Art Basel Hong Kong: Booth 3D21

61 1/2 x 48 x 3 inches
156.2 x 121.9 x 7.6 cm

Two new shaped panel paintings by Syrian-born, New York-based artist Diana Al-Hadid (b. 1981) will be featured, related to a recent series of wall reliefs that the artist debuted to critical acclaim in her first solo exhibition at Kasmin, mounted in November 2023. With subtle art historical references culled during the artist’s time studying Islamic miniatures as a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow in 2021, Al-Hadid’s shaped panel paintings are realized through the artist’s controlled dripping of a tinted polymer gypsum over commonplace building materials into a hardened cascade. Blending material and substrate, Al-Hadid’s panel paintings are internationally celebrated for weaving enigmatic narratives that engage ancient and modern civilizations.

20 x 16 inches
50.8 x 40.6 cm

 

59 x 39 3/8 inches
150 x 100 cm

19 x 25 inches
48.3 x 63.5 cm

33 3/4 x 35 x 13 inches
85.7 x 88.9 x 33 cm

16 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches
42 x 70 cm

60 1/4 x 60 1/4 inches
153 x 153 cm

A new painting by Beijing-born, New York-based artist Lyn Liu (b. 1993) originates from a prank: when placing a full cup of water over someone's thumbs pressed together on a table, they will be unable to release their hands by themselves without tipping over the cup, resulting in a form of punishment; a concentration exercise; or a trap of unsorted, disordered thoughts that the artist reflects in disarrayed drawings on the cup. Liu's work addresses the psychological tension that underpins relationships between individuals through a sequence of uncanny cinematic tableaux. Her work draws from the artist’s personal experiences of alienation, utilizing symbolism and an atmosphere of the absurd to provoke reflections on what Liu considers our oppressive social reality.

70 1/4 x 76 1/4 inches
178.4 x 193.7 cm

 

A cornerstone of the presentation will be American Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell’s (1915–1991) Sculptor’s Picture, with Blue (1958), on view in Asia for the very first time. Recently included in a major institutional retrospective of the artist’s paintings at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and Kunstforum Wien, this painting documents a key transition from figurative to abstract imagery in Motherwell’s paintings. Realized in 1958, the composition anticipates the work Motherwell would realize on his storied honeymoon with Helen Frankenthaler in France and Spain that summer, resulting in his celebrated Iberia series. Related paintings are held by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Museum Reinhard Ernst, Germany, among other institutions.

65 x 52 inches
165.1 x 132.1 cm

19 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches
50 x 40 cm

 

New paintings by French-Madagascan, Berlin-based painter Alexis Ralaivao (b. 1991), newly represented by Kasmin, will be featured. Finding an affective charge in the ordinary and mundane, Ralaivao seamlessly synthesizes contemporary concerns, such as the fragmentary nature of the digital age, with the techniques and attentive gaze of Dutch Golden Age painters. Textures like skin, metal and cloth become the striking focus of Ralaivao’s paintings, with entire canvases dedicated to singular details. Ralaivao’s work is held by the He Art Museum, Shunde, Foshan; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas. 

23 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches
59.1 x 28.6 cm

73 1/4 x 73 1/4 inches
186 x 186 cm

 

31 7/8 x 39 3/8 inches
81 x 100 cm

29 1/2 x 41 3/8 inches
75 x 105 cm