ART SG’s Sophomore Edition Highlights Singapore’s Art Market Momentum

The sophomore edition of ART SG swept away any doubts that Singapore’s newest international art fair may have lost its momentum. “I was afraid that it might not be as good as last year,” said Hong Kong–based collector Patrick Sun. “Sometimes the second edition of a fair can be a turning point, but the mood was electric. This edition was even better.”

ART SG, which opened on Thursday, January 18th, at the city’s iconic Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, saw a slew of visitors and steady sales throughout the weekend. The fair, which aims to cultivate Singapore as a key art hub in Southeast Asia, gathered 114 exhibitors, more than half of which hailed from the Asia Pacific region.

While there was a 29% drop in exhibitors who showed at the inaugural edition of the fair—blue-chip galleries such as Pace Gallery, Perrotin, and David Zwirner were among those that didn’t return—many remain optimistic about the fair and the city.

“Even if there’s [fewer] galleries showing, I do feel there’s more energy,” said the Singapore-based collector Pierre Lorinet. “Last year [the city] was a bit subdued. There wasn’t much going on around the fair. This time, all of the arts organizations like the Singapore Art Museum, National Art Gallery, and the National Arts Council really put on a show. Everybody was trying to do their part to make it a special week.”

This edition of Singapore Art Week, now in its 12th year, featured more than 150 events across the city. In the run-up to the fair, several local collectors opened impressive exhibitions including Lorinet and Malaysian collector Andreas Toh, both of whom took over spaces at the Gillman Barracks gallery district in the south of the island.

“The week got off to a really good start, which really helped to show Singapore was putting its best foot forward,” said the fair’s co-founder Magnus Renfrew of the various private and public initiatives taking place across the week. “This is the first step towards the maturation of the scene.”

Several local gallerists did particularly well during the fair’s VIP preview and vernissage. “The response has been overwhelming,” said Can Yavuz, founder of Singapore-based Yavuz Gallery. “The amount of visitors is really a reflection of the importance of Southeast Asia.” The gallery sold about 80% of its booth, which featured works by Thai artists Pinaree Sanpitak and Manit Sriwanichpoom in the range of $5,000 to $50,000. London- and New York–based Sundaram Tagore Gallery, which also has a space in the Gillman Barracks, sold most of its booth, including Japanese artist Hiroshi Senju’s vibrant painting of a waterfall for $410,000, as well as two other works by the artist for $320,000 and $240,000, and a piece by local artist Jane Lee for $76,000, among other works.

Many international dealers noted that collectors in Singapore typically take a more patient approach to transacting. Dealer Pearl Lam, who has spaces in Hong Kong and Shanghai, said that when it came to buying, inflationary pressures and high interest rates created a “more reserved atmosphere” among collectors compared to last year, but sales remained healthy. “Singapore has a thriving economy that has attracted a significant number of high-net-worth individuals,” said Lam, who described the fair as a valuable platform to tap into the city’s concentration of wealth, which has undergone a remarkable ascension in recent years.

According to a recent report by London-based consultancy Henley & Partners, Singapore has seen a 40% spike in its population of high-net-worth individuals between 2012 and 2022. The city has also seen an influx of wealth due to a staggering rise in the number of family offices.

“There are a lot of wealthy people in Singapore but not all of them are interested in art. Education and exposure are very important,” said Steven Lee, managing director of Taiwan- and Beijing-based Asia Art Center. The gallery, which is exhibiting at the fair for the first time, sold about 70% of its booth, which featured bronzes by Chinese figurative artist Li Chen and Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming’s iconic “Tai Chi” series. Lee noted that he sold works to several new buyers from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Returning Hong Kong–based gallerist Catherine Kwai of Kwai Fung Hin was also pleased to meet several new Southeast Asian collectors and sold about 50% of her booth. On display were delicate ink landscape paintings on silk by Li Huayi, as well as works by Chinese French multidisciplinary artist Lalan (Xie Jinglan) and post-Cubist French painter Claude Vernard. Kwai decided to participate in ART SG again as she believes it takes time to cultivate clients. “This isn’t about selling handbags or clothes,” she told Artsy. “People have to get to know the gallery. You need time to create business.”

Kevin Poon, founder of the Hong Kong–based gallery Woaw, opened an outpost in Singapore last year and noted that the local art scene is in the early stages of growth. “ART SG reminds me of the first ART HK fair [launched in 2008],” he said. “I think it will take some time to build up the culture here. The local collecting base is growing but at a slow pace.” The gallery sold about 80% of its booth, including paintings by Japanese artist Keita Shirayama and New York–based artist Jon Burgerman.

Woaw was among the galleries exhibiting on the first floor which featured younger, more experimental positions. Among the highlights was the Lisbon-based Artemis Gallery, part of the fair’s digital spotlight sector. Visitors could put on a VR headset in its booth to experience Berlin-based artists kennedy+swan’s surreal work Animalia Sum (2019), reflecting the future of human food supply featuring an AI-created voiceover. “In Singapore, they accept new media compared to Europe where it can really be a challenge. We had a very good response,” said the gallery’s managing director Manuel Mendonça.

New York–based bitforms gallery also saw a great deal of interest in its booth, which included an immersive AI painting by new media artist Refik Anadol. “This fair is more experimental with showing new media art than bigger more established fairs,” said the gallery’s founder and director Steven Sacks. While the first edition of ART SG had a separate sector for technology-focused works, this year it integrated the booths into the main galleries sector. “Now it’s a more sophisticated conversation,” noted Renfrew.

The basement level, which showcased more established artists, was dominated by more traditional mediums with a particular focus on paintings. Big-ticket sales here happened at Thaddaeus Ropac’s booth, which sold a large Anselm Kiefer canvas for about €1.1 million ($1.2 million); and London-based gallery Waddington Custot, which sold a Barry Flanagan elephant sculpture priced at $680,000 to a Singaporean collector as well as a monumental multicolored canvas by British abstract artist Ian Davenport priced at $360,000 to a Middle Eastern buyer. White Cube also reported sales throughout the fair of £1.5 million ($1.9 million), with works by Jessica Rankin and Tracey Emin among the highlights.

Galleries were keen to tout the benefits of a smaller, leaner fair. “ART SG takes place right before Art Basel Hong Kong. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have two fairs of a similar format with a similar reach two months apart,” said René Meile, partner of Galerie Urs Meile, which has locations in Lucerne and Beijing, and which decided to share a booth with local gallery STPI. “If the fair is more focused on the region and it’s not too big, I think it’s helpful for Singapore.”