Felix Kwok, and support provided by the Asia Society Hong Kong Center Gallery & Exhibitions Team, Chris Wan, Hain Yoon, and Brynn Gordon.
For more information please visit the Asia Society Hong Kong website.
Tagged 09/11.