The Chinese language artist Ding Shilun will promote a piece in a silent public sale this week in support of St John Ambulance Hong Kong following the Tai Po fireplace through which at the very least 159 folks died.
London- and Zürich-based Bernheim Gallery, which represents Ding, says in an Instagram submit: “This week, Ding Shilun accomplished a drawing of two painters sharing an umbrella as they watched the identical solar set over uneven waters, an act of quiet amidst every week the place Hong Kong held its breath.”
“Silent public sale—no reserve, highest provide wins,” the gallery provides. Bids have to be positioned by emailing the gallery earlier than 23:59 HKT (3.59pm GMT) on 11 December with the successful bid to be introduced 12 December. The entire proceeds will go in the direction of the ambulance charity, supporting “their steady, round the clock ambulance service and the households they serve”, the gallery says.
The blaze in a number of high-rise flats within the northern Tai Po district displaced hundreds, with early media reviews elevating questions concerning the bamboo scaffolding masking the blocks which have been draped in nylon netting.
The catastrophe has additionally raised issues about civil liberties in Hong Kong and restrictions on freedom of expression. The creator Anthony Dapiran says in The Guardian: “Hong Kong’s artistic group may need responded in artworks, movie and literature. However artists have additionally been cowed. These with a observe file of activism or political exercise are prevented from exhibiting. A murals on the Tai Po fires like Steve McQueen’s haunting Grenfell couldn’t presumably be exhibited in immediately’s Hong Kong, and even making such a movie can be thought of an act of sedition.”
In the meantime the artwork collector and crypto mogul Justin Solar has donated HK$10m ($7.8m) to the federal government aid fund by way of his corporations Tron and HTX in response to the web site Odaily. Solar wrote on X: “To assist the aid efforts, I will probably be making a donation to help those that have suffered losses and to assist with rebuilding and restoration.”
The entrepreneur gained artwork world infamy final yr for purchasing Maurizio Cattelan’s banana piece Comic (2019) for $6.2m.
