2021.12.01 - 2022.01.02

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2021 has been a fruitful year for Touch Gallery. Since the establishment of our new space, we have presented the creations of many well-known local and foreign artists. We are committed to promoting potential artists of the new generation, actively pioneering the new art trend, and striving to provide art lovers with new art experience. Our exhibitions have successfully received numerous warm support and attention from the public. On the occasion of our first anniversary, we sincerely invite the well-known local contemporary artist Simon Birch to kick off the new year with the latest exhibition "Kong" in the multimedia art collaboration project "The 14th Factory", to show the new perspective of local art.

The artist Simon Birch has lived in Hong Kong for more than two decades. His creation trajectory began with his iconic portraits in dynamic and dramatic brushstrokes. In recent years, he has challenged various digital art and large-scale installation art projects to explore the diverse expressions of art. In this exhibition, we would showcase the first NFT artwork from the mega show "The 14th Factory", while it is the most expensive NFT artwork in Hong Kong as well! The masterpiece encompasses the artist’s creation over the previous 24 years showing the evolution of his artworks. It would be a breakthrough in the local art industry and art market.

Simon also collaborates with famous local ceramic artists Sara Tse and Lau Yat Wai to create ceramic crowns that symbolizes the powerful and fragile nature of power. Meanwhile, another highlight of the exhibition is the oil paintings. A return to the root of the artist's creation - oil, a canvas, a brush to depict abstract portraits that combine reality and imagination, the figure seems to be still yet dynamic. Countless past moments have accumulated and intertwined into the present moment that is captured in the painting, the unknown future comes next; as Touch Gallery, based on  brilliant achievements in the past year, will continue to embrace the future with enthusiasm for art and bring new inspiration and stimulation into the art scene.

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More information about Simon Birch's NFT Art:  "My Story"

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Artist Statement:

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The idea is that it's a midpoint of my career from painting to the largest indie art project in the world. The 14th Factory is born in Hong Kong, but is the size of King Kong, and here I am caught in between a million meetings to try and realise that while stuck in HK like everyone else, going crazy, but grabbing this opportunity to get back to my roots, art creation, and create this tiny show, in a tiny gallery....the scale difference is important. Can a small show be just as relevant as the mega project ahead?

This may be a small show but it's by an artist who's on the edge of being a very big ape!