Asian Art
The Year in Asia: Looking Back on the Art Scene in 2023 and 5 Trends for 2024
While the global art market appears to be suffering general malaise amid complex geopolitical conflicts, inflation, and high interest rates, Asia seems to be on a markedly different track.
Last year saw a 14 percent year-on-year decline in sales across mainland China and Hong Kong, according to the most recent Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. Though sales in the region were still 13 percent above 2020 at $11.2 billion, it was the second lowest total since 2009 and the report found that auction sales dipped in Japan, South Korea, and other smaller markets internationally in 2022.
When we think about spreading knowledge of Central Asian art in Europe, we might think of exhibitions, of festivals, of panels and talks, not necessarily of an art fair. However, in the contemporary art world, it is today the market, more than art critics, which dictates the emergence of certain art scenes as a whole.
For the historically underrepresented Central Asian art market, smaller fairs represent today an important alley, more than the big fairs such as Art Basel – which just had its second Paris iteration this October. Smaller “boutique fairs,” as they are called, often present curated programming which allow a wide public – not just collectors and buyers – to enjoy the art as it was an exhibition. A selling one, of course.
In Paris, the most relevant fair which has historically presented Central Asian artists to the European public is called Asia Now, and it took place in Paris from October 17 to 20. Entirely dedicated to Asian art, the fair has historically tried to fill the gap for Central Asian art in the European market in the past ten years of its existence.
Read more: https://timesca.com/asia-now-is-creating-a-market-for-central-asian-art-in-paris/
On November 1, the Asia Art Archive (AAA) celebrated its 24th anniversary with its annual fundraising gala at the China Club. This highly anticipated event brought together 160 members of Hong Kong’s vibrant art community, including notable figures such as Benjamin Vuchot, Johanna Arculli and Johnson Chang.
The auction featured more than 50 pieces generously donated by artists, galleries and individuals worldwide, as well as heartfelt speeches from AAA founder Claire Hsu and executive director Christopher K Ho.
Proceeds from the event will go towards supporting the AAA’s digitisation lab—a state-of-the-art digital archiving facility for arts and culture in Asia, slated to open in July 2025. The AAA’s goal is to build a new laboratory for receiving, sorting, conserving, digitising and sharing materials about Asian art that might otherwise be lost and to train and develop the next generation of archivists to preserve and document Asian art history.
Read more: https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/arts/asia-art-archive-gala-dinner-2024
An antique bronze Somaskandhar idol worth Rs 8 crore belonging to Ekambareshwar temple in Kancheepuram has been traced by the state Idol Wing police to the Asian Art Museum in San Fransico, USA, DGP Shankar Jiwal said on Tuesday.
The idol wing’s inspector D Tamil Selvi identified the idol on the museum’s display. Their website listed its origin to ‘Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India’. It also said the idol dates back to 1500 CE and 1600 CE.
The description also mentioned it is made of bronze and a long Telugu inscription on the front of the pedestal mentions the name of the donor, his father and grandfather. It was also mentioned that the idol was made for the Ekambareshwarar (Ekambaranatha) Temple in the city of Kancheepuram, the DGP said in a release.
