Mayo Martin blogs about the art world for Singapore’s Today Online. To get a better sense of what it is like to be a gallery at an Asian art fair, Martin volunteered his services to a Singaporean gallery at ArtHK. Though he spent much of his time as a gopher milling in the shadow of Ashley Bickerton and David LaChapelle, he also had a chance to go upstairs to the Asia One section and find out first-hand one gallery’s story:

Chan Hampe Galleries (CHG) had a small booth at Art HK 11’s cosier and relatively more laid-back Asia One section, where lesser-known galleries were showcasing emergent individual artists. They had brought in 28 works by young Singaporean artist Genevieve Chua.

It’s the second art fair for CHG. Following their participation at Art Stage Singapore, Art HK director Magnus Renfrew invited them to apply. For a fee, of course. The gallery had to cough up S$13,000 for the booth and S$4,000 for freight shipping. And that doesn’t include the tables and chairs and lighting costs. Given that Chua’s works ranged from S$6,000 for a triptych to S$550 for a smaller one, they had to do a lot of selling.

But it seemed they were already on track. Six works were sold by the third day, including a triptych from Chua’s After The Flood series of handpainted photographs.

“A big sale. Very, very encouraging,” beamed CHG’s Ben Hampe, who was manning the booth along with Chua herself. Although the shy, soft-spoken artist said she would “rather not be here actually”, her presence had inadvertently played a big part in their first sale on the first day.

Apparently, a lady was looking at Chua’s triptych, when a buyer of her previous works dropped by and immediately gushed – very loudly, “Oh my god, the whole crowd’s going to come!”

“The lady quickly wrote out a cheque,” an amused Chua shared.

Hard Sell (Today Online)

The homogenizing effects of the global art market have rapidly drawn in two distinct art fairs. Georgina Adam reports in her Financial Times column that the Indian Art Summit has gained from ArtBasel’s purchase of ArtHK:

It didn’t take long for some of the cash that was paid for the Hong Kong art fair to find its way into another venture. Last week in Hong Kong, two of the fair’s previous owners announced that they had bought 49 per cent of India Art Summit, renamed it India Art Fair, and are moving it into a giant tent left over from the Commonwealth Games. Will Ramsay (who owns the Affordable Art Fairs) and Sandy Angus are partnering with the current owner Neha Kirpal to produce the new event, which will be held at the end of January 2012. Kirpal says import tax regulations in India are being relaxed, in order to make it easier for foreign galleries to do business there.

The Art Market: OK in HK (Financial Times)

ArtBasel announced late last week that it was buying a majority stake in ArtHK, the Hong Kong art fair that has quickly established itself as the leading event in the region. In the press release, Art Basel reveals its immediate plans for the event which takes place at the end of May this year:

The mid-term goal is to convert ART HK to the Art Basel brand as the third platform for this leading international art show. The 2012 edition will remain under the show’s current ART HK name, with Magnus Renfrew remaining as its director, but will take place from February 2 to 5, 2012, moving from the current late-May timing.

Georgina Adam spoke to one of the owners of the fair:

One of the owners of the Hong Kong fair, Tim Etchells, told The Financial Times, “It makes perfect sense to partner with Basel; it has an unrivaled VIP database and enormous brand value. But we are not selling out and will remain very involved.” While the amount of the sale has not been disclosed, Etchells said, “We are very happy with the consideration.” He said he was “now working on new plans” which he couldn’t yet reveal.

Art Basel Buys Hong Kong Art Fair (Financial Times)