With 70 percent of all the works making their debut, an upcoming auction features a tightly curated selection of works spanning historical and contemporary periods, from leading international artists to Chinese masters.

Modern & Contemporary Art: Evening & Day Sale will be held on May 27 at the West Kowloon Cultural District. Held by Phillips, a global platform for buying and selling art and luxury goods, the sale highlights pieces from some of the most influential global artists of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and also artists from China’s 1970s to 1990s generation. As for the evening session, 90 percent of the works will make their first-ever appearance at auction.

Fresh-to-market works include many highly sought-after contemporary western works, such as Untitled Escape Collage by Rashid Johnson, who uses organic formal expressions to explore themes of race, identity, and history, and Jonas Wood’s Punch and Judy, which incorporates everyday items like pots, plants, and birdcages.

Rashid Johnson, Untitled Escape Collage

The auction underscores its “commitment to staying ahead of market trends and offering a compelling, tightly curated collection”, according to Cindy Lim, Head of Evening Sale, and Rebecca Hu, Head of Sale.

There will also be leading Japanese works, including Izumi Kato’s Untitled, a nearly life-sized wooden sculpture with elliptical eyes, a bluish-green face, and miniature resin sculptures. In Red Petals, Yayoi Kusama uses flowers to symbolize the cycles of life and decay in the universe through repetitive organic forms and striking red and black contrasts.

Izumi Kato, Untitled

Yayoi Kusama, Red Petals

This auction comes as Hong Kong spares no effort to consolidate its status as an international art trading center and foster its development as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange. In 2020, Hong Kong’s share of the global art auction market increased to 23.2 percent from 17.5 percent in 2019, becoming one of the world’s top three art auction markets.

Not only does the auction bridge the East and West, but the auction also seamlessly integrates Chinese art from different times. The audience will see Wu Guanzhong’s Springs and Autumns, which captures a tranquil autumnal scene, as well as Zao Wou-Ki’s work, which blends the freehand spirit of traditional Chinese painting with the brushwork of Western Abstract Expressionism.

Wu Guanzhong, Springs and Autumns

Zao Wou-Ki, 07.04.59

Meanwhile, this season of auction will highlight works by Chinese artists born from the 1970s to the 1990s, who offer fresh perspectives rooted in China’s unique context while engaging universally relevant themes. Yan Bing draws inspiration from the modest objects of his impoverished childhood--cowhide, potatoes, mushrooms, and steamed buns, while Ding Shilun fuses the visual dynamism of Japanese manga, the contemporary language of Western pop culture, and the spiritual depth of traditional Chinese aesthetics.

Yan Bing, Mushroom No. 30

Hong Kong’s low tax rate and thriving art fairs have attracted art lovers from all over the world to participate in Hong Kong’s art trading events, boosting its art trading and auction market, according to the SAR government.

According to the government statistics, over the past five years, the total value of Hong Kong’s trade in works of art, collectibles and antiques has risen by 80 percent, which has attracted many art auctioneers and art galleries from all over the world, including Phillips, who set up its new Asia headquarters in the West Kowloon Cultural District in 2023.

The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XX, comprised of 258 lots, will also be held by Phillips from May 23 to 25, presenting timepieces made in the 19^th century for the Chinese market, Art Deco Cartier clocks, Patek Philippe, and independent watchmaking masterpieces.

Attributed to Moulinié & Bautte & Cie, Yellow gold enamel flintlock pistol

Picture credits: Phillips

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