Converging digital and physical art, the ground-breaking exhibition features the world’s first NFT collection on cardboard.
Ever since Beeple’s digital artwork smashed a record-breaking sale at Christie’s, NFT (non-fungible token) has taken the world by storm. Artists from all walks of life have wasted no time in learning about and creating NFTs, while auction houses around the globe are auctioning more digital art than ever before.
In the Hong Kong art scene, the Spectacle Group is one of the pioneers launching NFT art. The gallery is presenting “Two Worlds” by Adam Neate in its Kowloon Tong exhibition space from now until 19 December. Featuring a selection of five NFT and cardboard works from Neate’s ground-breaking “Figures” collection juxtaposed against six of his signature portrait works on canvas, the exhibition marks the British street artist’s first-ever solo exhibition in the city.
Adam Neate - Portrait 1, 2021, acrylic, spray and oil on canvas, 50 x 50 cm
With “Figures”, Neate has created the world’s first NFTs to interact with a physical component: a painting. The painting takes an abstract form while the digital NFT is projected onto it to create a hybrid artwork. The result? A painting with dynamic motion and animation. By combining NFT with a physical painting, the exhibition breaks new ground as it blends the digital and physical worlds and redefines what constitutes “mixed media”. All NFTs are minted on the NOIZ chain.
“I like the concept of combining the fragility of the physical cardboard with the permanence of the digital medium, and wanted to treat the NFT as a completely new medium for art. What better way than to do so than mixing the new medium with a traditional form of painting?” says Neate.
Also on display is an early cardboard work Neate created in 2007. Titled “Disposable”, it is one of the very first pieces of cardboard works to be featured in a gallery and has since brought the artist’s iconic style into the limelight.
Commenting on the exhibition, Jaime Lau, director of The Spectacle Group and curator of the exhibition, says: “The name ‘Two Worlds’ comes from a strong theme running through Adam’s work around the idea of duality and fusing them to become more than the sum of its parts: old and new materials, virtual and physical mediums, static and motion.”
“Two Worlds” Exhibition by Adam Neate
Date: Now until 19 December, 2021
Opening Hours: 11:00 - 19:00 (Tue - Fri); By appointment only (Sat - Mon)
Venue: The Spectacle Group, 2/F, 2 Somerset Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Website: www.thespectaclegroup.net
Tel: (852) 9741 1774
