A picture blog:

Art Stage Singapore, Ai Wei Wei (China), Li Chen (Taiwan)

The tills are ringing, the air is buzzing and the halls are filled with beaming clients, artists and gallery owners here at Art Hong Kong.  In just its third year of operation, Art HK has clearly positioned itself at the top end of the art fair market and collectors are feeling comfortable and confident about purchasing artworks from artists and galleries from across the globe.  In the words of one Australian gallery director "I am selling to INTERNATIONAL clientele".

Mixed reports are coming out of New York as the Armory Show and its 11 satellite fairs get under way this weekend.  Several heavy-weight galleries, such as Gagosian and Barbara Gladstone, have declined to attend for a second year running.  But this has given smaller galleries the opportunity to make the move into the main arena.  Apparently many significant American and European collectors and glitterati have been sighted but gallery owners are mixed in their reports of sales performance to date. 

The highly reputable Frieze Art Fair (London, 14-17th October) closed on Saturday night amid reports of increased collector interest and purchases.  Numerous sales were reported by established and emerging galleries including a number above the US$1 million mark.  Last year the Fair suffered dramatically, opening exactly one month after the September collapse of Lehman Brothers.  This was in line with the concurrent 70-80% slump in volume of auction sales (Art Tactic - Sept 09).