Writer: Amanda Ho

Beyond the iconic works of Pablo Picasso, Phillip X, unravels Picasso in a new dimension, announcing “Picasso & the Animal Kingdom, delving into his lifelong engagement relationship with animals.

Headquarted in West Kowloon, Phillips Auction launched an exhibition that beautifully blends timeless art with contemporary creativity. The opening night featured a captivating panel discussion on “Art in Multiples,” engaging both art professionals and enthusiasts. Highlights of the exhibition include striking modern artworks, exquisite jewellery, and a special presentation titled “Picasso & the Animal Kingdom,” which explores the fascinating connection between artistic imagination and the natural world.

T&C: What is Phillips X and how do you decide to present and create the shows in each region?

S: Philips X is a global selling platform operated by the Philips private sales team, so we follow a more traditional retail gallery model where we present a group of artworks in this specific period of time. We have realized throughout time that our collectors needs have diversified, and that sometimes they perhaps don’t want to follow our traditional auction calendar and want the satisfaction of immediate purchases. So that is why we have come up with this model specifically and in terms of curation, we focus more on a narrative driven perspective, where we follow specific themes such as Picasso and animals. We focus on the works which has a more of a digital art emphasis. In terms of curating exhibition in each region, we look at the market trends and also the artistic styles in each specific region, where we’re able to either create new and important dialogs for existing artists like Picasso, or we’re able to bring new artists to a new market.

T&C: Do you foresee more exhibitions in Hong Kong and across Asia that showcase lesser-known sides of famous artists like Picasso?

S: Absolutely! I think we in Hong Kong are very lucky that we are truly the art hub of Asia where there’s lots of museum exhibitions as well as art events such as Art Basel Hong Kong. Right now we are seeing a wave of international artists being exhibited in Hong Kong whether that be Picasso, Renoir or asian artists like Yayoi Kusama. I think we are gradually going to see more and more interesting angles being presented by these artists in Hong Kong as well.

T&C: It would be fascinating to explore Picasso’s diverse works beyond his most iconic pieces. Do you think such exhibitions could help audiences appreciate him from new perspectives and further enrich the art scene in the region?

S: I think something as relatable as animals is something that everyone can appreciate and understand across different age groups. We’ve seen kids come to the exhibition love it. We’ve also seen elderly people come and also appreciate it from their own perspectives as well. I think by creating something that is potentially through a lesser known angle or something that is more in the everyday, sense, we’re able to kind of build bridges between Western Titans such as Picasso, to a more local Asian audience.