Hong Kong affirms pole position as art market hub with sizzling sales figures

BY most accounts, Hong Kong’s great reversal of fortune is proceeding quickly. The city underwent three tough years of outflows of talent, capital and businesses. But the impressive numbers at the ongoing art fair Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK) – along with a host of other events and exhibitions – offer proof that the city is roaring back to life.

At ABHK, there were several million-dollar transactions on the first day – Ota Fine Arts sold a Yayoi Kusama dotted pumpkin sculpture for US$3.5 million; Hauser & Wirth gallery sold a Mark Bradford canvas, also for US$3.5 million, to an Asian collection; and David Zwirner sold an Elizabeth Peyton portrait of film-maker Francois Truffaut for US$2.2 million to an unnamed “major Asian museum”.

Thaddaeus Ropac closed a 1.4 million euro (S$2.02 million) deal for a Georg Baselitz canvas. Lee Ufan abstracts priced in the six and seven figures found new homes in different continents. A few hours after the fair doors opened, David Kordansky Gallery sold out its entire booth of Adam Pendleton artworks worth over US$1 million to “prominent collectors in Asia”.