TGIF is pleased to present “Sometimes People Watching”, a pop- up exhibition showcasing most recent works on paper by Merijn Kavelaars from his renowned series SOMS (English: sometimes). The Dutch painter employs vigorously spontaneous, rebellious style of painting inspired by the CoBrA Art Movement, and takes aspect of the everyday experience and how we interact with the environment and transforms them into art making. The pop-up initiative is open exclusively at TGIF this summer, from June 22 through August, 2023.

The new exhibition of Kavelaars’ portrait works on paper showcases the artist’s spectacular skills with enamel paint, acrylic and spray paint. With slashing lines, leisurely sprays and smears of greens pressed into the grain of the page, the artist neatly arranges the dashing cast of characters into his oblique riffs on the observable world. Singling out various identities with a sense of cultivated lightness, the artist investigated people’s internal psychological processes of encounter and loss. The body of work has confronted one of the fundamental issues of existence: the built-in paradox in our personalities. The SOMS series, of which the techniques were developed by the artist through his older paintings dating back to 2012, was first debuted inthe Netherlands in 2020, and has been continuously developed over the past three years and showcased in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Taipei. Titled Mid-Mid (Doodle), a limited-edition print work by the artist is also on view. The program aims to blend the unique contemporary art experience with the city’s popular coffee house culture, and highlights those fleeting moments—perhaps you have spent them here at TGIF—of every day which can confer connection and expectations.

Venue address: Shop 4-6, G/F, Wo Fat Building, 539 Queen's Road West