Contemporary Discoveries | Down the Rabbit Hole22 February–1 March 2023 • 11:00 AM HKT • Hong Kong
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otheby’s Hong Kong is thrilled to announce its first edition of Contemporary Discoveries for 2023, Down the Rabbit Hole!At the onset of the Year of the Rabbit, the auction is a warren of possibilities, presenting a fantastical selection of artworks ranging from paintings to sculptures that act as passageways for collectors, new and seasoned alike, to explore and expand on new horizons in the realm of art collection.
The curated auction unlocks the many ways art can offer a form of escapism from the mundane realities of everyday life, opening up alternative worlds for the elsewhere and the otherwise. Featuring a diverse array of works by sought-after contemporary artists, including Ayako Rokkaku, Chun Kwang-Young, Genieve Figgis, Jordi Ribes, MR., and Tania Marmolejo, the exciting line-up invites you on a journey into realms of fairy-tale whimsy and surreal dreamlands.
The harbinger of new and exciting adventures, follow the white rabbit and escape into worlds of nostalgic imaginings and reinventions of everyday life. In this sale, let curiosity guide the way through our cast of equally sweet and menacing characters into new realms of the imagination. Curiously, the white rabbit is known as an illusive trickster in various folkloric traditions across the world, adapting to unfamiliar environments and situations. For more than a decade, Atsushi Kaga has been painting ‘self-portrait’ images of his alter ego, Usacchi, the instantly recognisable white rabbit with exaggerated large ears, as a totem of the artist’s remarkable imagination. Regarded as one of Japan’s leading second-generation contemporary artists, Mayuka Yamamoto’s cast of child-like characters similarly appeal to a sense of nostalgia and escapism.
“even though I am no longer a child, when I asked myself why I draw these pictures, I still feel the nostalgia of my childhood as an adult and it is still in my heart.”
Mayuka Yamamoto, quoted in Katy Cowan, “Animal Crossing: Oil paintings by Mayuka Yamamoto of enigmatic children dressed as animals”, Creative Boom, 23 September 2020
山本麻由香，摘自凱蒂・考恩（Katy Cowan）撰，〈動物森友會：山本麻由香繪畫裝扮成動物的神祕小孩的油畫〉（Animal Crossing: Oil paintings by Mayuka Yamamoto of enigmatic children dressed as animals），《Creative Boom》，2020年9月23日
Alice, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 2, The Pool of Tears
The Rabbit Hole is the mysterious, tumbling gateway to Wonderland in which a warren of possibilities exist at every turn. Mysterious and captivating, the Rabbit Hole promises to lead the way to alternative realities and experiences that exist alongside the vestiges of everyday life, providing an opportunity to explore different dimensions within the world and within our own imagination. Originally from the mountainous Okayama Prefecture, Yuichi Hirako’s dynamic compositions draw the viewer deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, drawing upon traditional Shinto legends to imbue nature with an enduring, mythical life force. This is the energy that persists throughout Down the Rabbit Hole.
Travelling through the glass of a mirror into the fantastical world beyond, Alice enters an alternative reality in which, like a reflection, everything is fractured and reversed. The rules that dictate our normal lives are flipped, much like the world that lives within a composition, opening up new possibilities and ways of seeing.
Populated with andromorphic animals, talking flowers and meadows filled with strange and impossible creatures, Wonderland is an uncanny realm conjured by the surreal and hallucinogenic aspect of the unconscious. The fantasy of Alice in Wonderland lies in the possibility that an alternative world exists in tandem with ours, a space in which to escape where everything is magical, and anything is possible. This desire to escape, to travel to new and unexplored places beyond the mundane, are satisfied by the transformative landscapes of Wonderland. Depicted in riotous colour with carefree abandon, this is a dreamland for the digital age, where trees can grow blue and rivers can run yellow.
“Looking at the feeling of Escapism, and the longing to travel somewhere”
Ania Hobson, “Ania Hobson on Real Life Escapism”, Radio Juxtapoz, Episode 65, February 10, 2021
When Alice drinks the magical potion and balloons to fantastically large proportions, only to be shrunk down again, the world of Wonderland, in which mysterious bottles can give you instructions and cakes can tell you what to do, is fraught with perils and confusions. Her disproportioned body and questioning eyes recall a childlike innocence akin to the big heads, round face and large eyes of the protagonists of Japanese kawaii. Yet, the hilarity of Alice’s predicament is juxtaposed with darker undercurrents of helplessness. In the process of maturing, one can often feel stuck between childhood and adulthood, flitting between the two just as Alice crashes between sizes. This anxiety is embodied by the big heads of the kawaii characters, themselves gesturing toward a desire to recover a youthful innocence and emotional state that has been lost.
“I always say that I like to find a magic moment…So, with art, I like this moment when the people arrive, see something and say, "Wow."”
Javier Calleja, quoted in Sasha Bogojev, “Javier Calleja: Finding That Magic Moment”, Juxtapoz, 2019
The creatures that live in Wonderland typically appear not as they do in the real world, but fantastical versions of what we see everyday. Anthropomorphism is common is children’s literature, where human attributes are ascribed on to animals who can walk, talk and wear clothes like their human counterparts. These misshapen and surreal creatures inspire an instinct of protection, yet they are often forces for mischief and mayhem, using their magically-acquired language to misdirect and confuse those on their fairy-tale journey.
“Drawing is simply a fantasy…I create by playing in the freedom of my imagination.”
Hajime Sorayama, quoted in Emma Robertson, Hajime Sorayama: “Creating is My Freedom”, The Talks, 18 January 2023
When the disorientated Alice is directed towards the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party by a grinning Cheshire Cat, chaos is bound to ensue. Sitting at the table at tea time, there are no rules, and all those present exist without social constraints; here, time has turned upside down, left is right and time is fractured. The rules that we bring to our interactions with other people and to our own behaviour cease to have any meaning, thus we are able to look at things without expectations. It is with this new perspective that Wonderland allows us to approach the mad and maddening uncertainties within a composition, allowing new realities to emerge.
“We’re all mad here.”
The Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 6, Pig and Pepper
Though the tea party challenges Alice’s understanding of the fundamental concept of time, the Mad Hatter’s endless and answerless string of riddles and word games reaffirms Wonderland’s unusual sense of order. Much like the other strange and curious creatures that occupy this surreal landscape, the Hatter’s riddles seem to have no answer and exists only to create confusion and mischief. These language games draw attention to the often arbitrary principles which govern our own everyday lives, with language being it’s own kind of rabbit warren into a world of creative possibilities.
“I believe in questioning everything and that includes in believing in other sorts of realities so that could work for me.”
Joan Cornellà, quoted in Marc Wong, “Joan Cornellà Will Philosophically Rip Your World a New One”, Hypebeast, December 14 2020.
Emerging from Wonderland as if from a dreamy nostalgia, Alice’s journey Down the Rabbit Hole has offered a strange and mysterious journey into the imagination. Whether it is through a reimaging of youthful daydreams or the creation of kaleidoscopic alternative landscapes, the creative force of fantasy can be felt throughout the works from this edition of Contemporary Discoveries.
