For Japanese artists in need of international exposure, Hong Kong, it seems, is their closest window to the world. Last month, the city's international art fair, ART HK 2011, now in its fourth year, attracted art-lovers from all over the world, including many from mainland China, where the booming economy has boosted interest in art investment and collection.
With 260 galleries from 38 countries and a record attendance of 63,511 visitors — a 37.7 percent increase on last year — organizers boasted that the four-day event, held at the city's sprawling Convention and Exhibition Centre, "cemented ART HK's status as Asia's premier art fair."
Among a number of major sales reported by galleries was Beijing artist Liu Wei's 2011 ox-hide piece "Don't Touch," which was bought by a European collector for a "six-figure U.S.-dollar sum." "The Geometry of Pleasure," a 2009 work by the late Paris-born Louise Bourgeois, was also snapped up, this time by a Chinese collector, for $750,000.