New York art dealer David Zwirner explains why he’s set his sights on Hong Kong
Zwirner’s plan to open a gallery in Central shows his belief in the strength of local demand for Western art
But he found a suitable spot in a little more than four months. Zwirner will rent two floors at H Queen’s, a commercial tower under construction at 80 Queen’s Road Central. In total, he will have a gross floor area of 9,000 sq ft to play with. This will be his first Asia gallery and it should open in the autumn of 2017.
Zwirner is a big name in the art world. He represents 51 artists or their estates, including Jeff Koons and Isa Genzken, and is seen to belong to a small group of powerful dealers who have the ability to turn living artists into multimillionaires and international superstars. His arrival in Hong Kong, therefore, is seen as a vote of confidence in Asian demand for Western art, which is what he mainly deals in.
But not everyone is convinced Zwirner has timed his entry right: the slowdown in China’s economic growth has hit Hong Kong-based retailers particularly hard, but rent in Central remains one of the highest in the world.
Zwirner, who has a custom-built five-storey gallery in New York and whose London gallery occupies the whole of a Georgian townhouse in Mayfair, says a new building is the best option in Hong Kong since the developer can easily accommodate his specific demands.