There’s more to art than the sombre, white walls of a gallery or a museum – plenty of artists got their start on the street, or in the realms of fashion, photography and design. It’s one of the reasons that art, fashion and film photographer Wing Shya and finance professional turned event organiser Yvette Tang, the founders of multidisciplinary arts and culture platform Forward Assembly, decided to devote their inaugural event to artists whose works defy typical categorisation.

“What we try to promote is what people organically like, from graffiti to fine art supported by big galleries,” says Yvette. “I don’t think there should be any boundaries these days. A lot of the time, graphic or product design is not considered art., but how could it not be?”

Butterfly Nostrils by Guan Feng-dong and Plants of God by Prodip Leung

The entrance of the exhibition, featuring works by Prodip Leung

Skull by Core

Toile and Udon by James Jean

An Arch Jaga, Now Void of Form and The Red Rope and God's Toenail by Tessar Lo

Carrion Woke, a piece of performance art by Justin Shoulder

Yvette and Wing partnered up with curator Robin Peckham to work on the exhibition, titled SFW, which showcases more than 20 artists from all over the world, including local names such as painter Simon Birch, multimedia artist Laurent Segretier, illustrator and sculptor Prodip Leung and, of course, Wing himself. International artists from Chinese photographer Ren Hang to Japanese sculptor Core are also showing their works. Forward Assembly hopes to do two to three events per year; its next endeavour is a solo retrospective of Wing Shya’s works, taking place early next year to correspond with a book launch.

SFW opened last Friday and will be running until August 6 at Shops 8 & 9, G/F, Kwan Yick Building Phase III, 158A Connaught Rd West, Sai Ying Pun. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 8pm.

By: Leanne Mirandilla