Turkish art galleries return from China

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Ichwan Noor’s work ‘Volkswagen Beetles grabbed attention at this year’s fair. AFP photo

Hong Kong Art Basel closed May 25 with a mixture of emerging and established artists’ success. Turkey Galerist, Gallery Rampa, CDA Projects and Çağla Cabaoğlu Gallery brought Turkish artists to the show.

Galerist attended the show with Mentalklinik, Rasim Aksan, İdil İlkin, Aslan Sükan and Elif Uras. Rampa joined with Nevin Aladağ, Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Vahap Avşar, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Cengiz Çekil, İnci Furni, Leyla Gediz, Hatice Güleryüz, Selma Gürbüz, Nilbar Güreş, Servet Koçyiğit, Ahmet Oran, Ebru Özseçen, Güçlü Öztekin and Erinç Seymen. The four-day annual show had only been held in Switzerland and the United States but made a dazzling debut in a city better known as a fast-paced financial hub.

Jakarta-based art museum and gallery Art:1, which exhibited in Hong Kong for the first time, is aiming to match up its artists with collectors who show long-term interest, Art:1 deputy director Monica Gunawan told AFP. “If we can get a good collector from here and maintain a long-term international relationship, it would be very good,” she said. Collectors new to Hong Kong are looking to tap into the growing Asian market. Gagosian, White Cube, Acquavella, Lehmann Maupin and Galerie Perrotin are just some of the big-name galleries to have arrived in the city in the past two years despite sky-high rents.

Ichwan Noor’s work

Having taken five Volkswagen Beetles and compressed them into spheres, artist Ichwan Noor grabbed attention at the inaugural Hong Kong Art Basel. Noor is known in his native Indonesia but is hoping the glittering, champagne-soaked art fair will give him further recognition beyond his home borders. Such are the opportunities that await emerging and lesser-known artists at the fair, which aims to highlight Hong Kong’s growing role as a global arts hub. Soon after the event opened to guests, Noor saw one of his $88,000 “Beetle Spheres” snapped up. “Events like Hong Kong Art Basel will provide him [Noor] with the needed exposure,” Gunawan told AFP. Buoyed by the arrival of so many well-heeled international collectors, galleries have competed with each other.