Art Basel Hong Kong wows ‘the sophisticated’
Fair attracts about 65,000 with more in-the-know buyers attending event
Art aficionados flooded the last day of Art Basel Hong Kong's exhibition yesterday with some galleries reporting million-dollar sales thanks to "more sophisticated" visitors.
About 65,000 people attended the four-day event at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai - nearly 10 per cent more than last year when the fair made its debut in Hong Kong.
Sean Kelly, owner of Sean Kelly Gallery in New York, said: "The market is becoming much more sophisticated - also the people who are visiting. It's the best year we have had here." He said the gallery sold about 20 pieces of art worth more than seven-digits in US dollars to buyers from the Asia-Pacific region.
Fair newcomer Howard Shaw, president and director of New York-based Hammer Galleries, said the gallery made new contacts with interested collectors from Asia. "We don't always judge a fair simply by the sales we made during the period," he said. His gallery exhibited paintings by Picasso, Renoir, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, with a total value of about US$100 million, and it sold one piece worth more than US$1 million.