"With its central geographical location, easy trading conditions and lack of import taxes and VAT, Hong Kong is a natural hub for the whole Asian market, and is viewed as a gateway to China. "The traditional impression that modern & contemporary art is mostly an Asian affair was tried to be broken, for the first time by Christie’s that included western art in its auction program the form of Andy Warhol’s screenprints of the legendary Mao. A Hong Kong businessman paid nearly £12 million for a large painting of chairman Mao by Warhol at a 2006 auction. However, Chinese collectors are still yet to convert to the gallery system.
Some of them like Richard Kong and Zhang Kun were invited to ArtHK along with important cultural personalities from the mainland. They were confronted with an eclectic mixture of art from the West and Asia. White Cube presented an entire stand to Damien Hirst. The sight of western dealers offering Chinese art to the Chinese was also a prominent change.New York’s Sperone Westwater presented Liu Ye’s solo show. Analyzing the trend, Georgina Adam of The Financial Times notes in her news report, ‘Art HK10: the gateway to China’:
"The draw is not just moneyed Chinese: Hong Kong acts as a hub for wealthy buyers from the whole region, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia. This has not been lost on the world’s biggest player, Larry Gagosian, who has an office in Hong Kong and is now opening a major space to add to the eight (nine when Paris is unveiled) he already has around the world.In fact, many western dealers like New York’s Larry Gagosian and London’s Ben Brown are setting up shop in HK, as they think that things ‘will get even hotter there.’
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