With Chinese contemporary art prices soaring, Bart Dekker, a financial adviser, decided it was time to adjust his collecting habits.
'Chinese art became less affordable, but once you get the bug, you have this urge to keep buying,' he says. After a decade of buying artwork on the mainland, he began trawling through galleries in South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. Only when he returned to Hong Kong did he find what he was looking for - an ethereal landscape painting by local artist Sarah Lai.
The Dutch collector realised Lai's work was the tip of the iceberg and started investing in Hong Kong art.
Once perceived as underdogs, Hong Kong artists are fast winning the confidence of new buyers. The collector base has swollen, and the investment potential of local art has become clear.
'In the past two years, there has been a stronger interest in local art, and it's growing,' says Sabrina Fung, an art consultant.
Hong Kong art is a world apart from the work produced on the mainland. 'The biggest difference is that it's very apolitical. It's not symbol- or icon-orientated work, and it's not about trends. Instead it is individual and personal,' says Henry Au-yeung, the founder of Grotto Fine Art, the only gallery in Hong Kong that focuses purely on local art.
Au-yeung says most of his clients are based in the city. 'Hong Kong art speaks about the environment I live in. That's why I decided to change [from mainland Chinese art collecting],' says William Lim, an architect who has a collection of nearly 100 works by local artists.