Political context

Zeng Fanzhi @gagosian

Since Covid, the art world has changed. 2024 is the first year that Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK) has readopted its habitual format following the pandemic, featuring 242 exhibitors who are showcasing their finest wares at the Convention Center from 28 to 30 March. The political context of the city governed by Beijing seems difficult. With echoes of the civil protests of 2020, a new national security law came into effect on 23 March 2024 which severely condemns activities that include insurrection and espionage.

Chinese economy

At the same time, the Chinese economy has slowed, particularly in the real estate sector. Like many fairs around the world ABHK has become a regional operation – albeit for a very large region that stretches almost from China to Australia. Participation there is still just as global, but visitors, when they are not professionals, are more rarely European or American.

Hong Kong’s supremacy

In a shaken political and economic context, you might think Hong Kong’s supremacy would be called into question in favour of, for example, Taiwan or Singapore. But in reality that’s not at all the case. The first surprise is that the leading auction houses are in the process of investing here over the long term.

Investments in new premises

Zaha Hadid architects

In the Central district, the luxury epicentre of Sotheby’s and Christie’s is seeing investments in new premises due to open in September 2024. There’s 2230m2 for what Nathan Drahi, director of Sotheby’s Asia and son of the businessman-owner of Sotheby’s, wants to see as a company that will be “more than an auction house, as a “maison” that is used to develop, among other things, ‘the new generation of collectors in Asia.’”

Francis Belin at Christie’s

As for Christie’s, their Asia-Pacific director Francis Belin is announcing 4645m2 (including offices, contrary to Sotheby’s) in a new tower designed by the Zaha Hadid Architects firm. He explains: “Asia represents 28% of global business at Christie’s in 2023. If we combine the figures in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China it makes up 20% of global business. Hong Kong is, for us, a very important place where money, goods and people circulate freely.”

Uli Sigg

The former Swiss ambassador to China and seasoned collector Uli Sigg donated a colossal collection of Chinese contemporary art to the major local new contemporary art museum, M+ (see other interviews with Uli Sigg here and here). He also thinks the city is an ideal cultural platform. “In mainland China regulation is stricter. Here there is space to breathe. Hong Kong is part of Beijing’s five-year plan as a cultural bridge between China and the West.”

Sarah Morris

Until 26 March 2024 the American artist Sarah Morris (born in 1967) has displayed a giant screen on the outside of M+ looking out onto Kowloon Bay showing her film ETC, an intimate and detailed portrait of the city (1). “The film raises questions. You have to be optimistic to show your work in Hong Kong,” she comments.

Angelle Siyang-Le

When the less positive aspects of the current context are put to the director of the fair Angelle Siyang-Le, she also expresses optimism: “Our response is a focus on quality. Before ABHK, the Art Hong Kong fair had already taken place in the midst of the financial crisis in 2008. We are presenting works across a large price range, from younger artists to the biggest modern artists.”

Joan Miro

Joan Miro

Probably the most expensive work in the fair is displayed at the booth of American dealer Acquavella. It is a rare canvas by Joan Miro from 1933, at the height of his surrealist period, on sale for 22 million dollars.

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons

At the same time in the city there is an exhibit from art advisory firm Art Intelligence Global, run by Americans Amy Capellazzo and Mike Goss together with their Japanese co-founder Yuki Terase, of a series of 10 works by Jeff Koons made between 1979 and 1999. A large sculpture in white and gold porcelain depicting Michael Jackson and Bubbles, his chimp,from 1988, which belongs to the famous Greek collector Dakis Joannou is supposed to be on sale for 50 million dollars.

 Chinese  artists from the diaspora

Matthew Wong

The strength of local demand has created a vibrant international market for current Chinese artists. At the top of the pyramid there’s the painter Matthew Wong (1984-2019) of Canadian and Hong Kong origin, who took his own life at the age of 35. He painted with a fascinating, very colourful touch, reminiscent of the French post-impressionists.

At the Van Gogh museum

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is paying tribute to him until 1 September 2024. The Karma gallery in New York, who represented him when he was alive, is exhibiting one of his small works, a gouache from 2018 depicting a landscape animated by two pointillist trees (on sale for 300,000 dollars). In 2022 Christie’s sold it for 142,400 dollars. The record for the artist, obtained in April 2023, went up to 6.1 million dollars. Meaning that demand for Wong, who produced a lot in a short space of time – he started his career as a painter at the age of 27 – is strong. The movement is due to be confirmed with the tributes currently being paid by Western institutions.

Michael Ho

Michael Ho

In the wave of ultra-contemporary Chinese art, the gallery based in Paris and Arles, High Art, is exhibiting at the Hong Kong fair with the work of a painter of Chinese origin whose technique is stunning: Michael Ho (born in 1991 in Amsterdam; he lives in London).

The best collectors

He first paints the back of the canvas in a saturated way before placing certain patterns on the front. This gives his images a particular texture, often in muted colours. High Art immediately sold his large canvas, “Spirit Resonance”, which depicts the blurred reflection in water of a male figure for around 55,000 dollars. “Michael Ho is very in demand. We are trying to find the best type of collectors for him,” explains Philippe Joppin from High Art.

Wealthy young Chinese

There is an entire generation of wealthy young Chinese who, getting a taste for the art of today but also for the effects of trends, are buying massive amounts of work by young artists, and who don’t hesitate to launch movements of speculation. In 2023 Michael Ho was exhibited by the gallery with a large following, Vacancy from Shanghai.

Tishan Hsu

Tishan Su

In Hong Kong it is the Empty Gallery that is classed in this category. They represent, among others, the very unique painter Tishan Hsu (born in 1951 in Boston), also of Chinese origin. He prints images onto wooden panels that he adds to with organic silicon forms. This produces strange compositions that are half-human, half-machine, which were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2022.

At the Mamco in Geneva

Tishan Hsu is also the subject of a retrospective until 9 June 2024 at the contemporary art museum in Geneva, Mamco. One of his small canvases, presented at the Empty Gallery’s booth, is on sale for 90,000 dollars. We spoke about the artist in 2019 during his first new show at ABHK (see the report here) and his prices on the primary market have, for now, very reasonably increased. Then the oldest and bigger were presented for 80,000 dollars.

T’ang Haywen

Tang Haywen

The Guimet museum in Paris is staging a small exhibition on the Chinese artist T’ang Haywen (1927-1991) until 17 June.  The artist, who was a contemporary of Zao Wou Ki and arrived in Paris at the same period, died prematurely of AIDS, and did not achieve similar fame. But like Zao Wou Ki he acted as a veritable bridge between Chinese and Western painting, namely for the American abstract expressionists.

Simultaneously in Paris and Hong Kong

The French-run gallery based in Beijing and London, Hadrien de Montferrand’s HDM gallery, is exhibiting an excellent series of abstract paintings on paper by T’ang Haywen at HBHK, six of which were sold on the day of the vernissage. Montferrand recovered them from a monastery in the South of France who had curiously inherited them. These works on paper are on sale for very reasonable prices: between 4000 and 20,000 euros. The market for the artist remains unstable, however, with attempts at price controls by different operators in recent years. The record price for T’ang went up to 378,400 euros in 2015.

Despite the economic and political context, the strengthening demand among young Chinese for art of Chinese origin is also fostering greater support for these current artists in Western institutions. This has the effect of consolidating their market.

www.artbasel.com/hong-kong

• (1) The film is also on display until 14 April 2024 at the Tai Kwun centre. https://www.taikwun.hk/