For its Spring 2015 auctions in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s will be offering more than 250 lots of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art worth in excess of HK$90 million / US$11.5 million, its largest ever trove of Southeast Asian works.Amongst the highlights will be Hendra Gunawan’s 1971 Pandawa Dadu (The Dice Game from the Mahabharata Epic), one of only two large-format works on this subject by the artist to be offered in the market and muralist Carlos Villaluz Francisco’s Muslim Betrothal, showing in rich and colorful detail a young couple accepting blessings from an imam at an engagement ceremony practiced by the Tausug tribe in the Philippines.The sale will also include 38 pieces from the collection of the late Professor Arthur Lim, a well-known eye surgeon and patron of the arts, including works by Affandi, Srihadi Sudarsono, Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng as well as Adrian-Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres’ Dancers, a beautiful oil on canvas with the artist’s most beloved motifs: nature and dancer (est: $520,000‑775,000).Spreading themselves over two sales — Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Evening Sale (4 April) and Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art Day Sale (5 April) — the works include an early portrait by Cheong Soo Pieng (est: US$181,000‑284,000), a cubism-inspired mother-and-child piece by Chen Wen Hsi, and a rare self-portrait by Georgette Chen that may be the only one by the artist in a private collection (est. $64,500‑90,500).In the contemporary section, HALO, currently the largest work to have been painted by Ronald Ventura, will likely draw fierce bidding by collectors (est: US$ 117,000‑194,000). The work incorporates the Filipino artist’s pop culture imagery, depicting a young girl cradling her face in her hands amidst fantastical images of balloons, a Ferris wheel and splashes of neon color.Sotheby’s will also put the spotlight on Southeast Asian abstract work, with a selected group of artist featured in Expressions: Abstract Art from Southeast Asia in the 5 April sale. These include artworks by modern artist like Fernando Zobel and Cheong Soo Pieng as well as contemporary artists like Ay Tjoe Christine and Jane Lee.
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