HONG KONG.- Sotheby’s Hong Kong will present Boundless: Contemporary Art, the opening auction of 2015, on 20 January at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery. Focusing on postwar creation at large, the sale will bring together an eclectic offering of modern and contemporary Western and Asian art, as well as 20thcentury design furniture. Pieces by such influential 20th century designers as Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and the Campanas will appear alongside works by Pablo Picasso, Bernard Buffet, Roy Lichtenstein, Damien Hirst and – for the first time at auction in Hong Kong – Tracey Emin and French street artist Invader. Highlights of the Asian section will include such rarities as the largest-known ink-on-canvas by T’ang Haywen and three Chu Teh-Chun works never before seen at auction, from a private Italian collection. This meticulously-curated sale will offer over 100 lots estimated in excess of HK$30 million / US$3.8 million*.

Isaure de Viel Castel, Head of Mid-Season Sales, Contemporary & Modern, Fine Art Department, said: ‘Since pioneering the “Boundless” concept – drawing parallels between works across schools, types, and places of origin – Sotheby’s has received an overwhelmingly positive response from collectors throughout Asia in support of this innovative approach to presenting contemporary creations sourced around the world. In response to the significant interest demonstrated by October’s successful NIGO® Only Lives Twice auction, the upcoming Boundless sale will include a specially-curated selection of design pieces. I am especially proud to introduce the auction debut of Alias HK_58 by French street artist Invader – a piece specifically created for Hong Kong which illustrates perfectly the city’s dynamic, international art scene.’

(I) AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Invader (b. 1969), Alias HK_58, 2014, ceramic tiles on glass panel, 132.6 x 208.5 cm Est. HK$1 – 1.5 million / US$128,000 – 192,000
For the first time, street art from the renowned French artist, Invader, will appear at auction in Hong Kong. One of the two Alias works to be featured, Alias HK_58 was created for a street art intervention on a wall in Hong Kong’s Happy Valley neighborhood. A Bruce Lee tribute, the work depicts cartoon figure Hong Kong Phooey wearing a traditional karate robe, flying a high Kung Fu side kick. The widely-publicised project was deemed by Invader to be his ‘most accomplished city invasion wave’. An impressive example of this project, Alias HK_58 is the largest work by the artist to come to auction.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997), Collage for Painting in Gold Frame 1984, acrylic, pencil, and paper collage on board, 121.6 x 94 cm Est. HK$1.6 – 2 million / US$205,000 – 256,000
Following his brushstroke motif of the mid-1960s – a deconstruction of the Abstract Expressionists’ heroic gestures – Roy Lichtenstein continued to explore and subvert the notion of the brushstroke as a manifestation of artistic genius. With its dynamic composition, bold colours and playful manipulation of collage, Collage for Painting in Gold Frame presents varied brushstrokes within a two-dimensional frame, creating a complex illusion of three-dimensionality.

Tracey Emin (b.1963), Trust Me 2011, neon, 17 x 74 x 5 cm Est. HK$250,000 – 350,000 / US$32,000 – 45,000
Sotheby’s introduces – for the first time – Tracey Emin’s iconic neon work to the Hong Kong auction market. One of the most preeminent female artists working today, Emin portrays deeply personal situations with brutal honesty and poetic humour through a wide range of media. Using neon, a recurrent medium in her oeuvre, Emin juxtaposes simple, intimate handwritten text with a medium traditionally associated with commercial and utilitarian purposes. In Trust Me, the artist’s written confession, rendered in cold turquoise neon, conveys both a warm feeling and a cool sense of distance.

Robert Indiana (b.1928), LOVE (Red/Blue) Conceived in 1966, executed in 2000, polychrome aluminium 45.7 x 45.7 x 22.9 cm Est. HK$2.2 – 3.2 million / US$282,000 – 410,000
Instantly recognisable, Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture stands proudly as a timeless symbol of positivity, goodwill and a universal ideal. First created in 1966, varied iterations of LOVE can be found in the collections of major international institutions, and have been displayed in prominent public spaces such as New York’s 55th Street and Sixth Avenue, as well as Philadelphia’s John F. Kennedy Plaza.

Chu Teh-Chun (1920 – 2014), L'automne (Autumn) 1976, oil on canvas, 97 x 130 cm Est. HK$2 – 3 million / US$256,000 – 385,000
Held by a private family collection for more than three decades, three of Chu Teh-Chun’s 1970s masterpieces – led by the exceptional L’automne – will appear at auction for the first time. The three works serve as a powerful testament to a transformative phase for the artist which yielded a more confident and distinct abstract language. In L’automne, the boldness of Chu’s calligraphic gestures is tempered by a lighter composition, less wrought in its surface textures. A colour palette evocative of autumnal scenes – leaves bustling on tree tops or swirling in eddies of the autumn wind – forms a poetic gesture conveying the essence of the season.

T'ang Haywen (1927 – 1991), Untitled 1964 – 1966, ink and acrylic on cotton canvas, 210.5 x 177.5 cm Est. HK$700,000 – 1 million / 90,000 – 128,000
After experimenting with oil – mostly through still-lifes and portraits – in the 1950s, T’ang Haywen turned to abstraction, in the 1960s. During that time, an exploration of the merging of Eastern and Western art methods was central to the artist’s practice. Since then, ink-on-paper has dominated T’ang’s oeuvre, with diptychs measuring 70 x 100 cm his most common and recognisable format. Works on canvas were produced sporadically, yet espoused the same tenets of natural spontaneity – the Taoist ideal – as those found in the artist’s works on paper. The present work Untitled, a monumental painting measuring 210.5 x 177.5 cm, is the largest ink-on-canvas work by T’ang ever to appear at auction, constituting a rare opportunity to acquire an important piece by the artist.

Special Section: Contemporary Design Pieces
Following the success of October’s NIGO® Only Lives Twice auction in Hong Kong, Boundless: Contemporary Art will bring another group of highly curated-design pieces to collectors in the region. The sale will offer works by influential and visionary designers from the 1940s through present day, such as Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Charles and Ray Eames, Ron Arad, Piero Fornasetti and the Campana Brothers. From Elizabeth Garouste’s Mirror to Piero Fornasetti’s Palladiana Commode, the design collection will be exhibited alongside modern and contemporary art pieces in the Boundless sale, presenting new approaches to collecting across styles, genres and international borders.