‘New Territories’ galeriedumonde, Hong Kong ends 15 Nov This mixed media painting is part of an ongoing series works. In 1634, during the Dutch Golden Age, an unprecedented financial phenomenon began in the form of skyrocketing prices for rare and fashionable tulip bulbs. By 1637, the speculative bubble collapsed. “Tulip mania” is a term still used today to caution when the prices of assets such as stocks, mortgages or technology rise exponentially from their intrinsic or general market values and present a threat to economic stability. Dutch still-life paintings provide a prism through which to explore histories written by victors and socio-economic systems. The Dutch Golden Age is considered to be the birth of modern capitalism accrued as a result of militarised trade routes, slavery and colonisation. With China’s new power on the global stage the painting is in part about the rise and fall of civilisations, as well as the existential romantic language of still-life painting: futil...