Woaw Gallery Founder and Serial Entrepreneur Kevin Poon on Launching in Singapore

Kevin Poon is a active male. The Hong Kong–born serial entrepreneur is, between other matters, a DJ, vogue designer, retailer, coffeemaker, and gallerist. His Instagram, which has far more than 130,000 followers, characteristics almost everything from snaps with Pharrell Williams at Untitled Miami to late-night time DJ sets in Hong Kong.

Artsy observed Poon in whole gallerist manner when we caught up on Zoom this week, although he was gearing up for a fast paced 7 days forward in Singapore. His gallery, Woaw (which stands for “world of wonderful wonders”), is opening its fourth outpost, positioned in the island’s lively Chinatown community, and is also exhibiting at the inaugural Artwork SG fair, a banner event that is set to placement the metropolis-condition as a important worldwide art heart.

As we spoke, Poon’s enjoyment was palpable: “It just feels like individuals are genuinely eager to find out about artwork and they want to get concerned,” he stated, describing Singapore as a “hub” for its neighboring nations this sort of as Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Poon’s road into the industrial art world is an unconventional just one. Starting out as an intern at the history label Interscope in 2000, he immersed himself in the worlds of artwork, vogue, and music, even starting off his own audio competition, Blohk Party. He co-established the streetwear brand CLOT in 2003, and a 10 years later opened Woaw as a multifunctional house to property his various interests underneath one roof in Hong Kong’s buzzy Wan Chai district.

A prolonged-time collector of artwork (he is an admirer of Drew Englander, Greg Ito, Sayre Gomez, Jonas Wood, and KAWS, amid other individuals), Poon developed part of the place into a whole-fledged gallery. The debut demonstrate, in March 2019, was a nicely-gained solo exhibition of Japanese artist Koichi Sato. This was adopted by a solid slate of shows showcasing a selection of increasing worldwide artists together with Anna Weyant, Cristina Ban Ban, and Tide.

Considering that opening, the gallery has grown at an amazing rate regardless of tough occasions by honing its digital platforms and expanding its physical footprint: Woaw seized on a second house in Hong Kong’s Central district in 2021 although the pandemic was however afoot, and opened a 3rd in Beijing’s Blanc Art Room last calendar year.

Born in Hong Kong and educated in the United States, Poon’s taste as a gallerist reflects his worldwide upbringing. Woaw’s said concentration on “bridging the cultural trends involving Asia and the West” allows Poon to elevate and link a assortment of rising artists from across diasporas. The present present at its Beijing gallery, “Mixed Gene,” is curated by Chinese artist Kang Haoxian and is comprised of artists of Chinese ethnic origin, while the Wan Chai place is internet hosting the debut solo present of Brooklyn-primarily based artist Drew Englander.

“Anyone that pushes the boundaries and genuinely carries on to push the conversation is what I glance at,” Poon mentioned of his technique. The gallery now has five artists from a few continents in its stable: In addition to Haoxian and Englander, it represents American artists Charlie Roberts and James Goss and British artist Jon Burgerman.

Woaw’s Singapore department marks its most significant venue to day and its 1st foray into Southeast Asia. “I was just blessed more than enough to have some friends from Singapore that had been out in Hong Kong, and they just retained on encouraging me, indicating, ‘You definitely need to open up,’” Poon stated.

Artwork SG was the ideal hook to make the Singapore outpost a actuality. And the good news is, Poon and his workforce “organically” landed on a spot that they admired, an “iconic Singaporean” shophouse. These historic properties formed the bulk of Singapore’s pre–World War II metropolis centre and served as storefronts and dwellings. Poon and his group transformed a corner device into a dazzling 1,100-sq.-foot, blue-and-white area that sits involving the historic Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and the Thian Hock Keng Temple.

Its maiden display, “As Close friends & Partners,” curated by Poon, options what the gallery calls a “heady combine of emerging artists, all of whom are reflective of the dynamism and zeitgeist of contemporary art today.” It functions will work by 12 artists, which includes Aryo Toh Djojo, En Iwamura, Kang Haoxian, and Szabolcs Bozó.

Given Poon’s track document of small business pursuits on the reducing edge of lifestyle, the decision to make Singapore the spot of Woaw’s initial Southeast Asian outpost is unsurprising. The region has been on an upward trajectory in the worlds of finance, market, and creativeness for some years, a development bolstered by how very well it has navigated COVID-19. Singapore is rated as the most secure nation in the planet in phrases of political and operational steadiness by the Worldwide Innovation Index, and its complete economic output now exceeds pre-pandemic ranges.

Poon is not by itself in noticing this remarkable increase: Japanese pioneer Whitestone Gallery has set up shop in Singapore, and worldwide trendsetter Lehmann Maupin has appointed a Singapore-based director to oversee its actions in the area.

“There’s a great deal of affluent people today that are dwelling in this article,” Poon claimed of the city-point out. He’s observed more recent, younger collectors coming to Singapore. “People just want to have a excellent time, see interesting stuff, and I’m joyful to be here and be a smaller portion of it.”

The arrival of the a lot-expected Art SG, which will gather far more than 160 galleries at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre together the bayfront, is result in for further enthusiasm. Billed as the “largest at any time art fair” in Southeast Asia, it at last arrives right after quite a few postponements given that its start in 2018 and is the brainchild of the Artwork Assembly, which also organizes India Artwork Reasonable, Sydney Modern, and this summer’s inaugural Tokyo Gendai. It is a truthful that Woaw will relish. As perfectly as becoming a member of an esteemed roster of world wide and regional names from David Zwirner to de Sarthe Gallery, it will be present at an occasion that is drawing the attention of esteemed intercontinental art collectors.

“We’re genuinely joyful to be a component of it,” said Poon, who is pleasant with the fair’s founder, previous Artwork Basel founding director Magnus Renfrew. “We seriously have no expectations, just other than, you know, viewing all our buddies. Ideally, it’ll be nicely attended, and individuals get to dangle out.”