At the heart of Hong Kong, the Joyce flagship store on Queen's Road Central will play host to London's Gazelli Art House in the lead up to Art Basel 2017. With select artists from Gazelli's eclectic offering of international talents, the space will be transformed to showcase pop-up exhibitions throughout the iconic store.
As visitors enter the store, a swarm of 26 giant translucent Japanese paper Bees by Kalliopi Lemos hovers overhead in the Joyce Central window. Commenting on Lemos' work Navigating in the Dark, Jim Fitzgerald writes, “In the organised structure of the hive, the bees truly offer an image of the precision at the heart of nature, and of the creative process itself, which orders and nourishes the human soul.”
Moving deeper in to the store, a whimsical signature 'fried egg' patterned wall acts as the backdrop for paintings by Scottish pop-artist and designer Phillip Colbert. Taking cartoon 'celebrities' Mickey Mouse and Snoopy, playfully obscuring them with everyday items, allowing the viewer to gauge their symbolic power. “They are easily accessible and humorous yet profound” says Colbert.
Joyce Cabinet will exhibit the works of the other half of this husband - wife duo: Charlotte Colbert. With her screenwriter background, the photographer often begins first with a story that her eerie monochromatic stills go on to depict scene by scene. Exploring themes of space, time and reality examples from Colbert's bodies of work In & Out of Space, A Day at Home, Ordinary Madness and Studies will be on display.
The entrance to the Lower Ground Floor continues with another playful statement wall - this time a giant Wotsit print as the backdrop for a series of works by James Ostrer. His latest photographic studies entitled Wotsit All About? depict the artist and his subjects plastered in layers of sweets, cakes, icing, junk food and gloopy cheese. Exploring the issue of addiction, “I wanted to engulf myself in sugary foods hoping that by doing this, I wouldn't be attracted to them anymore,” says Ostrer. With an eye-catching tribal ritualistic theme running through many of the photographs, these colourful pieces will also be featured on light boxes in the windows of Joyce Harbour City and Joyce Pacific Place.