- Artmarket.com: Frieze London on the rise of Hong Kong and other transformations of the art market observed by Artprice
PARIS, Oct. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a first half of 2022 with a 26% increase in UK art auction turnover - its best start to the year in three years - London is preparing to host the Frieze and the Frieze Masters. In addition to these fairs (open to the public from 12 to 16 October in Regent's Park), the auctions will be in full swing in the English capital. Long rising as the great capital of the art market, London remains the second largest market on the planet. But in the aftermath of Brexit, the rise of Hong Kong and the digitization of art, London can no longer take its position for granted.
Billing of art auctions – London vs. Hong Kong
"In the 18th century, London saw the birth of the great auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips and Bonhams," recalls Thierry Ehrmann, CEO of Artmarket.com and founder of Artprice. "In the 20th century, New York became the nerve center of an increasingly globalized art market, substantially more fluid with the advent of telecommunications and, later, the Internet. Today, Hong Kong sells masterpieces at exorbitant prices , Paris hopes to take advantage of the consequences of Brexit, and a whole section of the art market is turning to Web3, which will further intensify the decentralization of the market."
In the face of this growing and multiple competition, London can count on the sales of old masters, post-war and modern art that have built its reputation, but it must also establish itself as a center of exchange and innovation for Ultra-Contemporary art. Driven and fueled by massive price hikes (and the NFT revolution), this segment has become the main driver of the global art market on which Hong Kong has built its image.
A network of fairs with the Frieze brand
In the art world, a synergy usually arises from the mixture of styles and eras, hence, for example, the incursions of Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami or Anish Kapoor in the Palace of Versailles. This is also part of the reason why galleries like to present young artists alongside the best known and most recognized names of the 20th century, whose heritages they represent. This is also Frieze's commitment by jointly organizing a fair dedicated to contemporary art and another to Old Masters, placing contemporary creation in a historical-artistic perspective. Some prestigious galleries, such as Continua, Kamel Mennour and Skarstedt, prefer to focus more on the "past" than the "present", when the opposite might be expected.
The Frieze Group has also recognized the benefits of geographic diversification in the high-end art market, following in the footsteps of the major auction houses. Opened in the early 2000s in the center of the English capital, Frieze was later exported to the United States; first to New York in 2016 and then to Los Angeles in 2019. This year it expands to the Asian continent with the first edition of Frieze Seoul, thus positioning itself as the most serious competitor of the MCH group. The latter organizes the prestigious Art Basel fairs in Basel, Miami, Hong Kong and, very soon, in France, with Paris (from October 20 to 23, 2022) at the Grand-Palais Éphémère.
London on par with Hong Kong
In 2021, Hong Kong ($1.7bn) was not far behind London ($1.9bn) in terms of art auction turnover. But if we look specifically at the contemporary art segment (artists born after 1945), the comparison is favorable to Hong Kong ($700 million vs. $432 million in London). Asian buyers are raising the prices of contemporary works faster than anywhere else in the world In fact... with only 2,160 lots of contemporary art (a third of London's 6,500), the Hong Kong art auction market Kong recorded by far the highest average price on the planet for this segment of art: $325,000 in 2021.
2021 auction turnover by creation period, London vs. Hong Kong
Major auction houses clearly appreciate the energy flowing through the "China Special Administrative Region." They even prefer it more and more to the English capital for some of the most emblematic firms of the 20th and 21st centuries, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gerhard Richter or Adrian Ghenie. Indeed, its strategy of alternatively offering works by the most sought-after artists in New York, London and Hong Kong is having a decisive impact on the relative successes of America, Europe and Asia in the global art auction market.
This strategy is fully evident in the ultra-contemporary segment (artists under 40) where the works of new market superstars such as Matthew Wong (1984-2019), Avery Singer (1987), Aboudia Diarrassouba (1983), Amoako Boafo (1984), etc. are offered in all three cities, drawing bids that often exceed the already audacious estimates of the auction houses.
The United States and the United Kingdom lead the dance in the West
In this context, Phillips is increasingly relying on this dynamic to encourage its sales of contemporary and post-war art, which, along with watchmaking, jewelery and design, have become its specialties. In addition, the auction house recently announced a partnership with Yongle to host sales in Hong Kong and Beijing, highlighting the huge appeal of the Chinese art market. As early as 2021, Phillips partnered with Poly Auction to host four sessions that totaled $176 million.
As the art market reconfigures...
For the moment, London retains an undisputed place in the triumvirate that dominates the world art market. The British capital even seems to have returned to the path of growth, although the turnover in auctions is still much lower than in 2008 or 2014. On the other hand, although London has surpassed Hong Kong's offer in the first half of 2022 , it possibly would not have been the case if China had not imposed a drastic zero Covid policy. The Hong Kong market is likely to pick up again in the second half of this year.
Meanwhile... Just one week after Frieze London, Paris will host the prestigious Paris by Art Basel fair. Many questions and expectations surround this first edition of the Paris, which replaces the FIAC.
Finally, things continue to move quickly in terms of the digitization of the art market, with the rollout of Christie's 3.0: nft.christies.com.
London can draw on its long history and strong reputation for selling fine art. But you can't ignore the energy emanating today from the ultra-contemporary market and NFTs.
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