Art Basel Hong Kong

For its inaugural participation in Art Basel Hong Kong, Fitzpatrick Gallery is delighted to present Arthur Marie’s Convivial Activity. Quoting a series of paintings that Arthur Marie presented in New York earlier this year for his solo show at Queer Thoughts, these paintings depict invented profiles in insensitive light against a grey background. From this initial series, Arthur Marie expressed frustration with the concept of a portrait as a singular event. Instead, he sought to explore intention through multiple variations, treating them as industrial prototypes, standards of beauty, or even psychological representations.

The presentation consists of twenty-one portraits conceived as a unified work. They can be seen as portraits of family members displayed on a dresser or as mugshots, morgue photographs, or classic iPhone selfies. None of them represent a specific face from memory. Rather, they are a combination of various fragmented memories, similar to generating a composite sketch. The texture of each painting is meticulously worked to resemble the smooth and irregular surface of the skin, achieved through layering. The paintings record, classify, measure, exclude, and sort. There is an element of deception, of correction, that repeats itself with a purpose. The figures depicted are pale, frail, and carry a touch of melancholy.

The work explores the arbitrary nature of an individual finding themselves in a space that is not their own, realizing the subordination to a standardized structural violence. The repetition of these anonymous faces leads to their eventual erasure, symbolizing the loss of value, worthiness, and mortality.

In his personal notes, Arthur reflects on this periphery, contemplating what is reasonable, what subjects people, what converges, what corrupts, and what is demagogic. The portrait he envisions encompasses youth and old age, poverty and wealth, and a sense of disgust throughout. It captures a scene of latent, intrusive, and almost surgical repulsion, intertwined with fatigue, misery, sexual pessimism, a feeling of lack, and the absence of envy.

Art Basel Hong Kong, Fitzpatrick Gallery

Hong Kong
Convention & Exhibition Centre
1 Harbour Road
Wan Chai
Hong Kong, China

Vernissage
Wednesday, March 27, 4pm to 8pm

Public Days
Thursday, March 28, 2pm to 8pm
Friday, March 29, 2pm to 8pm
Saturday, March 30, 1pm to 7pm