2019 Hong Kong Autumn Auction: Deal Is Stable, New Collectors Prefer Trendy Products

Gold October and November are the autumn auction season in Hong Kong.

Although the market is generally worried about the current situation in Hong Kong, Sotheby's, the leading auction house, together with Poly Hong Kong, CapitaLand Hong Kong and Bonhams Hong Kong, has gained a lot in the first round of auction this autumn, which is far more than expected; Christie's, another leader in the second round of autumn auction, won its best performance in Hong Kong evening auction in the "Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art Evening Auction" and two special sessions; The number of "Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art and Design" auctions of Fuyisi Auction House has also created the highest total turnover since its establishment in Asia... For auction house shareholders and collectors, these data have released positive signals that can reassure the art market.

It is the autumn season of Hong Kong again- Visual China-

Changyu's auction is very popular

Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction successfully ended on October 8. The total turnover of this autumn auction reached 3.35 billion Hong Kong dollars, the sixth consecutive quarter with a total turnover of more than 400 million US dollars. In 20 auctions that lasted for five days, Sotheby's found new owners for 3423 lots, with an average transaction rate of 86%, and the final transaction price of five lots exceeded 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

The modern art sector was the most eye-catching, with a total turnover of HK $697 million in late auctions and matinees. Changyu, a Chinese artist in France, attracted four collectors to bid fiercely for his masterpiece, The Naked Woman with Curved Legs, which was finally sold at HK $198 million, breaking the artist's personal world auction record. A total of ten works of Zhao Wuji were auctioned, and "21.04.59", a huge contribution of "Oracle Period", was sold for 105 million Hong Kong dollars. In addition, Qianlong Fengwu Peony Package Bottle was the most eye-catching, topping the list of all transactions with a transaction price of HK $207 million.

Christie's 2019 Hong Kong Autumn Auction was held from November 22 to 27, and 17 auctions held in five days achieved a total turnover of 2.63 billion Hong Kong dollars. This season Christie's skillfully used the unprecedented auction strategy to specially auction "Nara Meizhi's top masterpiece: Can't Wait for Night to Come" and "HI-LITE" independently, which were held after the "Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art Evening Auction" on November 23. A total of 70 works were taken in these three special sessions, 61 of which changed hands smoothly, with a transaction rate of 87.14% and a gain of HK $1.06 billion.

Changyu's biggest nude female themed oil painting "Five Naked Women", which had been expected to be very popular before the auction, started at HK $190 million. After seven and a half minutes of intense bidding, it ended at HK $266 million, including a commission of HK $303 million. This not only significantly broke the world auction record set by the artist not long ago, but also surpassed Wu Guanzhong's Zhouzhuang (236 million Hong Kong dollars), becoming the second highest price of Asian oil paintings after Zhao Wuji's June October 1985 (510 million Hong Kong dollars).

New generation collectors lead the market interest

According to The Observer, 25% of the buyers of Sotheby's Modern, Contemporary Art and Southeast Asia Modern and Contemporary Art Auction this season are under 40 years old. In order to be close to the interest of this group of young collectors, many auction houses present more popular visual trend artworks such as street style, co branding, commercial design, cartoons and cartoons, and are more diversified and globalized in the selection of auction items. With more and more new generation collectors joining, a number of artworks representing the trend culture and the international vision of new generation collectors have significantly increased in price in this season's autumn auction in Hong Kong, and gradually show the characteristics of leading the market interest.

Nara Meizhi, who has become one of the representative artists of the trend culture, has almost become the biggest winner of this autumn auction. The types of auction items presented are extremely rich and diverse, ranging from paper works to sculpture and installation art; The transaction price also ranges from several thousand Hong Kong dollars to over one hundred million Hong Kong dollars. The work Hidden Knife behind the Back, which was auctioned at Sotheby's, was sold for 196 million Hong Kong dollars, which was nearly five times the previous record of individual artist auctions. While "Can't Wait for Night to Come", which was given preferential treatment by independent atlas and independent special auction, did not reach another peak as expected, but only ended with the lowest valuation, with a commission of HK $92.87 million. However, the work has also entered a ten million level club, ranking second in Nara Meizhi's personal record.

Liu Ye, an artist with the same cartoon style as Nara Meizhi, had a strong momentum in the autumn auction in Hong Kong in 2019 and became a "Chinese power" that cannot be ignored. In Sotheby's contemporary art auction, Liu Ye's "Smoke" attracted five collectors to bid and was finally sold for 52 million Hong Kong dollars. At Christie's, three of his works, Red No. 2, sold for HK $23.525 million, nearly quadrupling the HK $4.84 million sold three years ago; Leave Me in the Dark (S) was sold at 20.525 million Hong Kong dollars, twice the valuation; Blue sold for HK $17.525 million, twice the valuation. "She Is Not Afraid of Mondrian" painted in 1995 was sold at Fuyi auction for 26.55 million Hong Kong dollars, which is the fourth most expensive work of Liu Ye in the auction. It is not difficult to see that the "Liu Ye fever" in the Hong Kong market has gradually become a climate. However, some art critics believe that compared with Nara Meizhi, who has a global collection group, Chinese contemporary art represented by Liu Ye is still in a wait-and-see situation. Yachang Art Network also commented that: "Liu Ye's unique talent still cannot cover up the collective loss of Chinese contemporary art."

In addition, the special auction of Tuan Pham Collection "Important Vietnamese Art Gathering" launched in the "Morning Auction of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art" was 100% closed, and the total turnover was more than three times the minimum valuation. The biggest dark horse of the night was the atypical "monochrome painting" 05-IV-71 # 200 (Universe) by Korean artist Kim Hwan Kee. This work started from HK $40 million, and after several rounds of intense bidding, it was finally sold with a commission of HK $102 million, which not only set a personal record for artists, but also became the most expensive Korean art in history. A trend of market preference, which focuses on Asian market and loves Asian contemporary art, is quietly sweeping the market.

Last season's popular art creators, Yayoshi Kusama and KAWS, showed a relatively flat performance in this season's auction. Although it still ranks among the top ten auctions of "20th Century and Contemporary Art" at Fuyisi Auction House in the evening, the "GMBKA" by Yayoshio Kusama was only sold at a slightly higher price than the estimated value of HK $7.71 million; KAWS's "Countertalk" was sold at a price of HK $7.59 million lower than the estimated value. It can be said that the price of online celebrity auction will become stable or fall back, which is inevitable after the heat wave recedes and the market returns to reason.

New measures to seek opportunities

Although the market expectation is low, what cannot be prevented is the active growth of major auction houses. Due to the Sino US trade friction, more artworks were sent to Hong Kong for trade at zero tariff. The auction house also seized this opportunity and made full preparations in advance in terms of displaying heavy auction items and smooth trading channels.

On the one hand, before the start of this season's autumn auction in Hong Kong, many auction houses have brought a large number of treasures to the domestic tour, which is comparable to a small art boutique exhibition. On the other hand, in terms of the choice of auction items, they are also willing to absorb the fashionable art trends in the market, and even innovatively launch an independent auction session, incorporating the idea of curation, and purposefully promote the artist's blockbuster works in a specific period, so they also won the positive feedback from the buyer's action - 100% of the 16 HI-LITE auction items were sold, The total turnover reached HK $88.735 million. In addition, as it is expected that there will be more buyers who hope to bid remotely, the auction house will also meet their needs by increasing the number of entrusted seats and telephone lines. Kevin Ching, CEO of Sotheby's Asia, confirmed this "foresight" to the South China Morning Post with data: "Although we found that the number of people participating in the preview has decreased, the number of people participating in the telephone auction and online auction has increased by 17% and 44% respectively."

The quality and quantity of the consigned lots are excellent, and the collection and trading channels are unimpeded. Naturally, the closing price has reached a new high. Therefore, many auction houses expressed satisfaction with this year's autumn auction in Hong Kong. Francis Belin, president of Christie's Asia Pacific region, said: "This is a hard won auction. Both the economic background and the current environment of Hong Kong have had an impact on the market. But the performance of 1.06 billion Hong Kong dollars is not only the best performance of Christie's Hong Kong evening auction over the years, but also nearly 20% higher than this spring auction. The result is very satisfactory." Tad Smith, CEO of Sotheby's, also said: "The success of Hong Kong Autumn Auction shows the confidence of clients in Sotheby's and the strong demand of buyers. We expect that this momentum will continue in the successive important auctions in New York in November this year and in the days to come."