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Icons & Influencers

As Art Basel arrives, we explore the intersection of fashion and art, in conversation with Cheruby founder Cherry Xu, Gregory de la Hogue Moran of Anest Collective, and Meanswhile’s Naohiro Fujisaki

STORYGloria Tso
Cheruby founder and art collector Cherry Xu, contributing creative director of Anest Collective Gregory de la Hogue Moran, and Meanswhile founder and designer Naohiro Fujisaki are all exploring the intersection of fashion and art. Photo: Handout
Cheruby founder and art collector Cherry Xu, contributing creative director of Anest Collective Gregory de la Hogue Moran, and Meanswhile founder and designer Naohiro Fujisaki are all exploring the intersection of fashion and art. Photo: Handout
Art Basel

Alongside Art Basel Hong Kong, Xu and Cheruby will host an experimental art performance, Anest Collective has a residency at Soho House, and Fujisaki is showing his collection for The North Face

Since Art Basel first arrived in Hong Kong in 2013, the international fair has evolved to become one of the city’s premier events for arts and culture. As the centrepiece of Hong Kong Art Week every March and as an event that brings in hordes of buyers, editors, curators and more, it’s also become a major attraction for the global fashion crowd. Now, collaborations between the worlds of art and fashion are the rule rather than the exception when it comes to luxury brand activations.

Here are three talented tastemakers with exciting art and fashion tie-ins you need to know about for Art Week this year.

Cherry Xu, art collector and founder of Cheruby

Collector and entrepreneur Cherry Xu. Photo: Handout
Collector and entrepreneur Cherry Xu. Photo: Handout
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Shanghai-based art collector Cherry Xu represents a new generation of influential entrepreneurs – who are changing the way the art industry operates – as the founder of non-profit organisation Cheruby, which aims to bridge the worlds of fine art and high fashion.

“The name references the Pokemon,” Xu said in a recent interview ahead of hosting an experimental art performance with Cheruby, held in conjunction with local gallery Current Plans, to usher in Art Basel Hong Kong. The young entrepreneur says she started painting as a child and studied fine arts in college in the United States before moving back to Shanghai, reconnecting with old friends – some of whom are collectors themselves – and striking out on her own. She established Shanghai’s Gallery Func back in 2021. Her first purchase for the gallery was a 2020 painting, “Old Street June 1”, by Julian Opie, best known for his association with the New British Sculpture Movement.
Cherry Xu with gallery artwork. Photo: Handout
Cherry Xu with gallery artwork. Photo: Handout
“In Shanghai, the fashion audience is more active than the art people,” Xu said of the inspiration behind her latest initiative. She’s as much a design devotee as she is an art enthusiast, keen to support up-and-coming designers just as she does emerging artists. The opening of Cheruby’s physical residency space in Shanghai, now delayed until November, will act as a pop-up for designers and a gallery space for art exhibitions once Xu irons out the details of her new venture. “For artists, I’m quite knowledgeable about how to run a residency, how to find a curator, but for designers, I’m still talking with Delfina [Foundation, a London-based, arts non-profit body] on how to support them.”

But this is far from the first time that Xu has tapped the power of fashion to elevate fine arts beyond the confines of traditional gallery spaces, exhibitions and art institutions. Being based in the East and having studied in the West, the collector works seamlessly to bridge the gap between the two cultures through her multidisciplinary approach, as evidenced by a recent show Xu hosted in Shanghai to introduce the work of Los Angeles-based artist Andrew J. Greene to Chinese audiences.

A piece by Los Angeles-based artist Andrew J. Greene. Photo: Handout
A piece by Los Angeles-based artist Andrew J. Greene. Photo: Handout

“He’s had some collaborations with fashion brands before,” says Xu when asked why she approached Greene in the first place. “He designed the stores for Balenciaga in Milan and the interesting part for me is he’s trying to talk about the people who want to buy something, the trends people always like to follow.”