art galleries in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's cash-rich art scene features major international players such as White Cube and Gagosian, says critic Mary Agnew, but there are also smaller galleries that challenge the status quo

2P Contemporary Art Gallery, where openings tend to be raucous social reunions – spilling on to the street outside

2P Contemporary Art

Tucked away on a quiet cul-de-sac in the eastern district of Sai Ying Pun, 2P is the sole art gallery on a dead-end road otherwise populated by apartments, shops and launderettes. But this modest, well-designed space boasts a programme with considerable whack – it became the first homegrown Hong Kong gallery to be accepted into LISTE at Art Basel this year; it brought with it the considerable local talents of performance artist Morgan Wong and multimedia and installation artists Magdalen Wong, Wun Ting Wendy Tai and Canadian-based Will Kwan. The tiny gallery's openings tend to be raucous social reunions – spilling on to the street outside – for the city's artists, curators and writers. 
• Shop 5, GF Poga Building, 6-20 Po Tuck Street, Sai Ying Pun, +852 2803 2151, 2p-gallery.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 1pm-7pm or by appointment

10 Chancery Lane

Erasure by Dinh Q, at 10 Chancery Lane

Hong Kong's ever-soaring rents and downtown space limitations have forced numerous gallerists with small spaces in Central to find exhibition rooms further afield. Seeing potential in the burgeoning artistic hub of Chai Wan early on, 10 Chancery Lane set up 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Art Projects in the heart of the cluster of high-rise industrial buildings that line the waterfront in the eastern district. The past two years have seen an influx of design and photography studios as well as a spattering of brave residents, seduced by high ceilings and loft-style living. Chancery Lane's large-scale installation by Vietnamese artist Dinh Q Lê pulled off the considerable feat of luring hundreds of Hong Kong's fickle art-viewing public away from their protective bubble of Central.
• GF, 10 Chancery Lane, Soho, Central, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Art Projects, 6F, Unit 604, Chai Wan Industrial City Phase 1, 60 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, +852 2810 0065, 10chancerylanegallery.com, free. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

Feast Projects

Process & Transformation by Chu Teh-Chun, at Feast Projects

Ap Lei Chau is a small, densely populated island to the south-west of Hong Kong Island, and its high-rise skyline of industrial buildings makes it an unusual place for a gallery. But Feast makes the most of it, with 5,500 sq ft of white walls, high ceilings and poured concrete floors generously spread over two levels of revamped industrial space. It was opened as a non-profit art space in 2011, with a show that filled the upper main gallery with the abstract oil paintings and calligraphy of world-renowned French-based artist Chu Teh-chun. Other artists of considerable standing have followed – Xie Lei, Marlène Mocquet andRashaad Newsome have all taken the opportunity to stretch their legs in Feast's bounteous space, a rarity in this hemmed-in city..
• Unit 307, 3F Harbour Industrial Centre, 10 Lee Hing Street, Ap Lei Chau, Aberdeen, +852 2553 9522, feastprojects.com, free. Open Tues-Sat noon-7pm

Gagosian

Andreas Gursky , at Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong

Of all the major international galleries that have been flooding into the city, the Gagosian caught on to Hong Kong's cash-rich market potential in 2010, opening a luxuriously large, light-filled space in the Pedder Building in Central shopping district. Since then, aside from much champagne-swilling and elbow-rubbing, there have been substantial solo offerings by blockbuster names such as Richard Prince, Roy Lichtenstein, Zheng Fanzhi and, recently, an Asia-influenced photographic show from Andreas Gursky. While Gagosian's programme has been a little hit and miss, a recent group sculpture exhibition showing the work of John Chamberlain and Cy Twombly hinted at a growing confidence and sophistication.
• 7F Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central, +852 2151 0555,gagosian.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 11am-7pm

Gallery EXIT

The Hartford Girl and Other Stories by Angela Su, at Gallery Exit

Gallery EXIT was established in 2008, aiming to present artwork that is not afraid to shock – an antidote to the predominantly safe art environment of Hong Kong. Four years later, it's still on message – a recent exhibition by local artist Angela Su consisted of video installations of the artist having 39 lines of text tattooed or "slashed" on to her back. Its centrally located, two-level shopfront building attracts a young, local and well-versed crowd, and the programme is a pretty good indicator of what is happening in East Asian art at ground level.
• 1 Shin Hing Street, Central, +852 2541 1299, galleryexit.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 11am-7pm

Hanart TZ

In the relatively young Hong Kong art world, Hanart TZ is positively geriatric. It is tirelessly led by director Johnson Chang, who has championed Chinese contemporary art in Hong Kong since the gallery opened in early 1980s. It recently moved from a modest, book-lined showroom to considerably bigger new digs in the Pedder Building in Central, pitting it against major blue chip international galleries such as Gagosian and Simon Lee. Hanart TZ holds a special place in the hearts of stalwart Hong Kong art lovers, having produced iconic exhibitions in the late 1980s celebrating the work of Ai Weiwei's infamous Stars group of experimental, political artists from China. 
• 407 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central, +852 2526 9019,hanart.com, free. Open Mon–Fri 10am-6.30pm, Sat 10am-6pm

Para/Site Art Space

A History of Possible Encounters: Ai Weiwei, Frog King Kwok, Tehching Hsieh and Martin Wong in New York, at Para/Site Art Space

For a long time, Para/Site Art Space was Hong Kong's only non-profit gallery of note. Since its formation in 1996, this small Sheung Wan exhibition space has showed some pretty weighty names. Ai Weiwei has been included in its annual programme more than once, working jointly with performance artist and architect Vito Acconci in 2009, and spearheading its current group exhibition (closes on 12 August) with Frog King Kwok, Tehching Hsieh and Martin Wong, which tracks the four artists' time working and living in New York during the 1980s. 
• GF 4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, +852 2517 4620, para-site.org.hk, free. Open Wed-Sun noon-7pm

Platform China

Hallelujah by Jia Aili, at Platform China

Platform China has been established in Beijing since 2005, and opened a multi-function art space in Hong Kong in May this year, bringing a reputation for Chinese contemporary art that encompasses visual art, music, architecture, performance, film and installations. It's a neighbour to 10 Chancery Art Projects in the fast-gentrifying industrial district of Chai Wan.
• Unit 601, Chaiwan Industrial City Phase 1, 60 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, +852 2523 8893, platformchina.org, free. Open Tues-Sat by appointment

Saamlung

The Untouchables, featuring work by Conor Backman, Kadar Brock, Hou Yong, Travess Smalley, Jo-ey Tang and Yan Xing, at Saamlung Photograph: Natasha Whiffin

Since it opened in November 2011, Saamlung has had one success after another, recently including the partially destroyed canvases of New York artist Kadar Brock. Painfully cool, Saamlung is the gallery equivalent of that secret bar that every city has, but few know how to get to – hidden among law firms and retail offices on the 26th floor of an otherwise obscure Hong Kong commercial building. Finding it is half the fun. 
• 26F Two Chinachem Plaza, 68 Connaught Road, Central, +852 5181 5156, saamlung.com, free. Open Tues-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat noon-6pm

White Cube

London Pictures by Gilbert & George, at White Cube, Hong Kong

White Cube is the art world giant that everyone loves to hate. Big and brash, it came bounding into the city in April 2012 with an original Gilbert & George London paintings series. The show was roundly bashed in the press, but its scale couldn't be ignored. The bright, high-ceilinged main exhibition room, flowing into offices and private viewing rooms, could house most of its centrally located rivals many times over. However, it remains to be seen if it has the guts – or interest – to use all that space to challenge and surprise the Hong Kong audience with more than just bankable big names.
• 50 Connaught Road, Central, +852 2592 2000, whitecube.com, free. Open Tues-Sat 11am-7pm