The Collector | As the world watches Hong Kong, the city’s art goes global
- With all eyes on Hong Kong, they city’s art market has also received a boost, as a Korean auction house teams up with collector William Lim to push local artists onto the international stage
The many international galleries and auction houses with Asia headquarters in Hong Kong don’t normally show much interest in the city’s own art scene. After all, the market for Hong Kong art is thought to be relatively niche and doesn’t command the kind of prices that would interest high-end dealers.
Seoul Auction has been holding sales in Hong Kong since 2008 and opened a permanent space in H Queen’s called SA+ last year, mainly to promote Korean art to an international audience.
When SA+ was moving into the building, Hong Changhee, the auction house’s executive director in Hong Kong, met Lim, who designed H Queen’s. The two men quickly started a conversation about the potential of Hong Kong art abroad.
The world is looking at Hong Kong because of what’s happening socially and politically. They want to see Hong Kong art and understand what local people think about their lives
“I thought this is the right time to promote more Hong Kong artists to the international art scene. Everyone knows about Hong Kong anyway, and they come for Art Basel every year. Quite often, our clients ask me where they can find local art,” Hong says.