Growing mainland China scene a boost for Art Basel exhibitors in Hong Kong
Annual art fair opens to public amid gloomy economic picture
Locals, art collectors and mainland visitors were among those who packed into Art Basel on Thursday as the annual art fair opened to the public despite a gloomy economic picture.
A long queue snaked outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai amid the patches of rain in the afternoon. Regular attendees and exhibitors said the traffic flow this year was remarkably higher and some walk-in visitors waited almost two hours to get in.
The sales performance of artworks also seemed to be little affected by the economic downturn, with some exhibitors saying they had sold most of their works by Thursday, in part benefiting from the mushrooming number of museums across the border.
“I have waited here for an hour and a half already,” said Gloria Chan, a Hong Kong saleswoman. “There was no queue when I visited in 2014.”
“It is the most crowded year ever,” said Shenzhen painter Qiu Shi, a regular who has attended the fair for seven years – even before it changed its name from Art Hong Kong.
Qiu said his employer, Xiaoyan School of Art, bought 100 tickets this year to let him and his colleagues have a taste of the latest art trends around the world.
