The eighth edition of Hong Kong’s leading art fair, and the third under the Art Basel umbrella, will boast its first satellite event: Art Central. Together, they will give more backing to the art that is anchored in this fluid, international city. The main fair has been accused in previous years of not giving enough space to Hong Kong’s galleries and artists, though this has been gradually rectified as the city’s cultural scene—and local art market—has grown.
While the home-grown galleries are still a tiny proportion of the core section (11 out of 181), Hong Kong artists will be more visible. The one newcomer, Edouard Malingue, who was in the Insights section last year, is bringing to the Encounters section what he calls “a huge installation” by João Vasco Paiva, a Portuguese-born artist who has lived in Hong Kong for nearly ten years. Paiva’s Mausoleum, 2015—priced around HK$1m ($130,000)—recreates a burial chamber from recast Styrofoam crates, as used by the vendors at Hong Kong’s popular local market (the crates normally take hundreds of years to disintegrate.)
Blindspot Gallery, a local gallery in the fair’s Discoveries section, is bringing works by another expatriate artist, the Chinese-born Trevor Yeung, which are priced between HK$30,000 and HK$80,000 ($4,000-$10,000). Yeung’s photography-based work was included in the “Ten Million Rooms of Yearning: Sex in Hong Kong” show at Para Site last year.
Going international
Overseas galleries are also presenting works by Hong Kong artists, as they gradually move into a more international market. Aike-Dellarco from Shanghai and ShugoArts from Tokyo will show works by Lee Kit, who represented Hong Kong at the Venice Biennale in 2013. Ben Brown, the London dealer who was one of the first to open in Hong Kong in 2009, will be showing works by three local artists, including Kitty Chou (photographs priced between $3,000 and $15,000).
Meanwhile, Art Central, whose 10,000 sq. m tent will be visible from the windows of the Convention Center, “will be strong on local artists”, says its co-founder Tim Etchells, also one of the founders of the original Hong Kong fair. Of the 77 galleries exhibiting at the new fair, 17 started out in Hong Kong (most still only have the one branch). Works on show will include a site-specific, 11m-long mural by the distinctive local graffiti artist, Xeme.
Art Basel Hong Kong, Convention and Exhibition Center, 15-17 March; Art Central, Central Harbourfront, 14-16 March