Hong Kong Spring Auction Market Picks Up, Trading New Normal Leads Art Market To Revive The Soviet Union

? ? ? ? ? The auction market in Hong Kong is full of enthusiasm. As of the end of April, the first round of spring shooting in Hong Kong has come to an end. On the whole, Sotheby's Hong Kong, China Guardian Hong Kong, poly Hong Kong and other auction houses all performed well in spring auction. It can be seen that the art trading market is moving towards recovery and even catching up with the pre epidemic trend. In addition to the one hundred million yuan auction that the market has been paying close attention to, there are also some new changes worthy of attention this spring, whether it is the pre exhibition planning, the optimization of platform bidding links, or the upsurge of NFT works of pure digital artworks, all of which have created more "first" and more diversified possibilities for the auction industry, It shows the confidence of the auction industry to revive.

The picture shows the auction house staff introducing calligraphy and painting treasures. China News Agency reporter Li Zhihua takes IC Photo

Asian art trade heats up

On April 23, the 8-day Sotheby's auction in the spring of 2021 in Hong Kong ended successfully, with a total turnover of HK $3.85 billion, the second highest in Asia's Sotheby's auction over the years, second only to the total turnover of HK $4.19 billion at Sotheby's 40th anniversary auction in autumn 2013. The overall turnover rate of 14 auctions reached 88%. Nine auctions were completed with a turnover of over HK $100 million and 47 auctions over HK $10 million, setting a new record for more than 30 auctions.

The modern and contemporary art sector, which has always accounted for the largest proportion, has been more popular, with a total turnover of HK $2.25 billion, a record high; The average transaction price of modern and contemporary art is also the highest ever, 43% higher than autumn auction in 2020. In this season's high price auction, there are 7 pieces of more than 100 million pieces from the modern and contemporary art plate. The most eye-catching auction is Zhu Dequn's triple screen masterpiece "snow in prosperous times". After 20 minutes of competition among four bidders, the work was finally sold for HK $230 million, nearly three times the valuation. This is the second year in a row that Sotheby's in Hong Kong has set a new auction record for Zhu Dequn. Zhao Wuji's masterpiece "13.02.62" was sold at HK $163 million, ranking second. However, Zhao Wuji's other works, such as "05.11.62", "20.06.2000" and watercolor work "morale" have been shot down. According to the analysis of art business, this shows that the market demand for Zhao Wuji has been gradually saturated, and the auction products that are not good enough or have high valuation are gradually showing signs of fatigue. In recent years, Chang Yu, whose representative work "naked woman and Peking dog" in 1950's, was also hit by HK $105.4 million. However, in addition to the works of Zhu Dequn, Zhao Wuji and Chang Yu, which cost more than 100 million yuan, China's contemporary art sector as a whole is relatively stable. Most of the works sold are the works of several Chinese artists in the 20th century, and their transaction prices are mostly within the estimated value. Compared with the plain works of contemporary Chinese artists, Picasso and cliff? Stie, Roy? Lichtenstein, Alberto? Giacometti, Pierre? However, the works of many western artists such as suraji are more prominent, setting a new record for individual Asian auctions of many artists, with a total turnover of HK $894 million.

In this spring auction, China Guardian Hong Kong has launched nearly 1300 pieces of Asian 20th century and contemporary art, Chinese calligraphy and painting and porcelain crafts, and organized seven special auctions with a total turnover of HK $364 million, setting four world auction records. Among them, the total turnover of 20th century and contemporary art in Asia reached 156 million Hong Kong dollars, with a turnover rate of 92%, which was the highest in history.

The total turnover of poly Hong Kong auction in the spring of 2021 is over HK $700 million. In 11 special events, poly Hong Kong has harvested one lot with a value of over HK $100 million and 7 pieces with a price of more than HK $10 million. The total turnover of the contemporary and contemporary art sector reached HK $275 million, with a turnover rate of 90%. The turnover rate of Chinese calligraphy and painting, Shangpin handbags and fashion games exceeded 80%. Among them, Nara Meizhi's work "Berlin Ballack, room 1" was sold with a commission of HK $120 million, which created the second highest price of the artist's personal auction, second only to the "hidden knife behind the back" in Sotheby's contemporary art night auction in 2019 with a transaction price of HK $195 million. It is understood that "Berlin Barak, room 1" was traded for HK $11.3 million in May 2012, but in a short period of nine years, the price has soared by 962%, which fully demonstrates the popularity of Nara Meizhi in the art market in recent years.

Obviously, the record breaking figures of modern and contemporary art in Hong Kong spring auction this season show that the auction industry is recovering from the impact of the epidemic. But at the same time, the strong performance of Western artists' works not only shows the keen demand of Asian collectors for Western art, but also shows that Hong Kong has become an important "springboard" for Western art works to enter Asia. Cheng Shoukang, chief executive of Sotheby's Asia region, said that from the spring auction this year, collectors have a strong demand for Asian and Western art in modern and contemporary art auctions; But at the same time, it also shows that the Asian market has great strength and potential, and Asia's role in the global art market is also unprecedented.

Deepening changes in market trends

Although travel restrictions in various countries are still bothering art trading, Hong Kong's major auctions have actively launched many innovative measures to cope with this bottoming up spring. From pre exhibition, planning, auction and trading, they have formulated their own "new normal" for auction according to market conditions, so as to attract a wider audience by actively seizing market opportunities.

In recent years, the rapid rise of collectors in South China has made Sotheby, who is committed to developing Shanghai and Beijing markets, discover the great potential of South China market. In an interview with Yachang art, Cheng Shoukang said that Shenzhen, as a leading city in South China, has great advantages in terms of economic strength, geographical advantages, cultural resources and enthusiasm for collection and investment. Therefore, Sotheby's debut in Shenzhen held a preview this spring. He said that on the one hand, this is an on-demand move for Tibetans unable to participate in the preview and bidding in person due to travel restrictions. On the other hand, it is also Sotheby's measures to open up new sources of tourists and seize the business opportunities in Dawan district. In addition, 25% of this year's bidders are under the age of 40, and the trend of younger bidders is highlighted. Therefore, Sotheby's also held a preview of spring auction with K11 musea, a cultural retail landmark in Hong Kong, to display a series of spring rackets of modern and Contemporary Western and Asian works of art. At the same time, Sotheby's also brought the first public appearance of the epic footwear Nike moon shoe in Hong Kong, so as to attract young shoe enthusiasts and emerging collectors and broaden the customer base.

As more and more people accept bidding through online platforms, continuously optimize and deepen digital services, and further integrate traditional auction and network technology has become the inevitable choice of major auction houses.

According to the data, more than half of the 2192 auctions sold by Sotheby's in spring were sold by online buyers, and the number of online bidders increased by 60% compared with the autumn auction in 2020. Coincidentally, according to the official statistics of poly Hong Kong, 11 special events were shot in the spring of this year, which attracted 120000 people to watch. The number of online auctions also soared by more than half compared with the autumn auction in 2020. Zhang Yixiu, executive director of poly Hong Kong auction, believes that this depends on the team's overall planning of online platform services. "Before the auction, we launch more expert guides and live broadcasts on different online platforms to increase the interaction with customers; During the auction, we used multi camera stands for real-time global live broadcasting. Hong Kong, Beijing and Taipei were connected. Customers from many countries and regions made fierce bidding on live, telephone, poly auction app, wechat app and other network platforms. Telephone bidding and online bidding increased by 318% and 52% respectively

In October last year, faeries auction house launched the New York version of the flash online auction "gallery one". By presenting a series of flash online auctions that are not subject to the traditional auction schedule, it brings new and selected art works to collectors every week. So far, it has attracted more than 1000 people to register for bidding, with a transaction rate of nearly 80%. Isaire de viel Castel, head of 20th century and contemporary art in Hong Kong, said the success of the New York version of gallery one is a strong proof that buyers and sellers are looking for a more relaxed and faster way to trade art. Therefore, the first Hong Kong version of "gallery one" was launched from April 28 to May 5, and the auction was opened, so that collectors and art lovers can easily and quickly access high-quality artworks.

NFT expands art trade boundary

In the first half of this year, Christie's sold digital artist beeple's work "every day: the first 5000 days" at a high price of 69.3463 million US dollars (about 450 million yuan), which is the first time in the history of a large auction house to auction pure digital art works in the form of non homogeneity token (NFT). This auction is the first time in the mainstream art market that the traditional art industry has tried to auction pure digital encrypted works and accept payment in digital currency, which sets up a new milestone for the trade of art works.

Subsequently, NFT works auction continued to ferment, and gradually spread to more auction houses and wider market. In early April, Sotheby's first participated in the NFT auction, and a series of works "the fungible" by Pak, a new modern artist, won a total of US $16.8 million on the NFT trading platform nifty gateway. The first NFT digital artwork, replicator by Canadian visual artist mad dog Jones, was sold on April 26 for more than $4.1 million.

Now, this wave of NFT heat wave is about to sweep the Chinese mainland market. On May 3, China Guardian auction announced that it would launch the NFT work "Peony Pavilion R" by song Ting, a young artist practicing in the field of AI and blockchain art in the mainland for the first time in the contemporary art night show in spring 2021 ê The target of VE is butterfly in love with flower: information technology penetrates "me". The auction of this work will be officially launched on May 14. The auction will be conducted in the form of online auction and settled in RMB. Yongle auction house will also auction online blockchain digital art special auction in spring this year, which is also mainly online auction, with RMB settlement. Emerging digital art is redefining people's understanding of value. Cheng Shoukang, chief executive of Sotheby's Asia, said in an interview that it is worth watching what hot new topics and new atmosphere NFT will bring to the global art market in the second half of 2021.

It is reported that Christie's Hong Kong Spring photo will be held again in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center from May 20 to 28, while the Fuchs Hong Kong Spring photo will be held from June 5 to 8 at JW Marriott Hotel, Queensway, Hong Kong.

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