52 | MAY/JUN 2017 | ISSUE 103ASTHA BUTAIL, Turning Towards Pure White, 2016, mixed media with handloom cotton muslin,
acrylic on archival paper, MDF, teak wood and book, 341 × 1,463 × 2 cm. Installation view at the
booth of Gallery SKE, Bangalore/New Delhi, at Art Basel Hong Kong 2017. Courtesy Gallery SKE.RANA BEGUM, installation view of her sculptures at the booth of The Third Line at Art Dubai, 2017.
Courtesy the artist and The Third Line.
started from USD 300, and peaked
at USD 130,000 for an abstract
painting by Saqqakhaneh pioneer
Charles Hossein Zenderoudi.
Sales at this year’s Art Dubai
were reported to be the strongest
ever. London’s Victoria Miro, which
was at the fair for the fifth time,
sold works by Idris Khan, Yayoi
Kusama, Alex Hartley and others to
local and international collectors,
with prices ranging from USD
16,000 to 500,000. Closer to home,
Sunny Rahbar, co-founder of The
Third Line (Dubai), said, “This year
was one of our most successful
at Art Dubai to date.” The gallery
sold out its booth after exhibiting
colorful geometric sculptures by
Bangladesh-born, London-based
Abraaj Group Art Prize-recipient
Rana Begum, whose glass panel
installation No. 695 Abraaj (2016)
was unveiled at Madinat Jumeirah.
Prices for Begum’s creations
ranged from GBP 6,000 to 25,000
(USD 7,500 to 31,000), with a
gold-colored wall-based sculpture,
No. 312 (2012), going for the top
price. Looks like the fair under the
helm of new director Myrna Ayad is
off to a good start.
Hong Kong
Once again, the art world descended
on Hong Kong in March during its
(yet still unofficial) art week, with
galleries and art spaces opening
shows to entice the crowds heading
to Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK)
(3/22–25) and Art Central (3/21–25).
The youngest fair of Switzerland’s
Art Basel brand, ABHK proved
once again that it is a force on the
international circuit and lived up to
its unique reputation for presenting
blockbuster contemporary art from
the Asia Pacific.
In its fifth edition, ABHK has
found its sweet spot in terms of
capacity, keeping the number
of galleries at 242, close to its
size last year. Of those, 29 were
first-timers. New this year was
the introduction of the Kabinett
sector—transported from Art Basel
Miami Beach—which allowed
19 galleries to present a curated
section inside their booths. Among
those were Kukje Gallery/Tina Kim
Gallery (Seoul/New York), which
sold two works in its Kabinett
by Dansaekhwa pioneer Kwon
Young-woo in the range of USD
70,000 to 275,000, and Lehmann
Maupin (New York/Hong Kong),
which found buyers for three new
surrealistic paintings by São Paulo
twin-brothers Osgemeos, at roughly
USD 150,000 each.
Overall, ABHK reported strong
sales. Before the fair officially
opened to the public, BMW Art
Journey award nominee Astha Butail
sold to a private institution her
mixed-media installation, Turning
Towards Pure White (2016), the
pieces of which filled the entire
booth of Gallery SKE (Bangalore/
New Delhi). By the end of thesecond preview day, Taipei’s Tina
Keng Gallery had sold 95 percent
of its holdings, with Beijing-based
Wang Huaiqing’s darkly hued
painting Chinese Emperor-8 (2016)
going for a jaw-dropping USD 3.5
million. Artists from the New British
Sculpture movement, such as Anish
Kapoor and Shirazeh Houshiary,
were popular at Lisson Gallery
(London/New York/Milan), with their
works appealing to buyers, at prices
between USD 62,000 and 936,000.
Along the Central Harbourfront,
the younger, more spirited Art
Central fair saw a small increase
in visitorship over the previous
year—from 32,000 to 35,000—in its
third edition, with a roster of
105 participating galleries from
around the world. The Project
sector, which showcased large-scale
installations, included works by
six artists who probe social issues
through tactile fabrications. Sydney-
based .M Contemporary’s inclusion
of Hannah Quinlivan’s suspended
installation Estuary (2017), made
from a mesh of wires and nylon, was
bought by a corporate collection
at USD 19,500. Gallery Hyundai
(Seoul) sold various pieces from
South Korean masters such as
Chung Sang-Hwa and Shin Sung Hy,
indicating that now, no matter in
which city, dedicated collectors are
sure to find gems that satisfy their
tastes and price points.