Former glories

In time of uncertainty, people become nostalgic. That may go some way to explaining why this year's Fine Art Asia is devoting part of its showcase to Hong Kong ink paintings from the 1960s and '70s.

Luis Chan, Irene Chou (Zhou Luyun), Wucius Wong and Fang Zhaoling are some of the artists whose works will be shown at this home-grown annual art fair, now in its eighth edition. It will run from October 4-7 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

According to Andy Hei, the fair's founder and director, while demand for high-end Chinese antiquities remains solid, the market for Western antiquities, objets d'art, Impressionist, modern (19th and 20th century) and, especially, contemporary art is less stable.

This has to do with the global economic downturn, the 44-year-old antique furniture dealer says. Besides, "at a time like this, quality works of art are scarce on the market because there is neither the urgency nor [financial] incentive to sell them … this affects collectors' appetite."

So what can collectors expect from the fair next month?

"That depends on what the exhibitors are bringing," says Hei. "But there will be some excellent ancient Chinese bronzes on offer. With Chinese antiques, the demand has always been steady because the number of collectors is much lower than that for, say, contemporary art and prices are more stable. The contemporary art market was very active for a number of years [around 2006], with many buyers and sellers and a lot of money changing hands, but that has quietened down now."