Growing in parallel: The Art Markets of Hong Kong and Shanghai
- 82newsbulletin
- Nov 25, 2020
- 5 min read
Written by Vienna & Andrea
The climate of the Asian art scene has been evolving with the rise of the spending power amongst Asian collectors, along with their deepening appreciation for Western art.
Art Basel Hong Kong - one of the largest art fairs in the Eastern Asia region offers some of the most renowned Asian and international galleries a chance to expose. In hopes to promote local and regional art, the organization dedicates 50% of their booths to galleries with exhibition spaces in Asia.
In 2018, the opening of H Queen’s in Central Hong Kong quickly prompted the opening of New York-based gallery David Zwirner, joining with the likes of Pace Gallery and Hauser & Wirth, making a turning point in the Hong Kong art world. An architectural icon in itself, H Queen dedicates many spacious floors to gallery space, hence revitalizing the way art is presented in Hong Kong which was previously synonymous with cramped office buildings and remote industrial lofts.
Another international heavyweight paving a new course in Hong Kong is Lévy Gorvy - exhibiting in its 2,500-square foot gallery in the historic St. George’s Building in Central last year.
Morgan Long, senior director of The Fine Art Group points out that “whilst Hong Kong has established itself as an international art market hub, thanks in part to Art Basel Hong Kong and a forgiving tax regime, its notoriously high rents have fostered a “top-heavy” market for blue-chip contemporary art (...) — with high overheads often dictating conservative and sellable presentations. They are also limited by the similarities of the gallery units available in the Pedder and H Queen’s Building (where many of the top-tier galleries are based), whereas gallerists (and collectors) in Shanghai have a much greater range of locations and property types to choose from,”
Anne-Claudie Coric, the Executive Director of Galerie Templon, notes that “Shanghai feels more active than Hong Kong: there are many more museums, galleries, more artists’ studios. Though the art scene remains very national, unlike the international flavour of Hong Kong.” However, David Tung of Lisson Gallery, which opened its first Asian office in Shanghai instead of Hong Kong in 2016, noted that ‘Shanghai has a very rich cosmopolitan history and a vibrant museum and collector base. It provides opportunities to serve our clients and allows us to tap into the productive possibilities within China.’ In the last five years, private and public museums have blossomed in Shanghai, building on the success from early pioneers such as the Long Museum Pudong, and the Long Museum West Bund which opened in 2012 and 2014 respectively, as well as the Yuz Museum which opened in 2014. Commercially, a few international galleries have chosen to open an outpost in Shanghai instead of Hong Kong, including dealer Edouard Malingue, Perrotin and the aforementioned Liston Gallery. The number of art museums went up 130% to 78 in just five years’ time, indicating its immense potential to transform into the new Asian art hub.
In November 2018, Shanghai hosted 2 concurrent fairs that drew veteran international galleries to China. ART021 — a broader platform encompassing both established and emerging artists and collectors, and West Bund — with a focus on presentation and on the introduction of non-Chinese galleries to the region.
“Mainland China has a very high tax system on art so most people who buy art from Shanghai will tend to focus principally on art produced within China. At this stage, it remains very hard for us to bring important non-Chinese art to Mainland China,” Sundaram Tagore of Sundaram Tagore Gallery says.
“Hong Kong is an open market, with a sophisticated legal system, free trade, and free port policies, a low tax rate, an openly traded currency as well as an English-speaking workforce, excellent infrastructure, a strategic location to most Asian countries, and an efficient transportation and logistics system,” remarks Kevin Ching, CEO of Sotheby’s Asia. These strengths facilitate its art market to grow, appeal as a trading post, and a gateway to China. Hong Kong is trading on its “150 years of Commonwealth-city experience” and this may not be easily replaced. The inherent frame-of-mind and education structure is distinct from Mainland China, and art professionals and collectors in Hong Kong largely indulge in the freedom of speech with minimal censorship. Conversely, several international galleries have reported having exhibitions in China censored. “We had three works censored at the (West Bund) fair, and we still don’t understand the reasons for the decision,” says Coric.
But Tagore expresses concern about the number of art galleries being set up in Hong Kong and warns, “It’s hard to imagine that the Hong Kong art market can support so many galleries — especially because all of the most important activities in terms of sales tend to take place during Art Basel week, when collectors fly in from across the globe. Whilst Hong Kong is rightly placed for this market-driven influx, we may be reaching a saturation point.” A dipping local interest is a concern on how an art scene can function at a year-round high, with only a minute percentage of Hong Kongers participating.
Marissa Fung-Shaw, board member of the Asian Cultural Council and M+ notes “For Hong Kong to flourish, the power of the arts must be fully understood, valued and leveraged. To do so, our education system must fully embrace the arts.” Adding on, she emphasizes the need for more outdoor and underused spaces to be taken in as creative spaces for the fruition of artistic ideas; they could be warehouses, unused shops, or even empty lots and offices.
Will the two growing art markets become competitive? Or will the 2 markets complement each other and collaborate?
Francis Belin, President of Christie’s Asia notes “I don’t think it’s a mutually-exclusive game. (...) Both are amongst the fastest-growing art markets in the world. Both are undergoing huge transformations with their art ecology, and both are growing in parallel.”
Johnson Chang, founder of Han art TZ Gallery and co-founder of the Asia Art Archive has hopes for “the future of culture in Hong Kong to become [the intellectual] centre of Chinese classical scholarship, Indian classics and contemporary thought, Japanese and Korean studies, Tibetan scholarship and Himalayan studies.” He believes that “there is a dire need for a place in Asia where the great traditions of Asia’s past can meet and be pursued in earnest. Hong Kong could truly become the meeting ground of the creative arts in Asia, and not just a trading post."
The East Asian art scene could thrive through the unique infrastructural makeup and cultural influences of both Hong Kong and Shanghai, perhaps through their complementary efforts in potentially diversifying the art scene in both contemporary and traditional aspects. A notable example would be Ink Now - a new nomadic fair devoted to contemporary ink painting launched by Hong Kong-based dealer Calvin Hui, with plans to take their exhibitions next to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and London.
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