Ethan Yip and Yisi Li present “And the safe spots become impassable” a group show to see during Art Basel Hong Kong is an exhibition featuring new works by five contemporary artists Katarina Caserman, Richard Dean Hughes, Bartosz Kowal, Juan Manuel Salas and Jack Warne.
Opening during one of Asia’s most exciting art weeks Art Basel Hong Kong, alongside the first edition of “Supper Club Hong Kong” art fair and the inaugurations of new contemporary galleries in Hong Kong, this independent exhibition represents the growing dedication of international gallerists and curators to continuously introduce international talents to the local art scene and nurture conversations about contemporary arts across the globe.
The Zone is a very complicated system of traps, and they’re all deadly. I don’t know what’s going on here in the absence of people, but the moment someone shows up, everything comes into motion. Old traps disappear and new ones emerge. Safe spots become impassable.
-Stalker
Inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s portrayal of “The Zone” in the film “Stalker” (1979), this exhibition invites the viewer into a realm with ambiguous signifiers, urging contemplation on the fluid nature of truth as perceived through our senses and rationales. Portrayed as a perilous land with deadly traps that shift and transform as agents intervene, the journey into the zone reflects the broader quest for truth. “The Zone” hence shifts Hegel’s notion of a “solid ground” into a fluid “water”, proving unstable yet essential support for the pursuit of truth.
The shape-shifting landscape of Katarina Caserman’s paintings set the stage for the exhibition, challenging viewers to transcend mental boundaries through open-ended interpretations. Caserman seeks to materialise the intangible concepts of thoughts, memories and time using tangible elements like colour, shape and movement. Juan Manuel Salas delves into the subjective construction of time. His approach to painting involves blending cinematic scenes from a single movie to capture the subconscious, revealing the artist’s inner psyche.
Jack Warne visualises the complexities of artificial intelligence in perpetuating the hyperreality in our era. Drawing inspiration from his experiences with temporary blindness due to a rare corneal condition, this serves as a metaphor for the disorientation caused by digital media saturation.
Richard Dean Hughes explores the mystery and uncertainty inherent in the construction of narrative, knowledge and objectivity. Hughes’s “Mentum” presents a conceptual juxtaposition wherein a half-burnt cigar protrudes from the absent section of a violin, introducing absurdity while reconciling with the work’s title.
Yet Bartosz Kowal’s paintings build tension between the specific and the anchored. Rooted in reality, the paintings are an attempt to capture undefined states, existential anxiety, and the fissure of reality.
“And the safe spots become impassable” co-presented by Ethan Yip and Yisi Li – 19th April, 1701, 17/F, M Place, 54 Wong Chuk Hang Rd, Hong Kong
About the artists
Katarina Caserman (b. 1996) is a London-based artist from Slovenia. She obtained her MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2022 and her BA in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana.
Highlights of her recent exhibitions include: And the safe spots become impassable, (Hong Kong, 2024), Untalely, Tabula Rasa Gallery (Beijing, 2023); Tabula Rasa: Unveiled, No.9 Cork Street (London, 2023); Never the Right Time, Commune Gallery (Vienna, 2023); The last train after the last train; Public Gallery (London, 2023); Pandora (Sivi.), Long Story Short NYC (New York, 2023); Conscious Unconscious, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (London, 2023); NADA Miami 2022, presented by Tabula Rasa Gallery (Miami, 2022); It is Better to be Cats than be Loved, Tabula Rasa Gallery (London, 2022).
Juan Manuel Salas (b. 1992) lives and works in Mexico City. He was the winner of the National Biennial José Atanasio Monroy (2018) and the Salon de Octubre (2015), and the FONCA Young Creators Grant 2017-2018. He has exhibited individually at the Sinaloa Museum of Art (MASIN), Cuadro 22, Juan Soriano Gallery, among others. He has participated in group shows at Collective Ending HQ, London, and has been artist in residence at Air-Montreux in Switzerland. Salas also participated in several national biennials such as the XII Joaquin Clausell Painting Biennial; the Julio Castillo Biennial; and the II Landscape Biennial, at the Carrillo Gil Art Museum in Mexico City (MACG).
Jack Warne (b. 1995) lives and works in London. He graduated with BA Graphic and Media Design at University of The Arts London (2017); and MA Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art (2019). Highlights of recent exhibitions include: And the safe spots become impassable, (Hong Kong, 2024), Art Basel Hong Kong, Mai 36 Galerie (Hong Kong, 2024); Threads, Mai 36 Galerie (Zurich, 2024), among others.
Richard Dean Hughes (b.1987) is an artist based in Manchester. His recent exhibitions include And the safe spots become impassable, (Hongkong, 2024), Twelve thousand, supported by the Ronnie Duncan Art Foundation (Manchester, 2024), things fall apart; the centre cannot hold, Tabula Rasa Gallery (London, 2023), This be the Verse, Xxijrahii Gallery (London, 2023), Ubiquitous no.14, Tube Gallery (Palma, 2023), Centre Of the Periphery, Pipeline Gallery (London, 2023), Everything at Once, Generation and display (duo show, London, 2022), Subliminal Thaw, Night Time Story (online, solo, Los Angeles, 2021), Off Trail, Air Gallery (Manchester, 2021), among others.
Bartosz Kowal (b.1995) lives and works in Warsaw. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw with an MFA in 2022. Highlights of recent exhibitions include: And the safe spots become impassable, (Hong Kong, 2024), Safe Place, Promocyina Gallery (solo, Warsaw, 2024), Vessels, Cabin Berlin (Berlin, 2024), Holders, Coulisse Gallery (Stockholm, 2024).
About Ethan Yip & Yisi Li – Ethan Yip splits his time between Hong Kong and London, where he is an Ambassador at Docent, specialising in cultivating and educating a diverse network of galleries and collectors in contemporary art. Yisi Li lives and works in London. She is the gallery director of Tabula Rasa Gallery (London, Beijing) and an independent curator.
