54 24th September 2011 international events Who will emerge as the new


■ Fine Art Asia provides a platform for Western dealers to woo the super-rich Chinese


Ivan Macquisten reports


HOW long have the trade been in search of that elusive beast, the wealthy young collector? Well now they have a rival, the super-wealthy mainland Chinese collector. And nowhere is this likely to be more evident than at Fine Art Asia, the Octoberfest of fine art and antiques scheduled to coincide with Sotheby’s Hong Kong series of sales.


Here the pick of European, Asian and


US dealers will compete for the attention of the world’s newly most sought-after clients and try to work out what makes them tick… or rather, buy. Because it is this question that is on the lips of many a dealer I meet these days: How do I persuade the Chinese to buy what I am selling? The last few years have seen


stratospheric prices for Chinese porcelain and jades, in particular, as well as the boom-time demand for Contemporary Chinese art, but little evidence so far of Beijing attention turning to Western art. Now, however, there are signs of


discerning tastes developing beyond the Hong Kong hinterland of the New Territories, and one of the rather better informed market watchers is Hong Kong Chinese native Andy Hei, the organiser of Fine Art Asia, and a dealer of long standing in both East and West. The queue of people waiting to


talk to him when he visited London’s Masterpiece fair in July underlined how much his views are being sought. Hei comes from the H.L. Hei family,


whose business stretches back more than half a century dealing in huanghuali and zitan furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, but he started his international education early, helping out on Robert H. Ellsworth’s stand at the Haughtons’ New York fair as early as 1992. “So in the beginning, I came at the


fairs scene with a Western approach” – a significant advantage later in bringing together East and West in his event. “I was amazed at how things got done. Ever


Above: visitors at Fine Art Asia in 2010. Right: organiser Andy Hei brings his knowledge and experience as a dealer in both the East and West to bear.


since I have been asking why can’t we do something like this in Hong Kong?” In 1999 Hei set up his own gallery


on Hollywood Road, Hong Kong’s main antiques thoroughfare, but he soon realised that it was not enough for him. “I can’t stand sitting in a gallery just


waiting for people to come in.” Within five years he had put all


his resources back in Hong Kong to concentrate on becoming a fair organiser, and two years later he established Art & Antique International Fair Ltd to launch what was the first international fine art fair in Hong Kong for more than a decade. “It was a big


learning curve,” he admits. “I often had to work till five in the morning. “The first year


and 18,000 respectively. Visitor profiles see around half coming from mainland China, just under 10% from Hong Kong and the remainder from South East Asia and the rest of the world. It’s not the biggest fair in Hong Kong,


but it is the only one that offers such a breadth of art and antiques. Meanwhile, exhibitor and visitor numbers may have grown relatively modestly in such a booming market in the past five years, but Chinese spending has grown hugely. “We started with Chinese antiques,


was very difficult. There were only 17 exhibitors and most were friends, but they all knew the local market well and had good connections. Most are still at the fair today.” Hei has always been cautious about


“Dealers have to be more aggressive and approach the buyers. The Chinese buyers are not shy but they don’t like to be the first to open their mouths”


then added some contemporary elements, reflecting the local market.” The restrictions


of the venue, the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre’s China Resources Building, meant that they ran two events in 2007, one for art and antiques


expansion. “You can get everyone to take part if you want exhibitors, but then it becomes mere entertainment and you lose quality.” Having said that, both exhibitor and


visitor numbers have more than doubled in the past four years to more than 90


in May the other for Contemporary art in October, but they were able to merge them under one roof at the vast Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre the following year, settling on the first week of October to capitalise on the Sotheby’s sales series. “I was also keen for it to be a cultural


event as well, that’s why we have a lot of lectures and educational events,” says Hei. “That’s how we bring on the new generation of buyers.”


One of the biggest differences from


fairs of this standing in the West is that there is no vetting. “Vetting would be difficult in this part


of the world. Vetting committees always refuse to take any responsibility when something goes wrong. We don’t want to get into that. It’s better for dealers and their clients to sort things out between them.” Instead of vetting objects then, Hei


effectively vets exhibitors. “We only invite people with a good reputation. We have an advisory board and we research candidates thoroughly. We have said no to some people.” The hall could easily house a fair up to


four times the size, but Hei is in no rush. “From 2006 I slowly and carefully


expanded with the emphasis on quality rather than quantity.” He is highly attuned to the pace of


growth of the Chinese market and is keen to stay on the curve of the wave, and not get too far ahead of himself. “For another ten years you won’t be


able to hold a 200-300 exhibitor fair in the Far East, it’s just not ready yet.” Instead, he has set himself the target of building to around 120 exhibitors within the next five years. There continue to be significant


developments, however, and in 2010 he changed the event’s name to Fine Art Asia, an unarguably snappier title than the Hong Kong Art & Antique International Fair, and one that Hei knows


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