On May 26, 2022, visitors to Hong Kong attended Art Basel's second preview day. PHOTO AFP HONG KONG - The organizers of Art Basel Hong Kong, one of Asia's leading contemporary art fairs, said on Tuesday they are bullish about art market prospects in the region, with the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region now having lifted all COVID lockdown restrictions.
The annual fair, which has iterations in Basel, Paris and Miami Beach, runs from March 23 -- 25 in Hong Kong.
There are 32 countries and territories in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa that are participating this year, and the number of galleries has increased to 177 this year from 130 in 2022.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Asian art market has remained resilient, with Greater China accounting for 20 percent of worldwide sales by value and ranking second as the second largest regional art market in the latest edition of Art Basel, according to Noah Horowitz, Art Basel CEO.
This year, Gagosian, Hauser Wirth, Lehmann Maupin, Victoria Miro, Pace, Perrotin, White Cube and David Zwirner are the leading international galleries at Art Basel.
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In a mall near the glitzy halls of Hong Kong's harbourfront convention center where Art Basel is located, the show has installed a 10 meter tall inflatable sculpture of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun titled Gravity by Los Angeles-based artist Awol Erizku.
The art fair is being welcomed by the HKSAR government as it hopes to reinvigorate the city's economy.