Robert Zhao Might Be One Of The Best Singaporean Artists That You’ve Never Heard Of, Until Now

We caught up with the creative mastermind behind CHARLES & KEITH’s latest Artist In Residence project during Hong Kong Art Week.

CHARLES & KEITH Robert Zhao Hong Kong Fashion Walk Museum Of Everything Else Institute Of Critical Zoologists — Photo: Courtesy of CHARLES & KEITH

By Aaron Kok - published 1 Apr 2025

It’s a beautiful evening in Hong Kong, one that takes place on the deck of a rooftop bar framed by Hong Kong’s majestic peaks and ice cream skies. The city is buzzing with creative energy thanks to Hong Kong’s Art Week, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the many spectacles celebrating human and digital art. Curators, art collectors, fashion industry insiders and culture buffs all congregate at some new exhibition opening or a party to fete an up-and-coming star in the art world.

We are here with CHARLES & KEITH for a whirlwind tour. The main draw? The official unveiling of their next Artist In Residence project, for which they’ve partnered with Singaporean artist Robert Zhao to design a special retail experience at their Fashion Walk store.

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Titled Museum of Everything Else, visitors entering the shop will be greeted by a large-scale photo and video installation of Zhao’s photography. Dotted through the space are illustrations of now-native animals in Hong Kong, magnified as display decor or shrunk and repeated as wallpaper coverings. On the brand’s popular Toni hobo bag, the phrase “Wild Where You Are” is embroidered on its ribbon tie, finished with a hand-painted silhouette of an adorable porcupine. There are only 50 pieces of these limited-edition bags available at CHARLES & KEITH’s Fashion Walk boutique.

Zhao arrives at the same time as the cocktails. He’s just come from the store, where he was busy putting finishing touches to the space. Zhao has worked with CHARLES & KEITH previously, when he was selected to represent Singapore in the national pavilion at the 60th Venice Biannale in 2024. He’s also had his works shown in a myriad of local and international exhibitions including Japan, Italy and Singapore.

Zhao is also the mastermind behind the Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ), an art-imitates-life project where his fictional scientific-looking society aims to explore the symbiotic relationship with ecology and humankind. If his website looks a little official, it’s meant to. In fact, Zhao recounts a funny story where he had uploaded an art project that imagined a line of insects who have evolved to become invisible against leaves, and the series of what essentially were close-up photographs of leaves were mistakenly picked up by a science magazine, and confounded the scientific community until someone reached out to him to clarify.

We got some face time with Zhao in Hong Kong to learn more about his art, and his partnership with CHARLES & KEITH.

Tell us about the project with CHARLES & KEITH. How did it first come up?

The conversation was a long time in the making. We had a discussion and wanted to see how myself, an artist, and CHARLES & KEITH could come together to collaborate on their retail fronts. We decided that we could explore the cities that had dedicated art weeks, like Hong Kong or Tokyo art week. For me, it’s all about uncovering stories in each city.

Stories, such as?

Let me ask you: what do you think about when you think of Hong Kong?

Oh, dim sum, neon lights, skyscrapers, The Peak.

Exactly, there’s a kind of conversation between urban and nature here. So I learnt that when farmers decided to give up their trade, they released their livestock of buffalos into the wild. There are about a thousand buffalos roaming around, forming their own herds, and adapting to the concrete landscape around them. You’ll find them just crossing the road, or sitting on the beach.

If you head to Blacks Link Road, which is popular with joggers, you would be able to spot a series of animals after dark. Porcupines larger than a sofa seat, civet cats, and so on. But it’s not an “animal versus progress” story, in the way that it may sound antagonistic or grim. It’s a relationship that is more symbiotic, where both sides evolve. It’s actually a story that many Singaporeans can easily recognise too: a dialogue between building up urban spaces whilst preserving what nature we have.

Was it challenging adapting your photography art into a retail space?

Not at all. We both know that the space serves the function as a place for commerce. It’s not an art gallery, so the main question was, “How do I incorporate my work into a space that’s meant for shoppers?” and I had to start from that jumping-off point. CHARLES & KEITH made the whole process so easy: we had many discussions where I would present my work, and their team of experts would find ways to translate it through design and fabrication, so that when customers come in, they are brought on a narrative that doesn’t overshadow the product.

How important is it for a brand as global as CHARLES & KEITH to support the arts?

Oh, 100 percent important. I think they’ve taken a great step to kind of really wholly support the arts, and they’re always curious about the process in which artists go through to reach the finished work. They’ve been so supportive of me and my work, and they’ve been very open to anything I have in mind to propose. It becomes more integrated.

I think it’s also important for art to exist outside of galleries, because the myth is that art must come with discourse. But sometimes, it’s the instinctive experience that matters. It’s like food: no matter how good a dish or a painting may taste or look, if you don’t have a personal reaction from it that’s positive, no amount of intellectual conversation is going to change that. It’s allowing people from all walks of life to develop their own experiences with art.

You’ve been creating art for about 18 years now. Do you feel that there’s an evolution in the Singaporean art scene?

Yes, there’s definitely been changes. Singapore is constantly evolving. We’re a small country, and we may not necessarily have the critical mass that bigger cultural cities have, but we do evolve in our own way. I’m beginning to see a shift towards showing Southeast Asian art in Singapore, and I think that’s a great thing.