HONG KONG – Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK) – Asia’s largest art fair – opened its doors for private viewing on March 21 at noon, with 177 participating galleries showing in person for the first time in three years and hoping for record early sales.

Within the opening hour, blue-chip gallery David Zwirner sold works by two American artists. Jordan Wolfson’s Red Sculpture (US$900,000 or S$1.2 million) went to Shanghai’s Long Museum, while Elizabeth Peyton’s Truffaut (US$2.2 million) was sold to an undisclosed major Asian museum.

Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth made close to US$8 million in art sales on the first day.

The highly anticipated fair, spread across two floors of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, is being widely watched as an early indicator of Hong Kong’s position in the global art market since the city ended three years of harsh quarantine rules in September 2022.

ABHK opens to the public from March 23 to 25.

Art Central – ABHK’s satellite fair dedicated to contemporary art in Asia – also opened for preview at the same location on March 21 and will launch its eighth edition from March 22 to 25 with 72 participating galleries.  

Speaking to The Straits Times, Lehmann Maupin’s Hong Kong-based director Shasha Tittmann says: “There have been a lot of Asian collectors we haven’t seen in a long time, and we did not see them at Art SG or Frieze Seoul.” 

Comparing the two new Asia-based fairs that Lehmann Maupin has participated in, she adds: “The big difference is there are a lot of museum groups here and curators from the West (at ABHK).” 

In September 2022, Frieze launched its first Asia-based fair in Seoul. Singapore launched South-east Asia’s largest art fair, Art SG, in January. Tokyo Gendai is slated to launch in July. 

Although ABHK’s roster this year surpasses the 130 galleries that exhibited in last year’s hybrid edition, the numbers have not recovered to the pre-pandemic average of about 240 participating galleries. 

Eight galleries with a Singapore presence – Fost Gallery, Gajah Gallery, Richard Koh Fine Art, Mizuma Art Gallery, Ota Fine Arts, ShanghART Gallery, STPI and Yavuz Gallery – are taking part in ABHK.

Comparing Art SG with ABHK, gallerist Richard Koh, 58, says: “Singapore draws more regional collectors from around South-east Asia, while Hong Kong makes collecting accessible to more buyers from mainland China.” 

China reopened its borders with Hong Kong on Jan 8. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, more than 1.1 million tourists arrived from the mainland in February, accounting for about three in four tourists to Hong Kong. 

Mr Koh’s gallery is presenting three young Malaysian artists – Joshua Kane Gomes, Yeoh Choo Kuan and Justin Lim. 

Gallery director Rita Targui of STPI, a gallery which has participated in every ABHK since 2014 and whose executive director Emi Eu sits on ABHK’s selection committee, says: “Art fairs are truly about the in-person experience.”

The 53-year-old adds: “We look forward to meeting new collectors and reconnecting with familiar faces in the art world, as well as sharing our powerful line-up of artists Rirkrit Tiravanija, Do Ho Suh, Charles Lim Yi Yong, Pinaree Sanpitak, Haegue Yang and Heman Chong, who all have works in the collection of M+.”

M+, Hong Kong’s latest museum dedicated to global visual culture, is one of eight cultural facilities in the West Kowloon Cultural District launched mostly during the pandemic.

The project, backed by a HK$21.6 billion (S$3.68 billion) endowment from the Hong Kong government, has ambitions of becoming the cultural district for the Greater Bay Area and even Asia. 

Singapore artists are also showing at ABHK.

Shubigi Rao, who represented Singapore at the Venice Biennale in 2022, will present River Of Ink II (2023) in Encounters, a curated section featuring large-scale installations. The section features 13 works curated by Ms Alexie Glass-Kantor.

Despite the avalanche of regional art fairs crowding the calendar, Ms Tittmann says: “I would say there is definitely room for all of it. Asia is a very dynamic region, but I credit ABHK, a major international art fair, with showing that you can continue creating these models elsewhere in Asia.”

• The writer was hosted by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.