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Art Basel Hong Kong:
Ever Growing Asian Art Market

By Junko Iwabuchi

Photo: Naoko Shiraoka

Author Junko Iwabuchi

Beginnings in Basel

Crazy Rich Asians at Art Basel Hong Kong

With the growth of the global economy over the years, there
seems to have been a surge of art fairs popping up all over the world
and Art Basel (https://www.artbasel.com/) is known to be one of thetop brands in this field. Art Basel was founded in Basel, Switzerland,in 1970 by local gallerists Ernst Beyeler, Trudl Bruckner and Balz Hilt.
Thanks to its convenient location in Europe and the pleasant time ofyear when it takes place in June, the art fair has been a success fromthe beginning. More than 16,000 visitors attended the inauguralshow to see the works of 90 galleries from 10 countries, and within
five years the number of exhibitors surpassed 300 from 21 countries
and visitors grew to 37,000.
In December 2002, Art Basel Miami Beach was started with thepurpose of attracting wealthy European art collectors and this wasalso an instant success. In 2015, 267 leading galleries from 32
countries participated in the Miami Beach show and 77,000 visitors
came to see the art works during a five-day period. Both in Basel andin Miami, modern masters such as Kandinsky, Picasso, and Chagall
are exhibited and sold along with typically popular contemporary
American artists, such as Jeff Koons and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Art
Basel is a popular place for art connoisseurs of every level tocongregate, but has also become a significant point of convergencefor private collectors, museum directors, curators and trustees.

With growing investor interest in Hong Kong and neighboring
countries in Asia, the managing company for Art Basel, MCH (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCH_Group), bought an existing art fair in2013 to establish Art Basel Hong Kong (https://www.artbasel.com/hong-kong). In 2015, 239 galleries from 35 countries and territories
participated in Hong Kong Art Basel and more than 70,000 visitors
enjoyed the show. This year, in 2019, 242 galleries were represented
at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 36countries and territories across Asia, Europe, North and SouthAmerica, the Middle East and Africa. According to the press release,over half the galleries were from Asia and as many as 25 were from
Hong Kong itself. The VIP preview for special guests – mainlycollectors, museum directors, curators, trustees and the media –was held on March 27 and 28, and the fair was open to the generalpublic from March 29 through 31. I’ve had the privilege of attending
as a VIP for Basel, Switzerland and Miami Beach at various times in
the past, and did so this time as well at the seventh edition of Art
Basel Hong Kong.
I was quite stunned by the traffic jams while taking a cab to thevenue. In fact, the cab driver complained that he didn’t want to getnear the place given his experience last year. To my amazement, itwas evident that Art Basel Hong Kong had grown into the talk of the

Photo: Author

Photo: Author

Entrance to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on the 1st day of VIP preview

56 Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2019

Exhibition booths of art institutions and art publishers

https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/

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Photo: Author

Photo: Kentaro Hirano

Collaboration between BMW and Alexander CalderMuseum curators from abroad visiting Osage Gallery to see an AR installation by Japaneseartist, Masaki Fujihata*The boy on the ground can be seen only through smart phone application.

town. When my friends and I first arrived at the exhibition site, wenoticed there were several camera crews and broadcasters
conducting interviews with Asian movie stars. We had no idea whothese people were, but still we could tell their celebrity status fromthe way they were treated and their extravagant clothes. It very muchreminded me of the landing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York on the day of The Costume Institute Gala. And the floors
filled with expensive art works were packed with dealers committed
to selling what they brought and collectors determined to find thebest buy. It was the first couple of hours of the first day of the VIP
preview, but collectors were already bidding for the pieces they liked
and the air was tight as they talked about prices.
There were various new pieces done by younger contemporary
Asian artists especially for this occasion, but also I recognizedmuseum-class paintings and drawings by turn-of-the-century
Viennese master Egon Schiele in a large group. It is quite rare to seea Schiele that is actually for sale and in such a manner. One could
also recognize works by Picasso, Giacometti and various others fromthe textbook of your high school days. It is such an exciting
experience just walking through these booths, watching whatcollectors are buying and drinking champagne as you stop to rest. I
also ran into an old friend, Richard Armstrong, director of theGuggenheim Museum and CEO of the Guggenheim Foundation fromNew York, while wandering among the art works. He jokingly said tome from some distance, “Shopping?” I had last bumped into him as
I was getting off a tram in Basel a few years ago and now here he

was again in Hong Kong at Art Basel. You could tell that Art Basel is
one destination where important figures in the art industry
congregate every year.

Are Japanese Businessmen Now Interested in Art?
I had a chance to speak with a prominent Japanese art dealer,
Sueo Mizuma, executive director of Mizuma Art Gallery, during thefair. He has been in the art business for more than two decades,
operating galleries in Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing and New York. He is
also a frequent participant in international art fairs. I asked him
whether Japanese businessmen, known to be not necessarily familiar
with art, had shown any signs of change recently, and he said that hewas beginning to see more and more younger self-madebusinessmen with a technology background taking time to visit art
fairs. He also pointed out the increasing interest among younger
galleries in getting out of Japan and seriously considering business
opportunities globally. Hong Kong seems to be appropriate as theirentry point and even though most of them cannot afford immediately
to become a participant at Art Basel, there is a less costly and more
flexible platform at Art Central (http://artcentralhongkong.com/) thattakes place in the fashionable Central Harbourfront. Seventeen
galleries from Japan were among the 100 galleries represented witha strong geographical focus on Asia at Art Central this year, and theperiod coincided with Art Basel. Local media were reporting thatpieces sold at Art Basel are reserved for wealthy collectors, but Art
Central is for everybody, and indeed the venue was filled with young
people including art students. One could find a piece of art by
up-and-coming artists within a price range of $2,000-5,000, orJapan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 201957

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Photo: Kentaro Hirano

would never know if they stayed inside the Japanese market andwere not exposed to information from outside. Mizuma said hebelieves in the success of Japanese gallerists and Japanese artists
outside of Japan, but is not so optimistic about the recovery of theJapanese art market. He also lamented the tendency of the Japanese
to be critical of people enjoying their life and he often gets criticizedfor tweeting about visiting good restaurants and playing golf in
between business. Let’s hope that will slowly change with the arrivalof younger generations.

Where Is Hong Kong & Its Art Market Headed?

sometimes even less, and many of them sold very quickly. Anotherinteresting feature of Art Central was the creative collaboration
between visual arts and culinary arts (pop up restaurants by starchefs at the venue), which drew more people and tended to makethem stay longer in the area.
Mizuma is hopeful about this steady exodus of Japanese galleries
into new territories as he finds the potential of the market within
Japan is too confined and exposure to global market adds value both
to Japanese galleries and Japanese artists. I found it interesting thatboth younger Japanese galleries and collectors go to art fairs abroad,but it probably makes sense for them to feel and learn about what issought by collectors in the global market. That is something they

As any observer can see, Hong Kong is thriving and its products
and services for the wealthy are very strong. If you go to the highend supermarket City Super you can find an unusual lineup of foods,from balsamic vinegar to freshly rolled sushi, and even natto(fermented soy beans) flown in daily from Japan. Aromatic coffee isimported both from the United States and Italy and flavorful tea
comes from England. Chocolates are from Belgium, France andSwitzerland. They may be extremely expensive, but there areindividuals who can afford to pay for such things. The main partner
for Art Basel is the Swiss bank UBS and for Art Central it is theSingaporean multinational banking organization UOB. Both are
known for their private banking and wealth management. If you areregistered on the VIP list at Art Basel, you will be given many pagesof information on luxurious hotels where you could easily spend
more than $1,000 per night.
Hong Kong has been like this for many years and will probably

Photo: Kentaro Hirano

Photo: Kentaro Hirano

Entrance to Art Central

Inflatable artwork by KAWS in Victoria Harbour

58 Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2019

Piece by British artist Julian Opie in the center

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Photo: Kentaro Hirano

Piece on the floor by Korean minimalist, Lee Ufan

remain so for decades to come. However, when I spoke to local
business owners and asked casually if they had any concerns about
the increasing influence of mainland China, they reluctantly replied“Yes” in lowered voices. Then they started talking about the highcost of living and how they are trying to cope with raising children,and particularly about the limited choice of education. One young
man told me that he was sent to a boarding school in Malaysia
because it was less costly. His parents valued a good education, butthey couldn’t afford to send him to the United Kingdom, so decidedto send him to an English-type boarding school in Malaysia where
good teachers are recruited from all over the world. He went on to
study in Europe afterwards as well. I asked him if he plans to remainin Hong Kong, or move outside if offered a good job opportunity
elsewhere. He said, “I’m not sure, but we have enough relatives
living in the US, Canada and Australia. They own businesses, big orsmall. Younger people including myself are open to moving to thesecountries and settling into a new environment, particularly when
thinking of getting married and having children. But older ones…
they never consider leaving Hong Kong. This is the only place theyknow and they can’t seem to think of the world outside of HongKong.”
Every time I go to Hong Kong, I notice that fewer and fewer cab
drivers at the airport speak English. This happened in Berlin for awhile too after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Maybe soon we will all be
expected to communicate with cabbies in Chinese, or through asmartphone application that translates on your behalf. But somehow
I feel the slow suffocation of the Hong Kong that used to be. One
local gallery owner expressed unease over the uncertainty of

Photo: Kentaro Hirano

Visitors taking pictures of works by Egon Schiele

freedom of expression in the coming years and asked herself if she
could continue organizing exhibitions with a political context.
Hong Kong will continue to thrive as a gourmet capital and remain
as the storefront of goods and services for the rich, but to have anart fair that attracts world famous museum directors, curators,
influential art collectors and cutting edge art events for young people
such as Art Central will remain important as they could function as aprotector or symbol of freedom of expression in Hong Kong.
There used be a strict code of “no photography allowed” at Art
Basel, but this year I saw almost everyone, young and older, taking
pictures of each other with works of art in the background for theirsocial media accounts. As long as they continue to have these festive
art events and people congregate to discuss art and disseminate
what they think through social media, the future of Hong Kong willremain bright, no matter what happens to the political environment.
Announcements have already been made on the dates for Art Basel2020 (https://www.artbasel.com/hong-kong/at-the-show) and Art
Central 2020 (http://artcentralhongkong.com/visit/). I hope you may
have the opportunity to join me there, as it’s always fun and exciting
to plan a trip to Hong Kong.

Junko Iwabuchi is chief writer and partner at web media “Agrospacia” andadjunct professor at Aoyama Gakuin University. She is a former Helena
Rubinstein Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, andparticipated in the Rotary Foundation scholarship program to study in Florence,Italy. She is a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines in Japan onarts, culture, lifestyle and media.

Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 201959