High-end gallery closure in Hong Kong raises questions over state of city’s art market
- Lévy Gorvy Dayan & Wei’s decision comes as other international galleries open new outposts in places like Seoul and Tokyo and not Hong Kong
A high-end international art gallery has announced that it is closing its physical space in Hong Kong because of a change in client behaviour.
Lévy Gorvy Dayan & Wei, which has shown works by Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne since opening its gallery on the ground floor of Central’s St. George’s Building in 2019, will not renew its lease when it expires at the end of 2024 and has no plan to reopen elsewhere in the region.
“As the market continues to mature and Asian collectors have become increasingly global in their scope, we embrace this opportunity to optimally serve our client base and maintain strong relationships with key collectors and institutions,” said Rebecca Wei, the gallery’s partner in charge of Asia, in a statement.
Earlier, Wei told the Financial Times, which first reported the news, that her clients had retained the pandemic-era model of “long-distance purchasing”, and that the current slowdown in the art market had led galleries to reassess their operations.
She said she had around 50 clients in the region and that they bought artworks priced above US$30 million on average. She will continue to represent the gallery in Hong Kong after the St. George’s Building space closes.
