NEW YORK, NY.- Public Art Fund announced that Adrian Cheng has joined its Board of Directors. Cheng is the Executive Vice Chairman of Hong Kong-based New World Development, an Executive Director of the oldest Chinese jewelry brand Chow Tai Fook, and founder of the K11 brand, which includes the K11 Art Foundation (KAF) and K11 Art Mall. An innovative and passionate patron, he is on the Board of Directors of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and sits on their M+ Museum and Interim Acquisition Committee. He is also a Board Member of the National Museum of China Foundation, as well as a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts. He is a member of Tate’s International Council and the Centre Pompidou’s International Circle and sits on the Visiting Committee for Asian art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Art Fund’s is the first Board of Directors that he has joined in New York City.

With an aim to bring more awareness and access to art in China, Cheng is developing new models for presenting art and expanding its reach. Through this entrepreneurial approach and his desire to bring art to the “masses”, he has created the “museum retail” concept, which successfully combines art and commerce. He opened the world’s first “art mall” in Hong Kong in 2009, followed by a second in Shanghai in 2013, with more than 10 additional spaces currently under development. These traditional commerce-driven spaces now also function as museums, presenting exhibitions regularly as well as showcasing works by artists like Olafur Eliasson, Damien Hirst, and Yoshitomo Nara. Cheng sees them as being more approachable and accessible to large segments of the population. Through KAF, he is incubating young emerging Chinese artists and curators by providing them with a platform to gain greater awareness from the global audience. This outward-looking model extends the influence of Chinese contemporary art and artists internationally, notably through collaborations with institutions like Palais de Tokyo and Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. The foundation also serves as a resource for young Chinese artists and curators, while promoting public art education in Greater China. Cheng’s private collection, which remains separate from other endeavors, includes works by Adrián Villar Rojas, Tatiana Trouvé, and Zhang Enli, among others.

“Like Public Art Fund, Adrian Cheng is committed to breaking down barriers between the great art of our time and broad, diverse audiences. His innovative work to foster the development of contemporary art in China has created new models for exhibition, education, and philanthropy in the region. Adrian’s unique experience and global perspective will be a tremendous asset to Public Art Fund,” said Public Art Fund Director & Chief Curator Nicholas Baume.

“Public art makes the everyday better. For art to be seen outside the conventional museum environment, in a place that belongs to the people, makes it more accessible and approachable. I share the vision of Public Art Fund and have been bringing contemporary art to a broad audience via my K11 Art Foundation in an effort to let the public live and work surrounded by art. I’ve always said, ‘in art we live’, and I am honored to be part of New York City’s public art scene through my commitment to Public Art Fund,” said Adrian Cheng.

While Public Art Fund’s exhibitions and public programs in New York City feature artists from across the globe, its Board is composed of 26 members with ties to the greater United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as a staff representing North and South America, Europe, and Oceania. In recent years, Public Art Fund’s national and international influence has expanded through traveling exhibitions (Statuesque at the Nasher Sculpture Center in 2011), consulting projects (Franz West’s Waiting Room for the William H. Bloomberg MDA Jerusalem Station in Israel in 2012), curatorial work (Public sector at Art Basel in Miami Beach, curated by Nicholas Baume 2013-15), and public lectures. Works commissioned by Public Art Fund have also gone on to be shown and acquired by eminent organizations: John Gerrard’s Solar Reserve (Tonopah, Nevada) 2014 (originally presented at Lincoln Center in 2014) was gifted to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art by Leonardo DiCaprio and exhibited at Art Basel’s Unlimited sector in Switzerland in 2015; large-scale figures from Ugo Rondinone’s Human Nature series (originally presented at Rockefeller Center in 2013) traveled to the Museo Anahuacalli, Coyoacán, Mexico in 2014 and Art Basel, Switzerland in 2015; and Erin Shirreff’s Sculpture for Snow was acquired by the Yale University Art Gallery (subsequent to its presentation in A Promise is a Cloud in Downtown Brooklyn in 2011). Last week, Public Art Fund turned the tables, bringing renowned artist Isa Genzken’s Two Orchids, which was first shown at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, to New York City’s Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the southeast entrance to Central Park.

“Increasingly, we see the ‘public’ that we serve as not only residents of and visitors to New York City but more broadly as those who interact with our work online and as it travels across the country and the globe through exhibitions and partnerships,” said Baume. “The appointment of Adrian to our Board reflects this global approach.”