As Art Basel in Hong Kong draws near, a series of eye-catching posters has popped up at the airport and across the city. Each features one of three bold declarations – ‘Art is transcendence’, ‘Art is vision’, or ‘Art is boundless’– highlighting the endless ways art resonates with its audience.

Forming the core of Art Basel Hong Kong’s advertising campaign, these statements are paired with images of works by Luis Chan, Kimsooja, and Miao Ying, three important artists spanning different generations, styles, and cultural perspectives. From Chan’s fusion of Western influences with traditional Chinese ink painting to Kimsooja’s poetic narratives of memory and migration and Miao’s playful provocations in digital worlds, each artist reminds us that creativity takes on a multitude of meanings.

Here’s a closer look at their works and the stories they tell.

Luis Chan: Art is Transcendence

Luis Chan left an indelible mark on Hong Kong’s art history. As a young man in the 1920s, he took an early interest in traditional Western-style landscapes, earning the nickname ‘The King of Watercolors’ for his mastery of the medium. But Chan wasn’t one to rest on his laurels. Eager to expand his horizons, he sought out foreign art journals and translated articles about the latest trends into Cantonese. The new influences found their way into his work and by the 1950s, Chan had synthesized international styles - including Western Surrealism and Chinese ink painting – into a visual language all his own. Soon, his canvases were bursting with dreamlike colors and fantastical figures.

As Hong Kong transformed over the decades, so did Chan’s art. In the 1960s – an era marked by rapid economic expansion, political unrest, and the advent of free-to-air television – he began to incorporate humor and satire into his paintings, offering a kaleidoscopic reflection of modern life. At the same time, Chan expanded his influence beyond the easel, forming artist groups, publishing books, and organizing exhibitions across the city. Made in 1983, after Chan had been painting for half a century, Untitled (The Conference) epitomizes the whimsical, theatrical style for which the artist is celebrated today.

Kimsooja: Art is Vision

In 1993, Kimsooja had a career-defining breakthrough in New York City. Fresh from a residency at MoMA PS1, the young South Korean artist began wrapping everyday objects in colorful cloth. The sculptures resembled bottari – traditional Korean bundles used to carry essential possessions, often in times of transition or displacement. To the artist, who was thousands of miles from home, the bottari symbolized memory, migration, and the often unseen labor of women. While her practice expanded to include video, performance, and installation, these key themes have endured in her work. Bottari, too, have remained a central motif and were the focus of her solo presentation in the South Korean pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.

Kimsooja’s interest in migration is a natural extension of her own nomadic beginnings. Born in Daegu, South Korea, in 1957, she moved frequently as a child due to her father’s military career. In 1997, she revisited some of the places from her childhood in her performance Cities on the Move – 2727km Bottari Truck (Artist Facing Mountain). For the work, the artist loaded up a truck with the bundles and, over eleven days and 2,727 kilometers, retraced her journey through the towns and villages she had once called home. Video documentation shows Kimsooja seated atop the bottari, facing away from the viewer as the truck moves forward. As the landscape shifts around her, the artist remains resolutely still.

Miao Ying: Art is Boundless

Like many wary netizens lately, Miao Ying has been wondering how technology is influencing our perception of reality. Miao’s multimedia work delves into hyperconnectivity, censorship, and the shifting boundaries between capitalist propaganda and real life. Despite the seriousness of these subjects, the Shanghai-born, New York-based artist often takes a tongue-in-cheek approach. In her 2018 project, Hardcore Digital Detox, for example, the artist encouraged users to take a break from online distractions by using a VPN to browse the web from China, where distracting websites like Facebook and Google are blocked by the national firewall.

Miao’s 2023 work Technomancy at Polarized Rift is an enchanting, shifting, AI-generated environment. The work draws on ‘technomancy’ – a fantasy concept at the mystical intersection of technology and magic. Think computers casting curses or hackers using hexes. Originally presented as a live simulation, the work was created from premade digital assets like landscapes, environmental effects, and textures, commonly found in video games. In constant motion, the simulation assembles and dissolves to form an unpredictable, mesmerizing terrain. The video is accompanied by the voice of a British narrator reading AI-generated technomancy poems and spells. By merging fantasy and tech, Miao underscores the faith we place in algorithms, data, and machine intelligence – forces that shape our world in ways we often fail to fully comprehend.