Art Market
Hilary Joo
In this quarterly series, we hear from Hilary Joo, a Seoul-based sales manager and gallery partnerships lead at Artsy, for her thoughts on what has happened in the Asian art market this quarter.
A major moment for the growing Indian art market
Installation view of Chemould Prescott Road’s booth at India Art Fair, 2024. Courtesy of India Art Fair.
Taking place at the beginning of February, India Art Fair was an all-around success. The fair scaled up its number of exhibitors to more than 100, and galleries reported strong sales from a combination of Indian and international collectors, especially those from Southeast Asia.
The momentum of the Indian art market is increasingly drawing international attention. “The Indian economy is growing rapidly along with our population. There is an acute appreciation for visual aesthetics and a tremendous growth in disposable income as the country becomes more self-sustaining,” said Prateek Raja, the director of tastemaking Kolkata gallery Experimenter. “The large educated middle class, who’s interested in culture and art, is growing as well. Ten years ago, most people bought artworks only to decorate, but now people buy artworks to get something meaningful and to capture the moment.”
Raja added that while it’s a good moment for artists to find various platforms for their artworks to be seen more widely, there are still some domestic “hurdles,” such as high import tax rates. His overall outlook, though, is one of resounding optimism: “It is only the beginning for the Indian art market to grow even further,” he said.
Hong Kong’s major March
Exterior view of Art Basel Hong Kong, 2024. Courtesy of Art Basel.
It felt like the entire Asian art world was in Hong Kong for the region’s Art Week, which took place at the end of March. After a successful comeback last year, Art Basel Hong Kong returned with a full “pre-pandemic” scale this year with 242 galleries; however, reported attendance at the fair was less than in 2023. But Art Basel wasn’t the only event exciting the visitors. Galleries based in the city—from established names to local tastemakers—put on their best shows, while events such as Art Central and Supper Club Hong Kong added to the buzz across the city.
Across the fairs and events, I heard from dealers that sales were slower than in 2023, with collectors noticeably more hesitant. Hong Kong is also competing with a much larger number of regional art fair moments, with events including Frieze Seoul, Art SG, and Tokyo Gendai emerging in recent years.
Despite the increased competition, I don’t have any doubts that Hong Kong will remain strong as the preeminent art hub in Asia: It’s a question of when, and not if, it returns to its pre-pandemic heights.
Tokyo’s collaborative gallery retreat stages its final outing
Portrait of Jeffrey Rosen. Courtesy of Onsen Confidential.
Taking place in the idyllic hot springs of Atami—easily accessible from Tokyo—the final edition of Onsen Confidential will feature 14 Tokyo galleries, which will invite 23 overseas names for shared presentations.
Launched in 2022 by Jeffrey and Misako Rosen from Tokyo tastemaker Misako&Rosen, Onsen Confidential is envisioned as a nonprofit initiative to help peer galleries feel more comfortable collaborating with each other while taking out some of the risks that can arise with meeting new collectors.
Alongside this edition, which runs until April 21st, Onsen Confidential will host a series of events including a discussion session with three major fair directors—Angelle Siyang-Le from Art Basel Hong Kong, Patrick Lee from Frieze Seoul, and Yamashita Yukako from Art Collaboration Kyoto—about the art market in APAC.
“The theme of this retreat is ‘not to get stressed,’” said Rosen. “We’re not competitors but rather collaborators who can work together to bring more insights and interests for the region.” Echoing the theme of this year’s edition, the reason the gallerists decided to make this year’s edition its last is to “keep it fun,” Rosen explained.
A new Seoul art fair beckons
Portrait of JaeMyung Noh. Courtesy of JaeMyung Noh.
This month, JaeMyung Noh, a well-known young collector from Korea, will launch a new art fair in Seoul, Art OnO (Art One and Only). Seoul might already have multiple art fairs, so why launch a new one?
“During the press conference, I got questions like what the highest-figure artwork will be, or what the expected sales figure of this fair would be like. I know that an art fair’s success is often judged by these numbers, but that’s not what this fair is about,” said Noh. “We are solely focused on showing a good quality program, it doesn’t necessarily even have to be established artists’ artworks.”
The fair will host 40 exhibitors, and the list includes young tastemaking galleries like CYLINDER, P21, and ThisWeekendRoom as well as major names such as Nicolas Krupp, Kosaku Kanechika, Gallery Baton, and others. The fair will take place from April 18th through 21st at the SETEC in Seoul.