Christie's to hold evening sale of Asian art in Hong Kong

Sun, 04/20/2008 10:56 AM  |  Arts & Design

ADPARA>Christie's will hold its first ever evening sale of Asian Contemporary and Chinese 20th century Art in Hong Kong on May 24.

These categories, especially from the Southeast Asia, have gone through a dramatic growth after stellar record sales and prices.

"The category's diversity is compounded over recent years with the coming of age of contemporary art, which has taken the market by storm. It is this constant dialogue between the modern and the contemporary that runs through the works featured in this year's sale," said Ruoh-Ling Keong, specialist and head of Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie's.

In Asia, Christie's has offices in nine markets and has grown in recent years. Hong Kong has been the hub of Christie's Asian network and has grown to be the third largest sales location after New York and London.

The sale will feature a highly edited selection of standout works in their respective categories. It will include several high caliber and rare works by leading Asian artists including Zeng Fanzhi, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang, Takashi Murakami and others.

Christie's also exposes Indonesian art outside Indonesia.

In the region, contemporary Indonesian art have been dubbed as the next big thing after Chinese art.

Selected artworks from Southeast Asia include paintings by Indonesian artists, such as Affandi, Hendra Gunawan, Nyoman Masriadi and Agus Suwage.

Affandi's The Port of Rotterdam presented this season is a refreshing subject because it is different from what he usually paints, which are the common folk of the country.

Hendra Gunawan's Kuda Lumping animates a scene so common in rural Indonesia. It is an activity that merges folklore, faith, theater and dance to mimic a dancing horse by the performer swirling in the midst of a crowd.

Nyoman Masriadi, whose cubist-inspired work Sports News will be showcased, is one of the local artists commanding the highest prices.

The sale will also present more photographic and sculptural works, featuring some of the best and most original Southeast Asian talents who use photography or sculpture as their medium. --JP

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