State of the Art

The art market is showing signs of life with the recovery of the economy. On February 3, Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man I” sold at Sotheby’s London at a record price of $810.3 million. The climate for selling art has been also good in Hong Kong; both Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw a growth in sales during 2009 across all categories, from wine and jewelry to contemporary art. Sotheby’s posted sales of $1.3 billion in early October 2009, while Christie’s totaled $1.65 billion in late November and early December.
For savvy collectors, 2009 was an excellent time to add to their contemporary art collections. “Last year was the best time to buy; many art prices dropped 30 to 50 percent,” says Evelyn Lin, head of contemporary Asian art at Sotheby’s. An increase in mainland Chinese buyers helped spearhead the solid sales figures for the house’s Hong Kong Contemporary Art Autumn Sale 2009, which totaled $116 million, representing a sell-through rate of about 80 percent. “Last year was very difficult for the American and European markets, for financial reasons, but [the markets] in the mainland didn’t really change that much. This gave the mainland buyers a great opportunity to come to Hong Kong to attend the auction.”
In 2009, Sotheby’s also decided to include a subsection in both its spring and fall sales featuring Hong Kong artists such as Chow Chun-fai, anothermountainman and the late Tsang Tsou-choi (aka King of Kowloon). Lin states that they made the move because the secondary market for Hong Kong art is established and mature, and the lower price points for the works are attractive to new collectors. “From the results we can tell we made the right decision at the right moment,” she says. Tsang’s piece “Calligraphy,” which had a pre-sale high estimate of $70,000, sold for $500,000 last autumn. For artists who are alive and working, seeing work go to auction can induce anxiety. Having his work go to auction, however, doesn’t faze Chow. “I take note of what is happening with the auction, but I remove myself from that aspect of art,” says the artist, who is represented by Hanart. Chow’s painting “Little Cheung, ‘This is Kowloon City’” sold for $93,750, above the high estimate of $60,000 in the spring, while “Hong Kong Cafe, Mongkok” failed to sell in the fall.
Hong Kong’s proximity to the mainland, which is a market that continues to grow while other markets remain static, as well as the fact that it does not tax the import or export of art, makes it the ideal place to buy and sell art at this moment. “I think Hong Kong is really well positioned to be one of the leading centers for the art market both regionally and also internationally,” says Jonathan Stone, Christie’s managing director in Asia. “For some time it’s been the third biggest site for Christie’s sales, after New York and London.” The house’s combined total sales of the Autumn 2009 Asian Contemporary Art and Chinese 20th Century Art sales was $389.3 million, an increase of 48 percent from the previous fall.
The Hong Kong International Art Fair, ART HK 10 (May 27-30), shares the belief that the city is an up-and-coming art market destination, and is coordinating the fair dates to coincide with Christie’s spring sales so that collectors from around the world can attend both events during a single trip. ART HK 10 is also increasing in size, taking up four halls in the Exhibition and Convention Centre, covering approximately twice the floor space of its inaugural year in 2008. This year the fair has signed on 145 galleries from 27 countries, an increase from the previous fair. “What’s very exciting this year is that people are really seeing the potential for Hong Kong,” says fair director Magnus Renfrew, who has been busy meeting with collectors across the region in recent weeks to entice them to make the trip to Hong Kong in late May. “I think that it’s quite clear that Asia is moving from the periphery of people’s attention to becoming much more central to their long-term strategies. Asia clearly makes sense to people wanting to develop the markets here, with the relevant resilience of the economies and the immense wealth that is being created.”
Auction houses and fairs are not the only players in the art market focusing strategy on Hong Kong and the surrounding region. According to the “ArtAsiaPacific Almanac 2010,” there are 57 commercial contemporary art galleries operating in Hong Kong. Galleries such as Tang Contemporary Art and Osage saw the market possibilities early on, and have been taking a pan-Asian approach to exhibitions. Tang has locations in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Beijing, while Osage has active spaces in Hong Kong (including its headquarters in Kwun Tong), Singapore and Shanghai, and has a non-profit arm, Osage Art Foundation, as well as an art consultancy.
Tang’s approach in Hong Kong is to show “exhibitions on artists more known to international audiences and collectors,” says Beryl Chan, general manager. “We tend to tailor to more mature and stable markets.” In contrast, the Beijing space is more experimental and academic in its approach, and has taken risks, which are now paying off. The current exhibition, “Ne travaillez jamais,” which opened on January 9, features the work of Argentina-born Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, and, Chan notes, is a reflection of the commitment by Tang Beijing to exhibit museum quality work to boost the gallery’s reputation among that city’s art elite.
“The Hong Kong collector base is a very international one,” says Eugene Tan, director of exhibitions for Osage, when asked about the gallery’s clientele. “Hong Kong is a very international marketplace for contemporary art.” In addition to commercial interest, there is also museum interest in the work that the Kwun Tong space has shown, most recently with the current exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, “New Vision: New Colours,” where “Distilling Kwun Tong” (2009) by Kingsley Ng, which showed in the Osage show “(last) intervention” and is on loan to the museum.
Smaller commercial galleries in the city are also bringing public consciousness to local and regional art. Madhouse Contemporary, which presents four to five exhibitions a year, is devoted to fostering the careers of young artists, and intent on balancing commercial and academic interests. The gallery’s director, Shin Wong, says, “It’s our responsibility to scout for young talent... and to find good collectors for these young artists. In Hong Kong, in terms of market, there are more collectors now, especially young entrepreneurs and young professionals.” The gallery’s openings attract a red-carpet crowd, including Sammi Cheng, Louis Koo, Gigi Leung, Wyman Wong, Jan Lamb and Eric Kot, and this in turn draws interest from the general public. People who may not have been aware of current trends in contemporary art are going out and seeing new works.
Additionally, a number of non-profit organizations have become the backbone of the local art scene, including Para/Site Art Space, 1a Art Space, Asia Art Archive, Fotanian Open Studios, and Soundpocket, as well as smaller operations such as Diorama Projects, which writer and curator Davina Lee founded in order to, “present work that I hope will stimulate creativity and to enable people to access art that they would ordinarily have to travel abroad to see.” These venues and organizations provide space for artists to make and exhibit work without regard to market pressures, and remain resilient even during fluctuations in the market. “Commercial galleries will always be subject to whims of the market,” notes Amy Wood, head of development and communications for the Asia Art Archive. “Non-profit exhibitions and events at non-commercial visual art spaces will continue to happen regardless of the market as their funding sources ideally should come from independent and government sources rather than from sales.”
Though non-profit organizations are working hard to fill the gaps between commercial galleries and government-run museums, there are certain things that our city’s contemporary art scene needs in order for it to evolve. “We need an infrastructure in place that we don’t currently have,” notes Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya, executive director and curator of Para/Site. “Already existing not-for-profit organizations should be nurtured to allow us to grow into medium-size art centers. An art center that can participate in the conversations and critiques going on right now internationally are vital to any healthy art scene. We need a network of art centers, each specialized in a different way, that can engage with similar organizations internationally and provide alternative and complementary narratives.” Para/Site has been very active in engaging Hong Kong in a dialogue with the international scene, bringing exhibitions to the city by Shahzia Sikander and Joseph Kosuth, while continuing to collaborate with local artists on shows like “FAX” and “Move on Asia.”
As the market continues to grow, and local commercial and non-profit organizations do their part in increasing interest in contemporary art, there’s hope that an infrastructure will be in place by the time the contemporary art museum M+ (Museum Plus) opens as part of the West Kowloon Cultural District in the future. Perhaps the interests of seemingly opposite parts of the art world will provide the right climate for the emergence of a world-class museum, as well as help develop an appreciative and sophisticated audience for the work.

Art Index

Museum of Art

$4,391,902
Revenue In 2008/2009

$68,410,699
Expenditure in 2008/2009

-$64,018,797
Balance in 2008/2009

Local Gallery Para/Site Art Space

$2,530,342
Total revenue in 2007