UNSCHEDULED Reignites Hong Kong Art Market

Healthy sales indicate appeal of an intimate art fair
By A&M

Key Points

• UNSCHEDULED leads the Hong Kong art community out of online activations into its first physical art event in months.

• Healthy sales reported by participating galleries indicate local collectors’ readiness to continue investing in art amid a global economic crisis.

• Intimate art fairs appear to be the way forward as both gallerists and collectors become more selective of activities to participate in.

UNSCHEDULED, organised by the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association (HKAGA) opened last week on 17 June, and will close this Saturday, 27 June at Tai Kwun. It is the first physical art fair in Hong Kong following the cancellation of Hong Kong Art Week and its anchor events Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central in March. Featuring solo presentations from 12 galleries in an innovative spatial design, art lovers have embraced the fair to once again enjoy art in person.

UNSCHEDULED at Tai Kwun. Image courtesy of HKAGA. Photo by Felix SC Wong.

The event represents a coming together of Hong Kong-based galleries to revive the city’s art market against the proliferation of online activations in response to COVID-19 lockdowns worldwide. The co-organisers are Willem Molesworth, Director at De Sarthe Gallery and Fabio Rossi, Owner and Principal at Rossi & Rossi. Both sit on the board of the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association. It is a calculated move that has paid off. “We have been thrilled with the outcome of UNSCHEDULED, which has surpassed all our expectations,” say Molesworth and Rossi. “There has been a genuine appetite and positive energy among the art community and art enthusiasts to reunite and interact with art in a physical space.”

Mak Ying Tung 2 at De Sarthe Gallery’s space. Image courtesy of De Sarthe Gallery.

Liu Bolin, ‘Paint Buckets’, 2016, epson glossy photo paper, edition 3 of 8, 90 x 120cm. Image courtesy of Liu Bolin Studio and Over the Influence.

Indeed there was much anticipation for the fair, which presented the first opportunity for a physical gathering of the Hong Kong art community after a freezing of the art calendar precipitated first by political unrest followed by threat of COVID-19 virus in the city. “We are very grateful for the opportunity to participate in an art fair after a long inactive period of art events,” says Aimee Man, Art Advisor at Whitestone Gallery Hong Kong. “This is a good opportunity for collectors and galleries to reconnect.”

The boutique art fair has proven to be a welcome reunion for the Hong Kong art community. “We are happy to witness a very good turn-up of press, collectors and public visitors, and the fair is busy most of the time,” says Julliana Choi, Director at Over the Influence, which is presenting works by Chinese artist Liu Bolin. “People are excited to be able to go out and appreciate artworks in person again. We think the fair has been very effective in energising the local art scene and uniting the local art community, and we hope this will signify the first step for the Hong Kong art market to regain its liveliness.” Edouard Malingue Gallery, which is showing works by Taiwanese artist Chou Yu-Cheng is similarly observing good footfall and quality engagement with the local audience.

Egami Etsu, ‘Temptation by Brush 2020-020’. Image courtesy of Whitestone Gallery Hong Kong.

Participating galleries are reporting robust sales. Through active pre-fair marketing to their existing clients, Whitestone Gallery sold 80% of their Egami Etsu works before the opening, which were subsequently sold out within two days of the fair. De Sarthe Gallery at the time of publication had sold all but one of the works by Hong Kong-based artist Mak Ying Tung 2. Lucie Chang Fine Arts equally reports healthy sales at its booth in its presentation of Japanese artist Aruta Soup, who works in paintings and graffiti. Molesworth, along with Rossi, whose gallery is presenting Singapore artist Heman Chong, note that deals have been closed with both active and new collectors, saying, “This is yet an encouraging indication of the resilience of Hong Kong’s local art scene and as an international hub as the city further opens up.”

Aruta Soup at Lucie Chang Fine Arts’s space. Image courtesy of HKAGA. Photo by Felix SC Wong.

A big part of the appeal of UNSCHEDULED is its manageable size. “The fair is relatively small, so it is not too hard for our visitors to navigate,” says Man. In addition, the aesthetically pleasing demarcation of booths, with its lack of aisles and pleasing arched doorways conceptualised with Beau Architects, have also earned praise from both galleries and visitors. Man adds, “We are amazed how well the spaces are utilised. We are also happy with our booth space to showcase the works.” Similarly, Pascal de Sarthe, Founder of De Sarthe Gallery, notes, “ Both old and new collectors are eager to engage and buy, and they love the alternative layout and boutique experience of the fair.” Visitors have felt recharged by the UNSCHEDULED experience, as opposed to the oft-repeated comment of being overwhelmed at the increasingly sprawling fairs the art world had grown accustomed to before the pandemic.

Manzi exhibition space and artist residency at 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đinh, Hanoi. Image courtesy of Manzi Art Space.

Some suggestions from participating galleries for improvement to UNSCHEDULED include more posters at Tai Kwun to promote the event locally, and signs to direct visitors and passers-by to the fair site. That said, after months of stillness in the physical Hong Kong art scene without the typical troop of overseas visitors it hosts in March, UNSCHEDULED is a breath of fresh air. As a barometer for the state of the art market in Hong Kong, it is showing the way forward for the rest of Asia as both producers and consumers become more selective about the art world activities they choose to participate in. 


UNSCHEDULED remains open until 27 June 2020. More information about the fair and its artworks are available at http://www.hk-aga.org/unscheduled/.