Despite recent speculation that Hong Kong’s primacy as a major player in the art world has waned in recent years, mainly due to domestic political protests and Covid-19 restrictions, global mega galleries and auction houses continue to double down on city
This week, Hauser & Wirth opened a new street-level gallery space in Hong Kong’s central business district with an inaugural exhibition featuring stunning new works by Chinese artist Zhang Enli.
The blue-chip gallery, which first opened in the city in 2018, has moved from its original premises on the 15th and 16th floors in the famous art gallery cluster at H Queen’s to a three-storey, 10,000 sq ft. space designed by Selldorf Architects at 8 Queen’s Road Central, at the junction of the main road with historic Ice House Street and Duddell Street.
Related Articles
The new gallery space is definitely a sight to behold even for passing pedestrians, with Enli’s colorful and incandescent gestural paintings displayed throughout the ground floor. The works were specifically chosen for the show to reflect the artist’s progression towards the looser, more liberated brushwork that has been a hallmark of his practice in recent times.
“We deliberately sought a space that maximizes exposure to the public through ground-floor access, so the gallery is welcoming to the city’s art-engaged public,” said Hauser & Wirth President Iwan Wirth. ARTnews during the gallery’s opening week. “The location in Hong Kong was very carefully selected and is ideal because it allows us to remain closely connected to Central’s community of galleries and institutions.”
Nearby galleries at street level include WOAW Gallery, Opera Gallery and Lévy Gorvy Dayan, as well as David Zwirner and Tang Contemporary Art, which also previously had spaces in the H Queen building.
The trend towards street-level galleries is recent, as such prime real estate has historically been rare for commercial art galleries in Hong Kong. “Having street-level art gallery space, especially on the scale of Hauser & Wirth’s new facility, is something that most other international art centers take for granted, but it’s a big deal in Hong Kong,” said Rosanna Herries, a Hong Kong resident. cultural communication consultant who attended the crowded opening of the gallery on Wednesday. “For the art-appreciating public in the city, it is exciting to have a gallery with such a sophisticated exhibition program that is so strongly committed to the accessibility and visibility of its artists.”
The opening reception for Zhang Enli’s exhibition at Hauser & Wirth’s new location in Hong Kong.
Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth
However, the question remains why Hong Kong now? In addition to expanding their respective Asian teams, Christie’s will move its Asia-Pacific headquarters to a four-story, 50,000-square-foot space in the Henderson Building in the Central District later this year; Phillips moved to new and expanded premises next to the new M+ Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District in March 2023, coinciding with the first Art Basel Hong Kong without travel restrictions; and Sotheby’s will also soon move to the brand new Six Pacific Place in Admiralty, within walking distance of the auction house’s newly announced year-round exhibition space.
All this activity is especially curious given the launch of new fairs in Seoul and Tokyo and the movement of wealth during the pandemic that seemed to temporarily bolster Singapore’s status as an art capital rising above Hong Kong. Interestingly, Hauser & Wirth has so far not participated in Singapore’s relatively nascent international art fair ART SG, the second edition of which took place the week before Hauser & Wirth’s latest gallery space opened.
For Elaine Kwok, the gallery’s managing partner for Asia, Hong Kong’s history as a thriving art scene is the clear draw: “Hong Kong’s burgeoning art scene has long attracted artists, collectors, curators and enthusiasts from all over the world. world. It is an established and vibrant arts and cultural center, so this move reaffirms our commitment not only to Hong Kong but also to the wider region.”
She added: “We are very positive about Asia. Hauser & Wirth has been active in the region for decades before opening our first space in Hong Kong in 2018, and we look forward to many more years of engagement and growth ahead.
New location of Hauser & Wirth in Hong Kong.
Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth
Lawrence Van Hagen, who founded his art consultancy LVH Art in 2016 and works with clients in Paris, London and Hong Kong, highlighted the great commercial energy of art galleries in the city, especially since they reopened to international visitors last March .
“Hong Kong’s art gallery scene is very much geared towards helping build the collections of buyers within Hong Kong and the surrounding regions,” Van Hagen said. ARTnews. “Notably, there are no art import fees in Hong Kong, and it is easy to ship works to and from the city, making it a very competitive environment for collectors to buy and for galleries to exhibit.”
Kwok said that “the gallery clients who are active here not only come from Hong Kong and all over Asia, but also from further afield, especially during the annual Art Basel Hong Kong moment.”
Although Enli was the first Asian artist to join Hauser & Wirth’s roster, in 2006, the gallery has never mounted an exhibition for him in Asia, although he has been widely exhibited in its spaces in New York, London, Zurich and Somerset. England He has also had several high-profile museum exhibitions in mainland China, including the now-defunct Long Museum, the He Art Museum and the Power Station of Art Shanghai.
“We’ve just been waiting for the perfect moment to showcase his work with a fantastic show in Hong Kong,” Wirth said. “The opening of a new space here – a major milestone for us in Asia – seemed like the ideal opportunity.”
