Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 first impressions: contemporary art fair, back at full scale, draws a diverse VIP crowd

‘The client mix is truly international,’ gallerist David Zwirner enthuses on first day of contemporary art fair, which has drawn 242 art galleries this year

Sheikha Nawar Al Qassimi, of the Sharjah Art Foundation, says art week is not just about sales. Hong Kong is a place where the world congregates, she says

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VIPs attend the opening day of the Art Basel Hong Kong contemporary art fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The fair has returned to its pre-pandemic scale, with 242 galleries from 40 countries and territories exhibiting. Photo: Mabel Lui

Published: 8:27pm, 26 Mar 2024Updated: 10:16am, 27 Mar 2024

The Art Basel Hong Kong contemporary art fair opened on Tuesday with an invitation-only preview for VIPs, and some galleries reported strong first-day sales.

With 242 galleries from 40 countries and territories exhibiting, the fair’s scale is back to what it was before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Art Basel, which runs for five days at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, drew a notably more international crowd on its opening day than in 2023, when most of the visitors from outside Hong Kong were mainland Chinese.

It is pretty amazing how many people are here. Everyone is networking here

Sheikha Nawar Al Qassimi, Sharjah Art Foundation vice-president

David Zwirner said his eponymous gallery had sold more on opening day than in 2023. “We’re happy to report that this year’s iteration of ABHK is a vast improvement on last year, which still felt like it was impacted by a post-pandemic hangover.

“It is especially exciting that the client mix is truly international, including many museum directors and curators this year.”

Among the galleries reporting strong sales was Hauser & Wirth. It sold a US$3.5 million work by Mark Bradford and a US$1.1 million piece by Ed Clark, the latter to a foundation in mainland China, as well as nine other pieces.

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However, some other galleries reported fewer confirmed sales on VIP day than in 2023. Among them was Karma, a US gallery representing emerging artists.