Art Basel Hong Kong 2025
- cdzenzerska
- Mar 30
- 3 min read
First time in Hong Kong, first time at Art Basel Hong Kong… where do I begin? For one, I was surprised to discover that it was hard to find matcha anywhere, even at a five star hotel. Learned it was more of a Japanese thing, rather than Chinese, which was interesting, but back to the art…
We all clearly heard the memo that Asian market, particularly Mainland Chinese market, had softened due to economic pressures, so the expectations were quite low, which resulted in a mediocre selection of works both at the fair and at auctions - all the stellar examples are reserved for New York in May, both for auctions and Frieze NY and, of course, the upcoming Art Basel in Basel - the crown jewel of the annual art calendar.
Testament to this was that me and one of my clients managed to walk around the entire fair on two levels in two hours, whereas Art Basel Paris and Art Basel Basel took us days of strolling, drooling and making lists of potential acquisitions.
The fact that the most expensive work sold on the first day was the Infinity Net from 2013 by Yayoi Kusama at David Zwirner for $3.5m attests to more cautious buying mood as well. Normally, such number would not be news-worthy at Art Basel. While another gorgeous Kusama’s Infinity Net from 2007, 194 x 194 cm, purchased by a consignor at auction for $2.1m in September 2024 and was attempted to be resold now for $3.2m, attracted no takers throughout the fair. Asian market is giving tough time to flippers! The same fate befell the most expensive work at fair: A Study for Portrait of John Edwards by Francis Bacon on sale for $22m at Acquavella Galleries, which remained unsold at the time I was leaving Hong Kong.
Nevertheless, quality works within $1-2m price range were doing quite well. Blue-chip names, perceived to be a safe bet during turbulent times, like Roy Lichtenstein and his Waterlilies and Japanese Bridge, 1992, for $1.5m at Thaddaeus Ropac, or colorful Kusama’s work from My Eternal Soul series at Ota Fine Arts for $2m found buyers in the first days of the fair with ease.
The absolute rising star of the fair was Poppy Jones - young British figurative artist, who was showing with Herald St gallery. Her works were on everybody’s lips and IG feeds!
Among the gallery shows in the city, coinciding with the Art Basel Hong Kong, my favorite one has been Emma McIntyre’s new exhibition at David Zwirner. I was particularly enamored by her dynamic abstractions.
And of course one cannot forget Louise Bourgeois exhibition at Hauser & Wirth for its exceptional sculptures! My favorite one is below:
Auctions-wise, as I had said, there were no surprises at all. Everything was predictably average. My favorite lot must have been Freezing 01 by Christine Ay Tjoe from 2017-18 at Sotheby’s. It did extremely well, as expected, due to her slow pace of work and, hence, the scarcity of primary material on the market. The work has sold for HKD 5,715,000 with BP against the estimates of HKD 2-4m.
Overall, Hong Kong was a treat, abound with the most exceptional food and service. Sincerely hope that all the talk of “new Gen-Z art buyers from South Eastern Asia” is true and will lead us to an even stronger edition in 2026!