Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post slips this observation in to what amounts to an interview with dealer Ben Brown. Lamenting the absence of a museum in the capital of the Asian art market, Brown points out that the ideal conditions for art market growth is the right mix of primary and secondary dealers, museums and wealthy collectors.
Brown deals in international contemporary art from his London and Hong Kong galleries and, as far as his own market segment is concerned, he believes South Korea has all those vital elements in place. In fact, he says the Koreans are buying more than anyone else in the region, even though the country lags far behind Hong Kong and mainland China in terms of auction volumes.
“My gut feeling is that the largest market in Asia is the Korean market in terms of international contemporary art. You don’t have to go very far in Seoul to see extensive holdings of Western contemporary art,” he says, pointing to works by the likes of Joseph Beuys, Francis Bacon and Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art as an example.
Why no Hong Kong museum for contemporary art? | Post Magazine (South China Morning Post)
