Following the success of last year's group show at the Hong Kong International Art Fair, London dealer Rossi & Rossi will focus on the work of just two artists at this year's ART HK 09 which will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wanchai, from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 May. Visitors to their stand will see ten stunning photographs by the leading Hong Kong art photographer Caroline Chiu and some six works by the Tibetan artist Nortse.

Caroline Chiu was born in 1967. Raised in Hong Kong, she studied in the USA at Tufts University and New York University as well as photography workshops at Rockport College in Maine. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, Hong Kong and America. Since 2001, she has been working on a long-term project called The Chinese Wunderkammer which recreates the European precursor of the museum, the 'wonder rooms' full of natural and man-made curiosities from around the world. The photographs to be shown in Hong Kong are of exceptional Himalayan sculpture from the Nyingjei Lam Collection, to which she was privileged to have access. Nyingjei Lam in the Tibetan language means 'The Path of Compassion' and the collection includes rare and important Indian and Nepalese bronze sculptures of the 7^th to the 12^th centuries as well as many remarkable images from Tibet dating from the 10^th to the 17^th centuries.

Caroline Chiu uses an old-fashioned Polaroid camera weighing about 500 lbs with a negative size of 20 x 24 in, one of only three such cameras in existence. This allows her to photograph the images at extreme magnification so that the results are as close to visual perfection as possible. The small objects are blown up to sometimes 100 times their actual size revealing details that would not normally be visible to the naked eye, so taking on an almost abstract quality. This process produces only one image per shot - the purposeful slowing down and ceremony in the recording of the actual moment of the image-making is a reaction to today's digital world of retouching, re-editing and mass media. Chiu believes that this process results in an image that is as truly unique as a painting. She explains: "I am not seeking an 'objective' view of the exceptional items I photograph, but to reveal their mystery and dark beauty." To this end she uses a chocolate film (no longer produced by Polaroid) which gives the images a dense richness and intense dark brown colouring.

Nortse (Norbu Tsering) was born in Lhasa in 1963 and from 1980 to 1991 studied art at various schools including Tibet University in Lhasa, the Central Arts Academy in Beijing and the art academies in Guangzhou and Tianjing. His recent one-man exhibition at Rossi & Rossi's gallery in London was a great success with all works sold within days of the opening. His early artistic expression as a stage designer coupled with his academic training can be seen in his striking mixed media works - he is one of the few Tibetan artists venturing into multi-media. Included in his oeuvre are profound photographic statements as well as portraits in oil on canvas. His work

deals with issues which have a universal relevance: global warming, environmental degradation, overpopulation, alcoholism among the young and the desire to form one's own identity in a world of mass media and the erosion of culture and tradition. Nortse has written "I gradually came to understand that the power of art to influence people was a matter of culture, not formal language. … I realised that the future of Tibetan art depended entirely upon whether Tibet could maintain its own unique culture. From that point on, in my work I began to focus on the influence of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) on Tibetan culture and the striking economic changes taking place in Tibet." His work has been exhibited in Beijing, Colorado, Königswinter, London, Lhasa, New York and Santa Fe and is held in significant private collections in Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Switzerland and the USA.

Rossi & Rossi was founded in London in 1985 by Anna Maria Rossi who has been active in the field of Asian art for over 30 years. In 1988 she was joined by her son Fabio who started travelling to Asia with his parents at an early age and moved to London in 1983 to attend the School of Oriental and African Studies. Together, Anna Maria and Fabio have established a reputation as leading dealers in traditional Indian and Himalayan art as well as contemporary Asian art. Among their clients are such institutions as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Tokyo National Museum as well as the Gallery of New South Wales and the White Rabbit Collection, Australia, and the Devi Foundation, India.