Galerie Lelong Presents ART BASEL HONG KONG, Now thru May 18

For Art Basel Hong Kong 2014, Galerie Lelong New York and Paris will present artists from the gallery's sixty-year history, which comprises masters of European modernism and global contemporary artists. Works by Pierre Alechinsky, Sarah Cain, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Alfredo Jaar, Rosemary Laing, Lin Tianmiao, Nalini Malani, Joan Miró, Yoko Ono,Emilio Perez, Jaume Plensa, Sean Scully, and Kate Shepherd will be on view.

Highlights include:

Buste d'homme, 1961, by renowned 20th century artist Alberto Giacometti will be on view. Giacometti explored new modes of representation of the human figure, with the study of the human head remaining one of his consistent interests. Portraits of those close to him, such as his wife or brothers, were a preoccupation. Giacometti's work is included in major collections in the US, Europe, and Asia, and has been presented in numerous retrospectives, most recently at Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

Works by Beijing-born artist Lin Tianmiao will be a centerpiece of Galerie Lelong's presentation. Lin, one of the first Chinese female artists to achieve international recognition, is known for her thread winding technique in which she winds silk or cotton thread around an object until it is completely covered and transformed. Lin links thread and the activity of binding and weaving to the female experience and her Chinese background, but the final result evokes a shared human experience for the viewer, regardless of gender, race, or nationality. Recent works will be on view including, Untitled (Bonsai Tree), 2012.

Nalini Malani's large polyptych Part Object, 2007-08, will be another centerpiece of the gallery's presentation. Malani, one of the leading female artists from the Asia-Pacific region, focuses on creating dynamic visual stories about those who have been ignored, forgotten, or marginalized by history. In 2013 Malani received the prestigious Arts and Culture Fukuoka Prize. Currently on view at the The Kiran Nadar Museum in Delhi is a three-part retrospective of Malani's work; the Asia Society Museum, New York, is presenting a solo exhibition of Malani's work through August.

Yoko Ono's interactive work Play it by Trust will invite visitors to participate in a game of chess in a piece that reflects the artist's conceptual approach. Originally conceived in 1966, Play it by Trust has been made in many different scales and variations. As the pieces quickly intermingle the clarity of who controls what is quickly lost and the competition fails. It is Ono's hope that compassion rather than opposition is achieved. In 2013 the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney presented the artist's first solo exhibition in Australia. Currently, Ono's traveling retrospective, Half-A-Wind, is on view at the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Jaume Plensa uses a wide range of materials-including steel, cast iron, resin, paraffin wax, glass, light, water, and sound-to lend physical weight and volume to components of the human condition and the ephemeral. On view in Hong Kong is Sappho's World, a recent sculpture in stainless steel that is composed of eight different alphabets organized around a human figure. In 2013 Plensa received the prestigious Velázquez Visual Arts Prize. Two museum solo exhibitions of his work are on view in Germany this summer. Also this summer recent works by the artist will be on view in Chicago to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Millennium Park, home of Plensa's famed Crown Fountain.

Yellow Figure, 2002, by Sean Scully will be on view. By embracing and defying traditions established by 20th century modernists, Scully has developed a deceptively simple vocabulary of horizontal and vertical bands of color to communicate a duality of harmony and fracture that mirrors the vulnerability of the human condition. Two forthcoming retrospectives of his work will take place in Shanghai and in Beijing in 2014-15. A solo show of Scully's paintings, Doric, will be on view at Galerie Lelong Paris from today, May 15 to July 11, 2014.

Galerie Lelong will also participate in the Editions sector of Art Basel Hong Kong. Works by Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Alberto Giacometti, Nalini Malani, Joan Miró, Jaume Plensa, and Sean Scully will be on view.