Art Market
Hok hang Cheung
Hong Kong’s marquee Art Week is approaching at a pivotal moment for the special administrative region. This year’s event—which includes the 12th edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, the city’s homegrown fair Art Central, and a flurry of museum and gallery openings—will be a watershed one for the city, testing whether it can maintain its position as Asia’s leading art hub.
The past year has been a rollercoaster. A prolonged economic downturn in China, coupled with a broader slowdown in the global art market, has left its mark on Hong Kong. Some galleries and institutions have shut their doors, while others have bypassed Hong Kong in favor of expanding their regional footprints in cities like Seoul and Tokyo. Beyond economic pressures, shifting sociopolitical dynamics have also reshaped the landscape.
The numbers tell a sobering story. While China once again became the world’s second-largest art market in 2023, according to Art Basel and UBS’s 2024 Art Market Report, its auction sector plunged by 63% in 2024, according to Agence France-Presse (both statistics include Hong Kong). Meanwhile, the city has experienced a significant exodus. Investment migration firm Henley & Partners reported that the number of millionaires in Hong Kong fell by 4% between 2014 and 2024, and the city has seen sustained levels of emigration between 2020 and 2023.
“We lost a lot of the expat crowd, which was a strong art-buying community,” said Katie de Tilly, founder of 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, which opened in 2001.
Interior view of Art Basel Hong Kong 2024. Courtesy of Art Basel.
Yet it’s not all doom and gloom. “2024 was a very difficult year for the overall art market, and Hong Kong was no exception,” said Elaine Kwok, a former managing partner for Asia at Hauser & Wirth. “And yet there were many bright spots that showed that major arts players are continuing to invest in their long-term presence in Hong Kong.”
Kwok pointed out that despite market challenges, all major auction houses have recently expanded their operations in Hong Kong. Hauser & Wirth, she added, also had its strongest Art Basel Hong Kong in 2024, proving that serious collectors are still buying top-quality works.
Hong Kong’s local art ecosystem also seems to be undergoing a process of maturation—a shift that began during the pandemic. “Hong Kong is not just a market hub anymore, it’s becoming a creative hub,” said Pascal de Sarthe, who opened his eponymous Hong Kong gallery in 2010.
He believes the city’s rapid rise as an art market powerhouse—fueled by Sotheby’s and Christie’s relocating their Asia auctions to Hong Kong in the early 2000s and the transformation of local fair ArtHK into Art Basel Hong Kong in 2013—had placed an overwhelming emphasis on speculation.
But the isolation of the pandemic years has changed the dynamic. With strict quarantine restrictions preventing international galleries from shipping in artworks between 2020 and 2022, attention shifted to the city’s own talent.
Interior view of Christie’s Hong Kong at the Henderson, 2024. Courtesy of Christie’s.
Hong Kong artists, long overshadowed by their mainland and international counterparts, finally found themselves in the spotlight. Both commercial and nonprofit spaces saw record foot traffic, with M+ Museum alone pulling in over 2 million visitors in its first full year in 2022—an impressive feat, considering public gatherings were still restricted under lingering pandemic measures.
For the first time, many Hong Kong artists were encouraged to exhibit large-scale, experimental, or more conceptual works. This was a significant departure from the past when gallery shows often featured smaller pieces suited to the compact living spaces of local collectors.
Since the 2023 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong artists’ works have also become a regular feature in the fair’s curated programs, signaling a deeper recognition of the city’s artistic community.
Daphne King Yao, director of Alisan Fine Arts, noted that the growing interest in Hong Kong artists means more than just exhibition visits; collectors, both local and international, are also buying their work strongly. “Hong Kong artists actually ended up doing really well,” she said. “We had so many artists that they couldn’t even produce work fast enough to give to us to do exhibitions because they were just selling left and right.”
Interior view of Alisan Fine Arts Hong Kong. Courtesy of Alisan Fine Arts.
To meet this growing demand, the gallery opened a new 1,000-square-foot space in Aberdeen Harbour on Hong Kong’s south side last year. Designed as a “lived environment” rather than a traditional white cube gallery, the space offers a more immersive and intimate setting for visitors and collectors.
Alongside the growing interest in Hong Kong artists, the local art market is also becoming more inclusive, both geographically and demographically.
Collectors from the Global South are making their presence felt, and galleries are responding by putting a spotlight on artists from South and Southeast Asia. 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, for instance, will present a group exhibition featuring eight Southeast Asian artists, curated by Singaporean art historian Iola Lenzi. The show includes prominent names like Vietnamese artist Bùi Công Khánh, known for his work exploring his country’s colonial past and restrictive governance, and Burmese artist Htein Lin, who transforms his experiences as a former political prisoner into powerful installations.
In addition, women artists are also notably in the spotlight during this year’s Hong Kong Art Week, from the solo exhibition by Lynne Drexler at White Cube to heritage venue Tai Kwun’s unprecedented dedication of all its exhibitions during the marquee art week to female artists. This is highlighted by solo shows by three ultra-contemporary artists: Hu Xiaoyuan, Alicia Kwade, and Maeve Brennan.
“We have come a long way in terms of representation of female artists since I started working in the field in 2007,” said Kwok. “Much of this has to do with more leadership roles in the art world being taken up by women.”
She noted that women collectors are actively founding and leading private institutions in Asia, and women artists will undoubtedly see greater visibility as a result. Likewise, organizations like Asia Art Archive, M+, and Art Basel Hong Kong are instrumental in positioning art from various parts of Asia within a global context. Consequently, these shifts will not only draw collectors from a broader geographical spectrum, but also diversify the collector base itself.
“Patrons and curators naturally support and promote art that resonates with their personal experiences,” said Kwok.
So the party in Hong Kong may have changed its tune, but it’s far from fading. Despite these promising trends, however, Hong Kong still faces a major challenge on the global stage. Just as collectors and galleries gear up for the city’s biggest art event, a new trade war between China and the United States is brewing.
Since President Trump took office in January, the U.S. has imposed 20% tariffs on Chinese imports, with potential for more. Hong Kong, which previously had separate diplomatic status, lost its U.S. special trading status in 2020. This means Hong Kong–made goods are now labeled “Made in China.” While art is exempt from these tariffs and avoidance is possible, rising indirect costs like shipping and art-related supplies might reduce buyer confidence in purchasing from Hong Kong altogether.
This makes the turnout at this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong more than just a measure of market confidence. It could offer a glimpse into the long-term challenges the city’s art scene may face in the coming years. It’s important, then, that the city’s art scene is taking a resilient stance. Yao remains confident: “It’s not a surprise to us,” she said. “People have made preparations, whether they are mentally prepared or have plans A, B, and C.”
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