Schoeni Art Gallery Archive a a Welcome To
Milestone exhibitions of

Schoeni Art Gallery

1992 - 2013

The gallery held more than 180 exhibitions and published over 50 catalogues during its 20 year history.
More exhibition archives will be added periodically and it is expected to be completed by mid-2023.
Sign up to Schoeni Projects newsletters or follow @schoeniprojects to keep up to date.

November 1992
November 1992
1986-1992 Paintings by Liu Dahong

Schoeni Art Gallery’s first exhibition was Liu Dahong’s debut solo show, which was held in China Club, Hong Kong.

 

March 1993
March 1993
Inaugural Opening Exhibition

Schoeni Art Gallery’s inaugural exhibition in it’s first gallery space at On Hing Terrace, Hong Kong was a group show including 18 contemporary artists from China and Russia, such as Hong Ling, Liu Xiaodong, Wang Yi Dong, Leonid Purygin and Oleg Tselkov.

 

October 1993
October 1993
Europe 1875 – 1975, Selected Works by 21 European Masters

A collaboration with Connaught Brown Gallery in London, Schoeni Art Gallery presented Selected Works by 21 European Masters, such as Pierre Bonnard, Edgar Degas, Raoul Dufy, David Hockney, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso.

 

July 1994
July 1994
Faces Behind the Bamboo Curtains

Chinese artists Yang Shaobin and Yue Minjun, who have become iconic CCA avant garde of artists today, held their two-men show for the first time in Hong Kong with Schoeni Art Gallery.

 


July 1995
July 1995
The Urban Idealists – New Art from Sichuan

Besides artists from Beijing, Schoeni Art Gallery also provided an exhibition platform for CCA from other regions in China, such as the 6 Sichuan artists in the exhibition; Guo Jin, Guo Wei, He Sen, Xie Nanxing, Xin Haizhou and Zhang Bin.

 


October 1995
October 1995
Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting – from Realism to Post-Modernism

This group exhibition of 40 artists was held in collaboration with Galerie Théorèmes (Brussels, Belgium) and was a very important documentation and introduction to the different genres of CCA at the time. A milestone publication was also published that included essays written by important curators and critics.

 


January 1996
January 1996
Art Miami 1996

Besides exhibitions, Schoeni Art Gallery attended many international art fairs, introducing CCA and Russian artists to the West in the 1990s, such as this art fair in Miami, USA.

 


June 1996
June 1996
Hong Kong Book Fair

In total, Schoeni Art Gallery published between 1992 – 2013 over 80 publications. In the early years, the gallery took part in Book Fairs such as this one, presenting its then 15 publications as a means to promote and educate the public about its artists.


December 1996
December 1996
Opening the Door to the World of Li Guijun

Schoeni Art Gallery was a strong advocate for the Realism Artists of CCA, such as the artist Li Guijun. This exhibition was his first solo in Hong Kong. The gallery held three solo exhibitions for this artist and published three publications on each occasion.


February 1997
February 1997
5th Anniversary Exhibition: Selected Paintings By Twenty-Three Contemporary Artists

Celebrating the Gallery’s 5th Anniversary, this group exhibition demonstrating the breadth of the artists that that gallery represented and focused on both Chinese and Russian Artists.

June 1997
June 1997
8+8-1: Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Chinese Artists

This exhibition was a very important milestone for the gallery where (now) leading avant-garde Chinese artists were encouraged to present a body of work on small canvases that responded to the world order at the time. 725 small canvas works were commissioned in total.

January 1999
January 1999
Sense and Sensibility – Female Artists Group Exhibition

A supporter of women artists within a male dominated art world, Schoeni Art Gallery represented several women artists. This exhibition was a group show of 5 CCA artists. The women met at Beijing’s Central Academy where four of them, Li Hong, Cui Xiu Wen, Feng Jia Li and Yuan Yaomin, formed the artistic group, Siren Art Studio (SAS). The fifth artist Chen Xi was included in the exhibition because of her shared ideals.

 

January 2000
January 2000
3+6 Contemporary Russian Artists Re-discovered

The third exhibition held at Schoeni Art Gallery’s new gallery space on Old Bailey Street, Hong Kong, this exhibition revisited Russian Artists represented by the gallery, including world famous artists Viatcheslav Kalinin, Vladimir Kush, Oscar Rabin and Oleg Tselkov.

 


March 2002
March 2002
Inaugural Exhibition in Beijing – 10th Anniversary Celebration

Sponsored by Cartier, Schoeni Art Gallery opened the doors of its Beijing based gallery in conjunction with gallery’s 10th Anniversary, exhibiting 36 Contemporary Chinese artists of different genres. The gallery opened when there was only a handful of commercial platforms for Chinese artists to showcase their works and therefore helped develope the artistic environment at the time. The Beijing gallery was open from 2002-2004.


January 2004
January 2004
Red - Yellow - Blue

Liu Ye’s artworks with palettes of bright colours and influences from Vermeer and Mondrian have become iconic. Many of his highly sought after artworks were shown at his solo exhibitions held by Schoeni Art Gallery, not only in Hong Kong but also the previous year in Beijing (2003).


September 2004
September 2004
Through the Artist’s Eyes – A Tribute to Manfred Schoeni

With the unexpected and sudden passing of the late founder of Schoeni Art Gallery, his daughter who took the helm of the gallery organised an exhibition in tribute to the extraordinary life of Manfred Schoeni and in commemoration of his immense contributions to the CCA world. Over 40 CCA artists participated, with many of the artworks on display created especially for the exhibition.


January 2005
January 2005
An Eye For An Eye

Schoeni Art Gallery presents Chen Yu’s second one man exhibition in Hong Kong. Chen Yu is best known for his “Lining Up” series that explores the notion of individuality and the notion that the individual must take on some kind of identity as their reason for existence whilst being working parts of the social machine.

March 2006
March 2006
MiArt 2006

Schoeni Art Gallery attended the artfair in Milan, presenting 25 Artworks by 17 Chinese Contemporary Artists.

April 2006
April 2006
Beyond the Canvas Exhibition

A collaboration with international lifestyle brand, Shanghai Tang, Schoeni Art Gallery’s contribution to this project was a line of limited edition products entitled Beyond the Canvas that showcased specially commissioned artworks by 5 Chinese artists, Chen Yu, Chen Wen Bo, Feng Zheng Jie, Liu Ye and Yu Chen.

 

November 2007
November 2007
RE-collection A Retrospective Look at 15 years of Art and Vision

Since the inception of Schoeni Art Gallery, there had been tremendous growth and dynamism in the CCA market. “Re-collection,” was an exhibition that celebrated art and life, a recollection of past achievements, and a tribute to the collective progress that continued. 31 artists who worked with the gallery alongside its 10 exclusive artists at the time were invited to exhibit at the 15th anniversary exhibition.

 

November 2008
November 2008
Stunned Speechless

Organised by Schoeni Art Gallery, curated by its director Nicole Schoeni and supported by Lane Crawford Hong Kong, Zhang Linhai’s first museum show, at Today Art Museum, was the artist’s life-long endeavour in pursuit of his artistic ideals. It showcased works spanning over a decade of relentless feat, bringing together artworks from private collections worldwide with a body of previously unseen artworks.

 

April 2008
April 2008
Banksy - The World's Most Controversial Street and Stencil Artist

Schoeni Art Gallery exhibited in association with Fabrik Contemporary Art and the Helium Foundation (UK), its first urban art exhibition of an “unauthorised” exhibition of undoubtedly the world’s most famous street and stencil artist of our time – Banksy.

 

September 2008
September 2008
Niubi Newbie Kids - An Exploration to China's New 'Me' Generation

This exhibition featured a group of cool young emerging talents born in the 80’s, offspring of China’s one child policy. This group of kids had been coined as China’s ‘Me’ generation, a generation whose solipsistic tendencies have been further encouraged by heavy influence of the internet, comics, video games, the digital era and globalisation. (Niubi is a slang swear word used often amongst Beijing youngsters. There is no official translation into English, but it would be something along the lines of “F&%$ing cool.”)

 

November 2008
November 2008
Adapta Launch Exhibition - Attention Spam

The first of 3 satellite projects called Adapta, in collaboration with UKAdapta (London) this exhibition focused on what was then coined as ‘urban’ art, aimed to bridge the gap between the understanding of this global street art movement. Artists include Cyclops, David Bray, D*Face, Word to Mother and Vesna Parchet.

 

September 2010
September 2010
Bad Taste - Chen Fei Solo Exhibition

Schoeni Art Gallery debuted Chen Fei’s first Hong Kong solo exhibition. He is now amongst some of the most prominent emerging talents of China’s post 80’s generation. He has proved himself a multi-talent through his success and achievement since then. Chen Fei’s style is characterised by his tongue in cheek humour, at times bold representations and its “superflat” approach.

 

September 2011
September 2011
Phantom Metropolis

Phantom Metropolis, was Yang Yongliang’s debut solo in Hong Kong. It showcased a selection of his previous works and then never seen before artworks from a series entitled Peach Blossom Colony. Yang is a multi-talented multimedia artist who is most known for his creation of breathtaking and mysterious city-scape scenes that look like traditional “Mountain and River” paintings of the Song Dynasty, but on closer inspection the mountains are in fact made up of a myriad of metropolitan buildings.

 

April 2012
April 2012
Earthbound

Mongolian artist Munkhtsetseg Jalkhaajav, also known as Mugi, had her first solo show in Hong Kong with Schoeni Art Gallery in collaboration with Teo + Namfah Gallery. The exhibition featured her paintings, collages on sa paper and soft sculptures. In 2022, she was chosen to exhibit her solo show for the Mongolia Pavilion at Venice biennale.

 

May 2012
May 2012
Hong Kong inVISIBLE

Schoeni Art Gallery, recognising that Hong Kong artists were overshadowed by their mainland Chinese counterparts, invited Eric Leung, one of the most acclaimed Hong Kong art curators, to showcase the local art scene as a whole. He selected a representative group of artists who illustrated the culture and specificities of Hong Kong. Artists include Eunice Cheung Wai Man, Graphic Airlines, Hung Keung, Jaffa Lam Laam, Kevin Fung Lik Yan, Kum Chi Keung, Lam Tung Pang, Li Chi Tak, Man Fung Yi, Mok Wai Hong, Mok Yat, San, Sim Chan, South Ho Siu Nam, Tsang Chui Mei and William Tsang Chi Wai.

 

May 2012
May 2012
Art HK - Hong Kong International Art Fair

Schoeni Art Gallery participated in Art HK 2012 presenting artworks by emerging CCA Artists Chen Fei, Chen Li, Han Yajuan, Shen Hua, Yang Yongliang, Zhang Qiang and Zhou Jinhua; established artists Chen Wenling, Chen Yu, Liu Dahong, Liu Wei, Liu Xiaodong, Qi Zhilong, Yang Jinsong, Yang Shaobin, Yue Minjun and Zhang Linhai; as well as Mongolian Artist Munkhtsetseg Jalkhaajav and UK artist Adam Neate.

 

November 2012
November 2012
LATITUDE/ ATTITUDE

Schoeni Art Gallery’s 20th Anniversary Exhibition was curated by Huang Du and held across the gallery’s 3 venues. This exhibition comprised of works from the collection of Schoeni’s Late-Founder Manfred Schoeni, enriched by his daughter, Nicole Schoeni, and in conversation with works by artists selected by the curator. Ranging from painting, sculpture, photography, new media and installation, 50 of the most influential established and emerging contemporary Chinese artists were exhibited.

 

 

May 2013
May 2013
Art Basel Hong Kong 2013, Dao x Microcosmic Play and Appreciation by Hung Keung

Schoeni Art Gallery participated in the first edition of Art Basel Hong Kong. The work shown by Hong Kong New Media Artist Hung Keung was a conversation between two of his interactive projects, the Dao Gives Birth to One (2009-2012) and Microcosmic Play and Appreciation (2013). Hung Keung’s first retrospective exhibition, Transmigration: From Single to Multiple Screens, was also held at Schoeni Art Gallery in conjunction with the fair.

Schoeni Art Gallery

Milestones

1992 - 2013

Mr Schoeni built up a successful career with his adventurous spirit. We can grab an understanding of the history of contemporary Chinese art through his stories consist of various people and events - vivid, touching and full of human interest...Mr. Schoeni’s vision as well as his restaurant and gallery helped develop the artist environment, as Beijing lacked spaces for artists’ gatherings and places for showcasing their work. (2012)

Huang Du
Art Critic & Curator

I met Manfred Schoeni in 1992 on the occasion of his first-ever exhibition of Liu Dahong in Hong Kong. He was a true visionary ... A year later, Schoeni Art Gallery opened its doors to the public and over the next 20 years, it would become one of Hong Kong’s most successful and respected contemporary galleries. Since 2004, Nicole and her mother have taken up the torch and continued with this wonderful artistic adventure. (2012)

Sylvain Levy
Founder of dslcollection

Manfred was in art in more than one way; he was himself painting as he dealt in old Chinese furniture, and exploring contemporary Chinese painting through exhibitions. These were heady days for art promoters, artists would have on hand years of works, some may already be well known in Chinese exhibitions, but lacking the right channel to gain access to a wider public. Hong Kong eventually became the main channel for contemporary Chinese art to an international audience. Manfred said he loved going on studio visits, as he could revel in treasures like an explorer in virgin territory. (2007)

Johnson Chang
Director of Hanart TZ Gallery