A Sunday at Art Taipei – gallery comments, Australian media art, Pearl Lam

ART FAIRS TAIWANESE ART EVENTS INTERNATIONAL ART ASIAN CONTEMPORARY ART

Art Radar presents a Sunday at Art Taipei 2010 in nine images accompanied by quotes from Korean gallery director Jung Yong Lee and the refreshingly honest Pearl Lam, panel members at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum, five gallerists presenting their thoughts on the fair, and Australian new media artist Josephine Starrs who spoke at the one of the Art Taipei 2010 Weekend Art Lectures.

Pearl Lam, Director of Contrasts Gallery, and Jung Yong Lee, Director of Gana Art, speaking at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

Pearl Lam, Director, Contrasts Gallery, as heard at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum conversation, Asia International Galleries: The Next Movement: “When the price goes up very high it goes down very fast. It happens to design and it happens to contemporary art. So in the last six months people have been very careful and very cautious about contemporary art, but in blue chip artworks like the post-war or the impressionist it is just going up. And there are a lot of private sales, a lot of secondary market sales. So most of the galleries are actually making money from the secondary market.

Collectors are actually referring to the auction prices as a reference and a lot of young collectors need the auction to validate the price. But I have my thoughts about auctions because auction prices, for me, are never accurate unless they are a really high price like 20, 30, 40 million USD 1. Because it’s very easy; you can put a painting in an auction, we can get all our friends sticking our hands up, push the price up…. So my way of seeing things … most of the auction houses are making money from private clients.”

Joanna Li, Fish Art Center, beside Huang Poren's stainless steel sculpture 'What the heck!'. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

Joanna Li, Fish Art Center: “This is my fifth time at Art Taipei. In the past two years we have brought brand new artworks [to the fair] and all the artists are Taiwanese. They’re still young, around 26 years old. We also have modern artists…. We have sculptures, oil paintings. We have sold more medium priced artworks…. [The collectors are] from Taiwan, a few customers are from Hong Kong and China.”

Outside Art Taipei 2010's main exhibition hall. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

Mizuma Sueo, Director, Mizuma Art Gallery (Tokyo, Beijing): “This is our second time at Art Taipei. Today’s audience, there are so many people … but the last three days a little less. It’s a little less than last year. Sales are stable. We have sold some [works by] young Japanese artists and Chinese artists, but we have sold only one piece to a Taiwanese collector. The other pieces were sold to a Korean collector, Hong Kong and Japan. The audience is mainly Asian.”

Inside Art Taipei 2010's main exhibition hall. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

Jung Yong Lee, Director, Gana Art, as heard at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum conversation, Asia International Galleries: The Next Movement: “When the crisis came we had a very hard time,… I’m from a commercial gallery and we have to sell a lot of artwork to maintain our operation. But when the crisis came there were literally no sales for at least six months to over a year. So what we ended up doing was, since we couldn’t find a client who was investing, who was collecting art for their collections, finding clients who were companies and local governments who had a lot of promotional money to spend. We did consulting for companies. We made outdoor sculptures, we decorated lobbies for hotels, the façades of buildings; we did a lot of projects like that. And we also helped to make art parks or small private museums.”

Chen Liu, 'Blue Blossom Standing above the sea', 2010, oil on canvas, 200 x 140 cm. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

Junghwa Ryu, Curator, Arario Gallery (Cheonan, Beijing, Seoul, New York): “Art Taipei 2010 is more organised than the last one. Many visitors are interested in new contemporary art and we feel that the Taipei government has supported the fair well with their policy of focusing on an international base. However, the results for the sales are … not good as of now. Hanna Kim (1981, Korea) and Osang Gwon (1973, Korea) have been paid much attention. I guess in general the Taiwanese love a more light and cozy style than heavy and serious.… They are sensitive to trends and new skills.”

Sculptures by Taiwanese artist Ju Ming. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

James Hsu and Elise Chen, Ping Art Space (Taipei): “This is our third time here. Obviously it’s more international this year because there are more galleries participating in this art fair and we have collectors from Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia. In the past we would mainly have Taiwanese collectors…. Five years ago there might be just one Japanese gallery here but after this year there is this reputation in Japan that there is a good market in Taiwan. So this year there are 26 galleries from Japan. Also, in Taiwan, we have this history of collecting contemporary art for 20 years [and] after this period of time you can see that the market is getting better and better. Last year the economic crisis affected the market a lot and so this is like a rebound.”

Digital print by Australian media artists Josephine Starrs and Leon Cmielewski, part of their 'Downstream' installation, as exhibited at Art Taipei 2010. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

Josephine Starrs, as heard at the weekend art lecture, Recent and emerging trends in Australian media art: “This is some of the work that we are exhibiting here at Art Taipei in the <Encoded> exhibition. ‘Downstream’ explores new ways of representing the relationship between nature and culture. We are imbedding poetic text into [satellite] images of landscapes at particular risk from climate change. The work focusses on the degradation of the Murray-Darling, the largest river system in Australia, but it could be any river system in the world that is in danger from changes in climate.

We have changed the satellite imagery to write text in the landscape imagery, as if the landscape is sending us messages. When we started looking at this landscape imagery we noticed that the river almost looked like writing already. So we decided to change the river and embed this text from a famous Australian poem. The words say, ‘and the river was dust’.”

Shen Bo-Cheng's 'Read- Lleine Eschichte Der Photographie' (2010), exhibited as part of Art Taipei's MADE in TAIWAN - Young Artist Discovery event. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

E.D.Lee Gallery Co., Ltd (Taipei): “We have been to Art Taipei twice. This year it is more international, a lot of foreign galleries have joined us here and there are a lot more people. We have sold many works today. This year all of our artists are from Taiwan. Almost all of our collectors are Taiwanese but we also have collectors from Japan and Korea.”

Yan Chao, 'The Width of the Strait', 2009, mixed media on canvas, 150 x 180 cm. Image property of Art Radar Asia.

We hope to bring you more on Art Taipei 2010 in the coming weeks, including an overview of what was said at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum sessions and public art lectures we attended.

KN

Related Topics: art fairs, collectors, business of art, gallerists/dealers

Related Posts:

• Tsong Pu discusses six artworks: Part I – Chasing lines across space – August 2010 – part one of a three part series in which this influential Taiwanese artist speaks in detail about his work
• Three sculptors who influenced the Taiwanese art landscape: Yang Ying-feng, Ju Ming and Pu Hao-ming – February 2010 – an overview of these artists’ careers
• The ones to watch: four young Taiwanese artists in Taipei Art Awards – January 2010 – names the artists, accompanied by large images
• Globalisation of the contemporary art market evident in growth of art fairs – The Economist – August 2010 – outlines the geographical hierarchy of art fairs today and explains why this is hard to define
• What did the galleries say about ART HK 10? Art Radar Asia speaks to 19 dealers – June 2010 – read this to find out who sold what to whom

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First ever Moroccan art fair to launch in October

MARRAKECH MOROCCO ART FAIRS ARAB ART

In October this year, the tourist hotspot Marrakech, Morocco, will host the country’s first modern and contemporary art fair. The fair points towards a growing trend of interest and investment in art in the Middle East where Dubai, currently the top art city in the Middle East, is facing increasing competition from upcoming art ventures in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. (Read our report on this recent trend.)

Gjdn Neshat's 'Untitled96'. Neshat is a participant in this year's Marrakech Art Fair.

Morocco, characteristically, is a country that culturally and geographically straddles the “east meets west” junction. That the Marrakech Art Fair shares some of these characteristics make it all the more special. Out of the thirty galleries exhibiting at the fair, half come from the Arab world, primarily North Africa while the other half come from Europe. For art lovers, this could provide an incredible opportunity to sample international contemporary art.

The city also plans to host simultaneous art events throughout the days of the fair. Some of these are special exhibitions at select museums and galleries in Marrakech. The idea behind engaging the city as a giant art fair in itself is to offer rare insights into Moroccan heritage and its contemporary art world.

The Marrakech Museum, for example, is hosting “Resonance: Contemporary Moroccan artists across the world”, which showcases fifteen artists of Moroccan origin who are based outside of Morocco. Inventing and re-thinking ideas of identity versus the global, these artists will work through various mediums such as painting, installation and video art to map new thoughts about the reality of art in Morocco. Another interesting intervention looks at the culmination of popular culture and art. Six graffiti artists will create spontaneous art to the music of Moroccan rapper BIGG over the period of one night.

Zoulikha Bouabdellah's 'Love'. Bouabdellah is a participant in this year's Marrakech Art Fair.

Other events include talks such as the panel discussions led by Roxana Azimi, a specialist in the international art market, that will deal with the twin issues of “Art market in the Arab world” and “The role of patrons and collectors.” Pascel Amel, a writer and director, will lead a debate on “Art in Morocco at the dawn of globalization.” The talks seem to be marked with hope and enthusiasm for the place of Moroccan art in the world market as well as a belief in the possibility of internal development.

Fifteen of the galleries invited to the fair will respond to a set theme of “From Orientalism to nowadays.” The Jean Brolly gallery is one such participant that intends to showcase work by two artists of different origins – Mahjoud Ben Bella and Francois Morellet. Local galleries are active participants at the fair. The Tindouf Gallery and the Galerie 127 are based in Marrakech itself. Other galleries that are showing at the fair come from Tunisia, the UAE, France and Morocco. The fair will be held from 9 to 11 October this year. For more details, visit the fair’s website.

AM/KN

Related Topics: art fairs, Middle Eastern art, promoting art

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• Sheikh Sultan opens private collection to public putting Sharjah on UAE art map – August 2010 – we take a look at how a personal collection might indicate growing interest in Middle Eastern art
• Globalisation of contemporary art market evident in growth of art fairs – The Economist – August 2010 – points discussed include the hierarchy of art fair location, the lack of local artist representation
• Sotheby’s to hold first ever international auction house sale of calligraphy in Doha – July 2010 – Sotheby’s interest in heritage Asian art predates the recent contemporary boom and rakes in the largest sales, here’s a look at a recent sale in Doha
• Antonia Carver named Art Dubai director, lends Middle Eastern insight to fair– July 2010 – we take a look at how Carver’s experience in the Arab art world will effect the fair’s success
• Xu Zhen takes on Middle Eastern identities and cultures as the new artists’ collective alias Madeln at Ikon Gallery, UK – June 2010 – an in-depth look at how conceptual artist Xu Zhen fabricates his own identity

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What did the galleries say about ART HK 10? Art Radar Asia speaks to 19 dealers

HONG KONG ART FAIR

Art Radar Asia attended ART HK 10 on Sunday with the aim of getting a perspective on the who is selling what to whom. Below we lay out the comments from and opinions of 19 of the Asian and international galleries in attendance this year.

Nadi Gallery – Jakart

Meli Angkapradipta: ”We got more sales this year. We brought around 18 pieces and only four are unsold. Most of our buyers are from Asia, mostly Indonesia. All Gede Mahendra Yasa’s works are sold. His works are very decorative and very natural. People can accept them very easily.”

Gede Mahendra Yasa, Cannabis-Canniballis, 2010

Ota Fine Arts – Tokyo

“I think this fair is getting stronger and stronger. About half of our nine pieces are sold at the price range of $2,000 to $380,000. The buyers are from Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong. Yayoi Kusama’s work is very popular. We sold some new artist’s work too.”

Tang Contemporary Art – Bangkok/Beijing/Hong Kong

“We sold about forty percent of our works to Mainland, European, and US buyers. The most expensive piece was Liu Xiaodong’s painting.”

LEVY – Berlin/Hamburg

Thomas Levy: “Last year we brought some young artists and we sold nothing. I think [people] are buying well-know names or Chinese art. We sold 2 of 15 pieces. It’s not a disappointment but it could be better. The buyers are from Hong Kong but they are foreign people, no Chinese. It’s a problem of education and no modern art museum in Hong Kong and things like that. We are here to find new clients.”

Greenberg Van Doren Gallery – New York

“We’ve never done any fairs in Asia before. We really just want to get to know some of the collectors in Hong Kong and other cities around here. And I think we have met a ton of people. The sales haven’t been disappointing. Most of the collectors are from Asia and Australia. It’s just a very different set of people.”

Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 2010

Galerie Forsblom – Helsinki

Karl-Heinz Horbert: “This year’s fair has much more people than last year. Our works have sold in the range of US$8,000 to US$400,000. Hong Kong is an international place and the buyers come from all over the place. The European fairs and the American have a long tradition, that means in the States and in Europe there are serious collectors talking about collection. People buy to keep. Where’s the public museum in Hong Kong? This is the big difference between the European and Hong Kong markets.”

The Modern Institute – Glasgow

“The fair is very well organized, very well attended and the sales have been good. I think overall it’s been very strong. We didn’t have any expectations really because we’ve never done this fair before. We have collectors in Japan and Australia. We don’t have any collectors in China, so coming to the fair we didn’t have any expectations. About eighty percent of the collectors are new. The new collectors are from Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan and some new collectors from Japan. The price ranges from 10, 000 pounds to 100,000 pounds.”

Eslite Gallery – Taipei

Hai-Ping Chang: “The quality of the fair is getting better and better. And there is [a bigger] audience. We brought the works of seven artists from China and Taiwan. The sales are pretty good. Buyers are from Hong Kong and overseas.”

Sakshi Gallery – Mumbai

Geetha Mehra, director: “It’s a very good fair. Well organized, good quality of work. In terms of the sales there’s a bit of conflict from the auction. The buyers are mainly from Asia. The fair has more Asian buyers and more works from the region but overall the quality is as good as anywhere else.”

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery – Sydney

Tony Oxley: “It’s a very good fair. It has a nice Asian flavor. The buyers are from Hong Kong and Europe. We’ve done pretty well with Tracey Moffatt. I think people prefer figurative arts rather than abstract. I think we’ll be coming more often now. The future is here.”

Bernier/Eliades Gallery – Athens

Hidy Lam Hoi Tik: “There are more Asian collectors at this fair. A buyer was from Shanghai, a friend of the artist Wang Xingwei. There’s a trend that collectors start to collect their friends’ works.”

Damien Hirst, Domine, Ne In Furore (Diamond Dust), 2010

Hakgojae – Seoul

“Last year was really bad for us. This year is really good. We sold 5 of 21 pieces. Two videos were sold to Hong Kong buyers for $30,000 each on the preview. Song Hyun-Sook’s paintings are really popular with Asian people.”

Thomas Erben Gallery – New York

“This fair is very well organized, very well attended. We don’t have any link [to] Hong Kong and very few of our collectors are from Hong Kong. We’re kind of jumping into cold water [to] see what happens, basically getting new contacts. The sales don’t quite cover the cost yet, but it’s a good start. Many of the buyers are Americans.”

Hanart TZ Gallery – Hong Kong

Marcello Kwan: “We’ve only brought Qiu Anxiong’s video The New Book of Moutains and Seas Part Ⅱ to the fair as we have our galleries in Hong Kong. Videos are a little harder to sell but there is a big audience, so it’s good publicity. Our works are more experimental than commercial. I think we bring something different to the audience.”

Marianne Boesky Gallery – New York

Adrian M. Turner: “We’ve met new people and we made some sales. It’s good. We sold about 10 of 20 pieces. The buyers are mostly from Asia. The prices range from $12,000 to $300, 000.”

Song Hyun-sook, 9brushstrokes, 2003

Galerie Zink – Berlin/Munich

“We’ve made some interesting contacts, sold mostly our Asian artists. It’s a little bit tough for young European or international artists from outside Asia to introduce them to people. Our artists are between 27 and 36 [years old]. It’s not that easy to get Asian collectors interested in their work for the first time. Collectors are mainly from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Australia. Yoshitomo Nara’s work sells the best.”

gdm – Paris

Claire Lauverier: “The opening is very social here. People are not here to buy the art works the first day. They are just here to enjoy the party. During the week it’s very low, very quiet, because I think people are working very hard. And during the weekend it’s like an explosion, everybody is coming. In other fairs it’s different. During the opening it’s like everybody is buying everything and afterwards it’s very quiet and very slow. People are much more direct here. If they are interested in buying something they’ll just say I want this, how much? Our buyers are mostly from Hong Kong and [the] mainland as well.”

Ayyam Gallery – Beirut/Damascus/Dubai

Myriam Jakiche, director: “More crowded, less interest selling wise compared to last year. Maybe because there are more galleries so there’s much more choice or something. Those bought are mainly colorful portraits. Buyers are mainly Europeans and Hong Kong people. I’m happy I know more people than last year.”

Gandhara-Art – Hong Kong/Karachi

Amna Naqvi, director: “It was more fabulous this year. We brought 13 pieces and 8 were sold. Buyers are from Asia and Europe. New buyers are from Asia. The price range of the works sold is $1,500 to $50,000.”

Overall, most participant galleries agreed that the quality of art available at ART HK is getting better and there was a much larger audience than last year. Many commented that while the fair is international, there are more Asian collectors and works than at European and US fairs. Notably, these Asian collectors tended to buy Asian works or the big names of international art. When compared with ART HK 09, the Asian galleries were more satisfied with their sales this year.

YNC/KN

Related Topics: business of art, collectors, events – fairs

Related Posts:

• Asia Art Forum 2010 meets growing demand for collector education in China – Jing Daily – May 2010
• Hong Kong hailed as art’s Promised Land by Art+Auction Magazine – April 2010
• Surprising sell-through rates for Chinese art recorded in London’s February auctions – March 2010
• Colin Chinnery, director of ShContemporary, on future of Shanghai Art Fair – interview Artron – January 2010
• Deutsche Bank signs 5 year lead sponsorship deal with ART HK – December 2009

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more on the contemporary art market in Asia

Colin Chinnery, director of ShContemporary, on future of Shanghai Art Fair – interview Artron

SHANGHAI ART FAIR INTERVIEW

Colin Chinnery was in a precarious position as the new direction of ShContemporary, the Shanghai art fair, in 2009. The young art fair, having its 3rd incarnation in 2010, faced an uncertain future last year while the financial world dealt with the possibility of economic collapse. However, the anxiety leading up to the event was unfounded, as ShContemporary attracted over 30,000 visitors and decent sales. Colin Chinnery talks with Artron.net about the challenges of leading an art fair within such adverse economic circumstances, his plans for ShContemporary 2010, and Chinese art collectors.

Colin Chinnery, director of ShContemporary

The initial panic regarding the contemporary art market that followed the economic crisis of 2008 seems to have subsided. As you begin working on ShContemporary for 2010, do you feel an increased optimism?

The panic was understandable when the economy seemed to be in free fall, especially when there was a clear analogy (and connection) between the phantom wealth conjured by Wall Street and easy money bloating the art market. Everyone knew that something like this was around the corner, and when we finally hit that corner we had no choice but to do the necessary work in order to readjust. With ShContemporary, we have perhaps turned another corner. The 2009 edition saw a lot of optimism return to the market, and that makes life easier for 2010. The playing field is different because the number of players in the art market increased exponentially during the boom years, and now there are more mouths to feed, so to speak. As an art fair whose job is to fulfill these increased expectations, we have to prove ourselves every year, not just for one year. I don’t think the pressure will relent for many years to come, and that is a good thing. It keeps people at the top of their game.

The contemporary Chinese art market has experienced a significant downturn. How does this lack of confidence in contemporary Chinese art impact the fair?

ShContemporary includes art from all over Asia and beyond, so the slowdown in demand for certain Chinese artists’ works didn’t affect us at all. Certain galleries are very sensitive to the current demand, and bring the right works. Sales were good among Chinese galleries this year at ShContemporary. Those who visited the fair will have noticed that there were very few works by top-priced Chinese artists; the prices and the kind of work on offer represented a change in attitude. Now that the market is shifting [its] attitude, I think it’s an opportunity for different voices to be heard, which was very evident at the fair.

Given ShContemporary’s location and history, how much of next year’s edition do you expect will be focused on Asia, as opposed to having a more global perspective?

The fair as a whole does have a regional focus on Asia, and that is reflected in the participating galleries and the kinds of work being shown and sold; in 2010 it will have an Asia Pacific perspective whilst presenting work from Europe, the U.S., and other regions. The market should always help to mix up the regional DNA as much as possible. How much that is possible will increase each year.

How would you position ShContemporary in relation to the other fairs in China, including Art Hong Kong (ART HK)? What makes ShContemporary unique for dealers and collectors?

We want to create a fair that is thinking about the future in all kinds of ways, from artistic values to the structure of the market. I feel that can be reflected by the two new initiatives that were launched this year. On the artistic side there is the Discoveries section, a thematic exhibition and lecture series dealing with the topic, “What is contemporary art?” Instead of being a special section a side attraction peripheral to the fair, it became a central feature. It also deliberately included challenging work not necessarily suitable for the market, but necessary for the exhibition to make sense thematically. The exhibition dealt with issues relating to the term “contemporary” from different perspectives, ranging from pioneers such as Joseph Kosuth, Martha Rosler, and Marina Abramovic to social-historical perspectives such as Anri Sala, Liu Wei, and Shi Qing, and emerging Chinese and Japanese artists. As the first thing that visitors saw at the fair, it left a deep impression on collectors, curators, artists, and other guests, and seemed to define the fair’s identity…

See Artron.net for the full interview with Colin Chinnery on the Future of ShContemporary.

The 3rd edition of ShContemporary, the Asia Pacific Contemporary Art Fair, is Sept 9-12, 2010.

Related Posts

• Shanghai art fair goes ahead despite advice to cancel– March 09
• Contemporary art market in Asia now bigger than US for first time says Artprice– Nov 09
• Three recession strategies for selling art in Shanghai – Shanghai Daily– April 09
• Art fair Shanghai breaks new ground with Best of Discovery emerging artists – Financial Times, Artkrush– Sept 08

Deutsche Bank signs 5 year lead sponsorship deal with ART HK

HONG KONG ART FAIR SPONSORSHIP

The May 2010 incarnation ART HK will only be the international art fair’s third event, but it has already earned the confidence-and sponsorship- of Deutsche Bank, the largest bank in Germany, which has recently signed a 5 year sponsorship deal with the young but promising Hong Kong art fair. Their enthusiasm for the fledging fair is understandable; ART INFO reports that in May 2009 (an uncertain time for art!) 27,856 people visited ART HK over four and a half days to view 110 galleries from 24 countries. In all, this accounts for a 31% jump in attendance over the inaugural fair in 2008.

Regarding the sponsorship, Michael West, Deutsche Bank’s head of communications for Asia Pacific, comments:

“Our sponsorship of ART HK is a reflection of both the scale and growth of Deutsche Bank in the Asia Pacific region and our longstanding global commitment to the arts… The success of ART HK in 2008 and 2009 demonstrates the high level of demand for a world-class art fair in the region.” –ART INFO

Regarding Deutsche Bank’s  sponsorship  of ART HK, Magnus Renfrew, the director of the fair who was profiled among 15 individuals without whom “the art world wouldn’t spin on its axis” in Art+Auction’s December 2008 Power Issue, comments:

“Globally, galleries are looking for new opportunities to expand their markets and increasingly are looking towards Asia… ART HK is now well established as a high-profile fair with proven high-quality attendance and solid sales results… Deutsche Bank’s involvement is a ringing endorsement of the solid foundations that we have laid in Asia to date. Our shared vision and active partnership will bring us one step closer to further affirming ART HK’s position as one of the leading art fairs.” –ART INFO

Deutsche Bank: a long-time art patron

Deutsche Bank is a well known patron of the arts, and controls one of the world’s largest corporate contemporary art collections, which is comprised of about 50,000 artworks from the 20th century. With the motto “Art Works,” the bank has maintained a pro-art agenda for the past three decades, making these artworks accessible to the public worldwide. It also collaborates with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation on the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin.

And here’s what sources are saying about ART HK…

‘ART HK 09, raised its game at its second edition…It seems that by common consensus dealers from across the world have decided that the only viable venue for a pan-Asian international art fair is Hong Kong.’
Apollo

‘Hong Kong emerged as the one to beat in Asia…ART HK, located in a city noted for its transparency and ease of conducting business, will become a dominant force in the region.’
ArtAsiaPacific

‘….in a very short time Hong Kong will be the most important art trade fair in the world.  In fact – this could be the Art Basel of Asia.’
Die Welt

‘ART HK has won the battle to be the destination art fair for Asia’

The Art Newspaper

Related Posts

• Is Singapore threatening Hong Kong as the next Asian art mecca? Wall Street Journal- Nov 09
• ARTSingapore 2009 Fair – new photography fair, high value sales and gallerists pick top fairs in Asia today– Oct 09
• More art, better art, riskier art at Art HK 09– May 09
• Newslink roundup Hong Kong art fair – Art HK 09– May 09
• Which are the top 10 international contemporary art fairs? -Jan 09

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Hong Kong art fair tipped to be Asia’s Art Basel – Financial Times

ART FAIR NEWS

On October 10, ARTSingapore unveils its eighth edition. In the past four weeks, the dedicated art buyer could also have visited fairs in Shanghai, Seoul, Hong Kong and Beijing.

What’s behind this explosion? The bottom line is that Asia does not have a major international contemporary art fair such as Art Basel in Europe, and these fairs are vying to become the leading one. But ShContemporary in Shanghai has been handicapped by internal problems made public and, not surprisingly in view of the financial crisis, sales were weak this year.

Hong Kong looks to be best placed to become the art market hub of Asia; the major international auction houses are already there and it is attractive fiscally (no tax is payable on art purchases in Hong Kong, unlike in Shanghai).

Art HK 08, inaugurated in May this year, is the fair that many believe could come out on top. Its first edition saw moderate sales and many dealers felt it has great potential. And Hong Kong’s main disadvantage, its lack of cultural infrastructure, should be remedied in a few years with the building of an original new complex, M+, a museum community with both indoor and outdoor space and a platform for cultural exchange and activities.

See

• original article Financial Times
• latest art fair news, market watch, reports from Hong Kong

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New York art fair holds special Middle East, China shows November 2008

 

ART FAIR NEW YORK

One of the most important exhibitions of contemporary Asian art, the 2nd annual Asian Contemporary Art Fair New York (ACAF NY), will be held from November 7-10, 2008, at Pier 92, 52nd Street and 12th Avenue, in New York City says Elite Traveler.

More than 60 international galleries and non-profit organizations will show a wide range of contemporary work by artists from countries including China, Japan, Korea, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Much of the work, including paintings, sculpture, photography, works on paper, video and installations, will be on view for the first time in the U.S.

The Asian Contemporary Art Fair New York is the only international art fair in New York dedicated exclusively to Asian contemporary art. Last year’s inaugural fair was hailed as a major success, providing collectors with the opportunity to gain an overview of Asian art and see work by such internationally recognized artists as Zhang Xiaogang, Nam June Paik, Yue Minjun and Yayoi Kusama.

According to the organisers, Asian Artworks, 2007 saw healthy sales at $12 million and overwhelming turnouts for the lecture and panel series and performance events. An international crowd of over 19,000 art aficionados attended ACAF NY in 2007, and over 25,000 are expected to attend the Fair in 2008.

“After the strong critical success of last year’s fair, contemporary art collectors are marking November in their calendars,” noted Cristal Kim, Executive Director, Asian Contemporary Art Fair New York.

Exhibitors
A list of participating galleries is now available on www.acafny.com.

Special Exhibitions, Programs and Events

ACAF NY has commissioned two special exhibitions from the Middle East and China. A number of panel discussions and lectures are also planned by leading curators, art historians, collectors, journalists, art dealers and artists on issues relating to Asian contemporary art. Participants will include: Christopher Phillips, Curator, International Center for Photography; Richard Vine, Managing Editor, Art in America; and France Pepper, Director of Art and Culture Programs, China Institute. Details will be available soon on http://www.acafny.com.

New art fair sets up in Singapore September 2008 – International Herald Tribune

SINGAPORE ART FAIR 9 to 12 September

Asian contemporary art has seen its star rise markedly in recent years. Yet the region has yet to produce art fairs to rival those in the West like Art Basel in Switzerland, Frieze Art Fair in London, the Armory Show in New York and Art Basel Miami Beach. In the past year, two new contemporary art fairs have gained considerable attention because of their sheer size – ShContemporary in September in Shanghai and Art HK in May in Hong Kong – but they are still far from being seen as equal to their Western counterparts.

Now, a new entrant, Singapore Showcase, is also hoping to be noticed. With 23 major international galleries, it is very much a boutique fair, but those attending include marquee names in international contemporary art: Sperone Westwater and L&M Arts from New York to Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac from Paris, SCAI the Bathhouse and Tomio Koyama from Tokyo, Arario Gallery from Seoul, Hanart TZ from Hong Kong and ShanghART from Shanghai.

“It would be enormously presumptuous to say we’re going to be the Basel of Asia, but the standards that we’re trying to push here and emulate are those of the Armory or Basel, on a smaller scale,” said Mary Dinaburg, principal of Fortune Cookie Projects, the curatorial and art advisory consultancy behind the new fair, which runs Sept. 9-12 and coincides with the opening of the second Singapore Biennale.

See (in new window)

article on IHT website

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