Never a bad time to open in Hong Kong, Italian gallerist Massimo De Carlo says
Lessons learned from opening gallery’s London branch at the height of the financial crisis have readied him for his new Hong Kong venture, despite the current poor state of the art market
Massimo De Carlo, the veteran Italian gallerist, says his experience in London during the worst of the global financial crisis taught him that there is no point in waiting for a better time to open in Hong Kong.
“This is not a great time for the art market but I opened my London gallery in 2009, when things were much worse than today, and it was absolutely fine. It’s what you offer that counts. Also, Central is like Mayfair in London, where my gallery is located. The rent here is never going to really come down,” he says during the launch on Monday of his first Asian gallery, located next to Ben Brown Fine Arts in Pedder Building.
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The art market has seen growth slow over the past year because of macroeconomic concerns but De Carlo says it has not swayed his confidence in Asia’s long-term demand for art. “China is still growing much faster than most countries. In Italy, we are happy if our economy grows more than 1 per cent!”