10 Chancery Lane, one of the pioneering Hong Kong art galleries, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a group show entitled Love in the Dream, featuring forty-four artists linked to the gallery, including Huang Rui, Ma Desheng, and Wang Keping from the contemporary Chinese avant-garde movement The Stars, as well as iconic Frog King, to name a few.

In the past two decades, the gallery has been particularly focusing on emerging and historically important art movements across Asia-Pacific, supporting the development of artists and high-quality art in the region through diverse exhibitions, talks, forums and publishing projects.

Founded by American Katie de Tilly, when art landscape was tiny and art galleries rare in Hong Kong, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery opened its doors in 2001 with an inaugural exhibition of Beijing-born and Paris-based wood sculptor Wang Keping, founder of the first avant-garde contemporary art movement in China in 1970s and 1980s, The Stars (Xing Xing星星).

Untitled 2, Wang Keping, 2006

Katie de Tilly said that Wang Keping was one of their “most loved and sought-after artists” and that he and other founders of The Stars movement had a significant impact on the growth of the gallery, which also sponsored their book The Stars 1979-1980 as an effort to help publishing key materials for researchers and art archivists.

Over the years, the gallery blossomed, in parallel to the development of contemporary art in China and the region, gaining more international attention. In twenty years, they have organised more than two hundred exhibitions and participated to art fairs in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Gwanju, Taipei, Singapore, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Miami, London, Madrid, Paris, Brussels, Sydney and Melbourne.

Frog King

Always advocating for talented home-grown artists, it is no wonder that, in the past decade, Katie de Tilly and her gallery have been working closely with the legendary Hong Kong conceptual artist Kwok Mang-Ho (aka Frog King) and have been curating numerous exhibitions with him. Katie would wish for every Hongkonger to own a Frog King: “his small works are little gems. He paints an array of imagery that mixes graffiti and ink art into one. His ability to express himself takes turns in all directions”.

10 Chancery Lane has nurtured and highlighted many more major regional artists, such as Hong Kong-born Australian artist John Young Zerunge, Chinese photographer Shi Guorui, or Vietnamese multimedia artist Dinh Q. Lê, among others.

Khmer Reamker #12, Dinh Q. Lê, 2021

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, 10 Chancery Lane has curated a memorable exhibition, Love in the Dream, specially constructing the gallery space with a new layout of walls, to offer the visitors a journey through the different artists and ambiances.

Featuring forty-four artists of all generations and from all over the world, the exhibition presents a story telling of art and its evolution during two decades in Hong Kong, China, Southeast Asia and beyond. It is truly a love story reflecting twenty years of passion and connection through art. As Katie de Tilly said: “Art is made by one soul and a gallery is there to create the dreams come true for the artist to connect their work with other souls”.

The exhibition Love in the Dream is on view until 22 January 2022. For more details about the exhibition and the full  list of artists, click here: The Love in the Dream