The new displays demonstrate both the international breadth and exceptional quality of work in the Collection and are structured into three key thematic groups: Abstraction, Pop Art and International Photography. The artworks featured include some of the greatest masterpieces in the Collection to significant new acquisitions and cover a range of media, including painting, drawing, collage, photography and print. Recent acquisitions from Asia-Pacific include new Pop Art from Thukral and Tagra, photography from Chinese star Xu Zhen and an abstract work by South Korea's Lee Ufan.
Chi-Won Yoon, President Asia Pacific, UBS Group said: "UBS's support of contemporary art is an important part of our heritage and has remained in our DNA as our company and the UBS Art Collection have grown over the years. The Collection contributes to a rewarding experience for clients, employees and the public, and is a way for us to give back to the communities in which we do business. As UBS’s business grows in Asia so too does the Collection."
The works installed in the reception on the 52nd floor reflect the global footprint of Abstraction. One of the largest-ever works by one of Latin America's greatest contemporary artists, Carlos Cruz-Diez, made for UBS in 1975, sits in conversation with one of the newest large-scale paintings in the Collection, by new-generation Chinese master, Liu Wei.
The Pop Art displays are anchored by heavyweight modern and contemporary artists including: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Patrick Caulfield, the Luo Brothers and Ed Ruscha. These displays feature iconic works such as Andy Warhol's Soup Cans and Roy Lichtenstein's Crying Girl, and one of the first American Pop Art works ever made in China by Robert Rauschenberg. The displays demonstrate the global influence of Pop Art, a subject explored in the exhibition, The World Goes Pop, opening at Tate Modern in London later this week.
The International Photography displays illustrate the strength of this growing medium within the Collection. The displays feature work by Andreas Gursky from the early 90s, through to key taste makers Massimo Vitali, Yang Fudong, and Isaac Julien, new experimenters from Asia Pacific, the Raqs Media Collective, and one of the USA's newest stars in this area, Sarah VanDerBeek, whose first major career milestone was the acquisition of the work, Medusa, by UBS in 2007.
Stephen McCoubrey, co-curator of the UBS Art Collection said: "It is wonderful to finally have a group of works in Hong Kong that really shows the strengths of the UBS Art Collection, with some of the works that really define it as the best contemporary collection in the banking sector."
Artworks from the Collection have been shown in public exhibitions in Asia and around the world, including at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan last year.
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Notes to editors:
About UBS
UBS is committed to providing private, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland, with superior financial advice and solutions, while generating attractive and sustainable returns for shareholders. Its strategy centers on its Wealth Management and Wealth Management Americas businesses and its leading universal bank in Switzerland, complemented by its Global Asset Management business and its Investment Bank. These businesses share three key characteristics: they benefit from a strong competitive position in their targeted markets, are capital-efficient, and offer a superior structural growth and profitability outlook. UBS's strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and regions in which it operates. Capital strength is the foundation of its success. UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in more than 50 countries, with about 35% of its employees working in the Americas, 36% in Switzerland, 17% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 12% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group employs about 60,000 people around the world. UBS Group AG shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
UBS and Contemporary Art
UBS has a long and substantial record of engagement in contemporary art, and actively enables clients and audiences to participate in the international conversation about art through its contemporary art platform. UBS provides long-term global support to the premier international Art Basel shows in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong, for which the firm serves as global Lead Partner, as well as to the Guggenheim UBS MAP global partnership with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation. At the core of UBS’s involvement in contemporary art is the UBS Art Collection, widely recognized as one of the most important corporate contemporary art collections in the world. The collection comprises more than 30,000 objects including paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, video art and sculptures by artists representing the last 50 years. Works from the collection are installed in 837 UBS buildings in 56 countries around the world. UBS also regularly loans works to many international museums to provide greater public access to its collection.
Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan, Italy and UBS present Don’t Shoot the Painter: Paintings from the UBS Art Collection until 4 October 2015
Lucian Freud, A closer Look. Works from the UBS Art Collection at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark until 29 November 2015.
Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative: Under the Same Sun, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, 19 November 2015 - 7th of February 2016
Art Basel Miami Beach, 3 – 6 December 2015
