(21 March 2013, Hong Kong) K11 has long been providing an interactive platform to nurture emerging talents of various art forms, showcasing their works to art lovers in Hong Kong, China and internationally. Since 2011, K11 has partnered with renowned jeweller Chow Tai Fook for three consecutive years to showcase young artists at Paris Fashion Week. This year, Fascination / Imagination featured some of the brightest lights in Chinese art and fashion on 5 March at Le Pavillon Vendôme, Paris. The Paris event presented the works by seven artist groups - fashion designer Simon Gao, “Designer of the Year” nominated by Numéro China, Modern Weekly and K11; painter Meng Baishen, “Artist of the Year” endorsed by K11; photographer Charles Guo; cinematographer Rain Li; installation art group LuxuryLogico; digital art ensemble Cocho Take and figure designers Jeffrey Koh x Francesco de Molfetta and curated by Alvin Goh.

Continuing the success of the Paris show, K11 is now staging Fascination / Imagination in Hong Kong from 21 March to 12 May 2013 at K11 Art Mall featuring Simon Gao, Meng Baishen, Charles Guo and LuxuryLogico.

Simon Gao
Featured works are exhibited at K11 Piazza (G/F)

Nominated as Designer of the Year by Numéro China, Modern Weekly and K11, Simon Gao has established his own label “SIMONGAO” in 2009 which landed him Esquire Magazine’s Fashion Designer Award and also the 2012 Talents Award from Vogue. Both his menswear and womenswear collections has received ample international coverage. Simon is constantly exploring the bond between masculine and feminine. Irreverent, exquisite and resolutely modern, His avant-garde designs fuse the frontiers of art and fashion with high-tech fabrics and slick, crisp tailoring. His sombre colours and dynamic silhouettes are highly coveted by the city’s art set.

Connecting the five elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water in a cosmic interrogation of line and form, Simon’s ethereal mini collection of wearable art is born from his personal studies about the flow of Qi, our intrinsic life energy. Each garment swirls around the body like three dimensional sculptures, releasing inner forces that embrace both quietude and movement.

Meng Baishen 
Featured works are exhibited at K11 art space (L107)

Nominated by K11 as the Artist of the Year, noted Beijing-based emerging artist Meng Baishen is a graduate of the Mural Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts and has been exhibited in a number of well-known galleries and museums in Hong Kong and Beijing. He is concerned about guiding people towards faith and spirituality in its purest form, without partiality towards any one religion or idealism. Inspired by classical texts and current affairs, he turns them into an embossed type before transferring the materials onto a scroll via the rubbing of a pencil. Baishen, a rising star holding the key to the future of contemporary Chinese art, is nothing if not painstaking, methodical and deeply passionate.

Charles Guo 
Featured works are exhibited at K11 Stage of the Arts (B207)

Celebrated for his outstanding editorials that have graced the pages of magazines such as Numéro, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and GQ, China’s hottest emerging photographer Charles Guo is inspired by light and the lack thereof. Melding art, craft, fashion and technology in an utterly indulging feast for the senses, Guo’s forward-looking energy and editorial wizardry has the power to impart magic on both the clothes and their wearers.

With ten years’ experience under the lens, Charles’s obsession with photography sprouted at Vogue where he worked as the magazine’s assistant art director. The job prompted him to study fashion photography at New York’s School of Visual Arts, which kick-started a new career in photography.

LuxuryLogico
Featured works are exhibited at K11 art space (L107) and K11 Stage of the Arts (B207)

Complete liberty may be a real luxury, yet this is the very cornerstone of everything LuxuryLogico pursues. Structured around the core cell of four artists, Chen Chih Chien, Llunc Lin, Chang Keng Hau and Chang Gen Hwa, LuxuryLogico assumes the role of Transformers, the modular toy that can be folded and rebuilt in a variety of forms. Pooling their diverse skills in mechanics, computing, music, sculpture, theatre design, lighting and photography, the forward-thinking team has orchestrated numerous high-tech machine-software interactions to produce many cunning interdisciplinary hybrid works.

Alvin Goh, Curator

With an enviable portfolio spanning many international brands, artists, celebrities, supermodels and photographers, curator and creative director Alvin Goh is a true believer in the synergy of fashion and art. For this fashion designer, makeup artist and creative visionary with many hats, there is no better pleasure than watching these diverse disciplines bend, blend and blur in ground-breaking and original projects and exhibitions across the world.

Fascination / Imagination extension programme

Photographers of Elegance - The Séeberger Brothers 1909-1939 
Date: 21 March – 21 April
Venue: K11 Showcases (G/F-L3)
Adding a French flair to Fascination / Imagination, from 21 March to 21 April, K11 plays host to a photo exhibition titled Photographers of Elegance – The Séeberger Brothers 1909-1939. The exhibition is part of this year’s Le French May programme, featuring selected works by perhaps the world’s first generation of fashion photographers – the Séeberger brothers, Jules (1872-1932), Louis (1874-1946) and Henri (1876-1956).

The exhibition represents a selection of the most beautiful and iconic photos that helped to shape how ‘French elegance’ is perceived today. Photographers of Elegance presents the history of fashion photography illustrating the radical changes of fashion trends in the first half of the 1900s, as well as an entertaining and nostalgic chronicle of the world of upper society during the interwar period. The photographs of the Séeberger brothers reported stories from real life. Beyond the fashion itself, they managed to capture the effervescence of upper class society and photograph the world of anonymous beauties such as bankers, designers, aristocrats and celebrities including Mistinguett, Joséphine Baker, Gabrielle Chanel, Arletty, the Dolly Sisters, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, the Rothschild, the Citroën family and more.

On the top of being a tribute to the Séeberger brothers’ work, this exhibition pays homage to fashion and elegance.

SS2013 Makeup, Styling and Fashion Workshop
Date: 13 April 2013
Venue: K11 art space (L107)
Fee: Free of charge
Coinciding Fascination / Imagination, K11 joins forces with Hong Kong Design Institute to present a makeup and fashion styling workshop open for public. The workshop is hosted by makeup artist Carrie Kwok who will share with the participants tips on the makeup and fashion styling trends for the new season. Carrie has been a professional makeup artist specializing in fashion and beauty makeup artistry for ten years now. She holds a Diploma in Fashion Makeup Artistry and Certificate in Character Makeup by Makeup Designory, Los Angeles in 2006. She has worked for premium international cosmetics brands as well as renowned artists and celebrities. Carrie now focuses in teaching and training new makeup artists and fashion image stylists for professional qualifications in Hong Kong Design Institute.

For enrolment and enquiries of the workshop, please email k11art@k11concepts.com or call (852) 3118 8070.

For enquiries, please contact K11’s Customer Service Hotline (852) 3118 8070, refer to the posters in K11 or visit K11’s official website: http://www.k11concepts.com.

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