‘Not Your Fault’

From Art Basel to my Hong Kong memory

through an exhibition on Louise Bourgeois

in Hong Kong, Queen’s Road 80

Before going to the exhibition

twice I looked up the big drawings of Louise Bourgeois

advertised on Queen’s road

the Road I had been walking along not knowing how many times with my mother when I was little

But then instead of my mother

the flowers depicted by an artist in the year when my mother left were hung there

the artist -Louise Bourgeois -was gone the year after

the second time I looked up and pondered upon that big drawing on Queen’s Road

an old lady with a plexiglass box asked me to donate some money, ‘Give some help to us old ladies’

she then added,

‘I wish you prosperity ‘,

How odd, I had thought, before heading to the show of Louise Bourgeois I had this strange encounter with this old lady

Did LB not say often, as an artist, you are already lucky ‘as you are in touch with your unconscious - the definition of sanity and self realisation’, and therefore, the idea of getting more money ( prosperity) is not at all a prerequisite for attending a spiritual kind of exhibition titled’ My own voice wakes me up’

But we are in the midst of Art Basel and Art Auction.

The  tension is there, and we are in Hong Kong, an important financial district.

Just where does art lie , its noble position in the hands of art dealers ?

As soon as I entered the incredibly expensive locations of Queen’s Road 80, told by polite helpers who guaranteed our entrance to the elevators in order, I realised art galleries are handled differently here in Hong Kong: they know how to handle potential clients?

on the 15th and 16th floor, we reached Buorgeois’ work.

The red gloves

amazing red gloves

long red gloves

when seen close up

the left glove has a wedding ring

Somehow

the impressive long images reminded me of another image of an old Hong Kong Film

titled’ Always in your heart’ by Chan Man in 1968

in the opening scene of the film,

we see a singer singing a very melodic song in mandarin

’ Forget me not, my love’

This unknown singer is wearing those long gloves as in LB’s drawing, but white instead of red

and she sings

‘ losing You means losing Me’

impactful image, impactful song

impactful because it is a very humane experience- that you can be identified somehow with someone else in this world

and when that identification is intense, so intense that the white can turn red 

It means your soul is awakened

you are alive

your creative cells are active

your heartbeat goes faster

and you breathe with the pulse of the universe

every gesture you make is meaningful

because in your identification process

you reach out 

your own ego gets dissolved

calmed down

then 

if you are as lucky as Louise Bourgeois

you are alive in every single art piece you make

because you see and materialise what you truly experience

without an after thought of recalculation

Art saved her life

because Art is her life

I wish you all a life not just full of Art

but A Life lived fully in Art

( Louise Bourgeois. My Own Voice Wakes Me up. on view at Hauser &Wirth Hong Kong . 26th March to 11th May 2019)

Video put together by Bernadette. All photos on the exhibition by Antonio Pisapia except the close up of ‘ Not your Fault’( by Bernadette). Screenshot of the film ‘ Always in your heart’ by Chan Man was taken from You tube