The Collector | The verdict on Art Basel; sales defy doubters, crowds exceed expectations

The timing of the fourth Art Basel Hong Kong was hardly auspicious. Data suggested less art was being sold around the world, and the March 22-26 fair overlapped with the Easter long weekend, a popular time to go on holiday. Even the weather forecast was foul.

By the time the last of the 70,000 visitors had left the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on a fine and dry Saturday, the mood at Asia’s largest contemporary art fair was one of quiet relief, if not exactly euphoria. Most of the 239 galleries that had paid HK$100,000 to HK$726,000 for a booth made a profit despite predictions collectors would stay away since so many Asia-Pacific economies – from China to commodities-dependent Indonesia and Australia – are seeing slower growth.

Art Basel a chance for world’s art institutions to meet patrons and seek support

Earlier this month, The European Fine Art Fair art market report showed sales in China (including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau) fell 23 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014; and auction houses Sotheby’s and Christies reported sales during “Asia week” in New York had fallen sharply compared with the sales in March 2015.

But there was no such fall at Art Basel in Hong Kong. If anything, gallerists looked slightly overwhelmed by the size of the crowds. Organisers had to stop selling tickets by mid-afternoon on the last two days of the fair for fear exhibits would be damaged. Far from causing a drop in visitors, the fair’s timing over the Easter weekend resulted in more visitors both to Art Basel and Art Central, the satellite fair now in its second year. Both events reported record attendance.

“I’ve never seen crowds like this in all my years of going to art fairs around the world,” said Alexandre Roesler, partner at Brazil’s Nara Roesler Gallery, who first exhibited in Hong Kong in 2013.

However, heavy footfall does not necessarily mean more business. Art Basel’s three modern and contemporary art fairs (the others are in Basel and Miami) are often referred to as supermarkets for art because they are the biggest in the business and a must-go for major galleries and collectors; this is what makes them such bellwethers of the art market. But they only represent the top end of the market; international exhibitor Pace Gallery sold a work from its Art Basel booth for US$2.75 million, for example. Walk-in visitors queuing for tickets from Thursday to Saturday were unlikely to be major buyers, as serious collectors would have received VIP cards for the previews on Tuesday and Wednesday, a time when most deals were struck.

Art Basel does not give out sales figures, but by most accounts sales were steady. However, the visitors who mattered did not hang around as long as they did in 2015. Opening day on Tuesday was great, said Roesler, but the second day – which normally would be the day when many collectors return to close deals – was quieter than in 2015.

It was not that the fair was less interesting this year, as most visitors found the works on show to be both more diverse and of a higher quality than in previous years. “It might be the economy. People are buying less spontaneously,” said Hilda Chan of Gallery Exit in Aberdeen, Hong Kong.