All the Fun of the Fair
What? The sixth Art Basel in Hong Kong art fair spanned six days and featured 248 galleries from 32 countries (more than half from Asia and Asia-Pacific), drawing some 100,000 visitors to view works of art from around the world, and with Prestige as a media partner once again. We were privileged to witness the region’s phenomenal cultural diversity, which was demonstrated by historical material as well as recent works by established and emerging artists.
Who? From artists such as Tracey Emin and Jeff Koons to names that regularly litter our society pages, we saw so many of ’em during the long, long week that eventually we gave up counting.
On the record: At the VIP private viewing, Willem de Kooning’s Untitled XII (from the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen) was sold by Lévy Gorvy Gallery for US$35 million, making it the most expensive sale at the Hong Kong fair.
Firm favourite: Although Shinji Ohmaki’s Liminal Air Space-Time (2018) went viral on social media, no still image can do the piece justice. The mesmerising installation featured a giant translucent cloth floating in mid-air, morphing into different shapes while seemingly carried by the wind (air ducts on the floor prevented the fabric from ever touching ground). Tethered by virtually invisible lines that prevented sticky fingers from grabbing it, the ethereal piece was stunning. Golden bubbles: During the two opening days, VIP guests and readers dropped by the Prestige booth for a moment’s respite and a welcome glass of Ruinart.
See you next year: If the statistical trends are anything to go by, we expect next year’s fair – to be held March 29-31, 2019 – to be even bigger.