New art fairs Tokyo Gendai and Art SG hope to be catalysts for still immature markets

TOKYO – “Why Asian Art Now?”, quizzes the cover of a special Spring edition of Bijutsutecho International, a Japanese contemporary art magazine, in bold block letters.

Today, this is no longer a novel or even interesting proposition, but the year of publication is not 2024, but 2016. Even eight years ago, those with expert knowledge of the art market were already presuming a surge in interest in Asian art, yet this diagnosis has proven to be premature, or at least overblown.