Was March something special for you? Every March is Hong Kong Arts Month. Not only did a variety of shows and exhibitions light up the city with amazing art, two most important art fairs for the international contemporary art scene, especially for Asian artists, have had their grand openings to close the festival.
It was the 7th year of Art Basel in Hong Kong. Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong Art Basel 2019 features top galleries from all around the world. Let’s check out some of the latest trends at the contemporary art scene.
Korean Artists on Trend
Upon your entrance you will find Korean artist Lee Bul’s huge silver work Willing to Be Vulnerable — Metalized Balloon above your head. Presented by Lehmann Maupin, PKM Gallery, and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, this enormous contemporary sculpture was sold on the first public day of above $200,000 US dollars to a private museum in China, becoming one of the most highly-priced artworks sold in the fair.
Although among Asian artists, Yoshitomo Nara is still top of the list with her 2006 work How Yer Doing? Stayin’ True to You? sold for $650,000 US dollars with Pace Gallery, the list is starting to be filled with more Korean candidates. Other than Lee Bul, Lee Ufan’s 2017 painting Dialogue was sold for $300,000 US dollars presented by Lisson Gallery. Korea-based galleries secure over half of all the booths, which dominate the fair over American and local galleries.
Online Viewing Room Takes Over
It has been two years since Gagosian opened their pre-show online viewing room and this year is a huge success.
Presenting Albert Oehlen’s work in their elaborate online viewing room, Gagosian did not expect to have it absent through the week in Hong Kong Art Basel 2019. Priced $6 million, which almost doubled Oehlen’s auction record of $4.7 million, Gagosian planned to have the work sold with a willing buyer towards the end of the week. Instead, it was sold hours after it went online before Hong Kong Art Basel was even opened. Similarly, all five Oehlens in Galerie Max Hetzler’s booth were all collected prior to the fair. Collector names are not revealed, but on the founder of Shanghai Yuz Museum, Budi Tek’s instagram, we found a picture of him and his wife in the booth with satisfied faces.
What Technology is Doing to the Art Market
Mike Weiss Gallery has shut down their physical location after 13 good years in the art scene and transform their business online. This trend is going to go on and going online is a wise choice to lead the art market.
ArtBloc sees the market needs and aim to reform the art trade. With an online platform to tackle the issue of stagnant growth in the existing art markets, ArtBloc will create a new tertiary market to promote safer transactions of art sales and purchases. Stay tuned with to find out more opportunities
About ARTBLOC
Opening up art investment for all, ARTBLOC enables micro-art investment by tokenizing the fractionalized ownership of masterpieces. ARTBLOC serves as a community for sharing art world information and critiques as well as a platform for art investment. ARTBLOC aims to drive the growth of the art market in general and support the artists, ultimately bringing art to our everyday lives.
Find us at ▶︎artbloc.io
