White Cube to Open in Hong Kong

The Financial Times announces that White Cube gallery has found a 6,000 sq. ft. space in a new office building in central Hong Kong to open a gallery early in 2012. The newspaper spoke to Tim Harlow of the gallery:

White Cube would focus on bringing its current stable of western artists to Asian buyers but would also look for ways to work with Chinese artists, Mr Harlow said.

At this year’s Art HK, White Cube sold the Chapman brothers’ apocalyptic Dass Kapital ist Kaput? Ja? Nein! Dummkopf! to a non-Chinese Asian collector for £525,000.

To gauge the Chinese market, they checked in with Gagosian’s HK director Nick Simunovic:

“Sales since the gallery opened have been strong. I would estimate that 15 to 20 per cent of our clients are based in greater China, with the balance coming from the rest of Asia,” Mr Simunovic said. “And while they might be initially drawn to the gallery because we represent artists like Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami, collectors are equally interested in supporting artists who are less well known in the region.”

White Cube Takes Its Art to Chinese (Financial Times)