Homa – Hotel of Modern Art

Mr & Mrs Smith have just got back from an anonymous review trip to this boutique hotel near Yangshuo, and just as soon as they’ve unpacked their newly acquired canvases, a full account of their stay in China will be with you. In the meantime, just to whet your wanderlust, here’s a quick taster of the decidedly off-the-wall Homa…

Tsao Rhy-Chang has his tongue firmly in cheek when he decided to name his project ‘Yuzi Leyuan’, which translates rather off-puttingly as ‘fool’s playground’. None of his peers felt that pouring his money into a 1,000-odd acres of sculpture park, (with its own boutique hotel), was the most sensible of investments, so the art-loving entrepreneur named his project in honour of their scepticism, and built it anyway. It’s a unique endeavour, occupying a rugged limestone landscape between Guilin and Yangshuo, a mountainous land of lakes, lawns and pine forest. This lush natural canvas, however, is further detailed by more than 200 towering sculptures that local and international artists have created to adorn the park. At the heart of it, beside the looming mass of Yuzi Mountain, is Homa. The hotel itself is every bit as modern and maverick as the sculptures that surround it: madly slanted grass-clad roofs, cave-like rounded white walls, and bold art-lined interiors. It’s like staying in a thrilling contemporary art museum – the lobby’s centrepiece is a round water feature encircled with still more artwork (check out the giant marble miso bowls and spoons), produced in the park’s atelier – now one of the largest art studios in China.