Collector's Catalogue: Vol. 1 Issue 4

Hong Kong Collector Culture Robin Peckham considers the HK scene with Mimi Brown, Alan Lau, and Lawrence Chu  When Artinfo released the China-focused edition of an article featuring the most influential young players in the art world, the preponderance of Hong Kong-based figures, occupying twelve of thirty positions, was unexpected. Despite the meteoric growth of the art fair ArtHK as a pan-Asian platform, the success of international auction firms Christie’s and Sotheby’s in the city, and the evolution of the downtown financial district as a gallery hotspot, the Chinese art world largely continues to regard Hong Kong as a provincial and utilitarian offshore haven for their own regional art market. But a younger generation of artists, curators, and patrons in the southern territory is rapidly transforming this image into one of a far more international hub, a place of exchange that, like Hong Kong civil society as a whole, is increasingly resistant to narratives of Chinese hegemony. Given the city’s robust upper middle class and longstanding culture of philanthropy, it should come as no surprise that this new generational culture is largely driven by collectors and other patrons.  And, in Hong Kong at least, there is indeed a significant difference between the young collector and the lifelong patron. While there is certainly no shortage of the former, often financial industry types who engage with contemporary art in the nebulous space somewhere between investment and socializing, what really makes the local culture of support for the arts stand out is the level of educational and other activity launched by patrons above and beyond simply making purchases in the commercial realm. ...Read more...

Who funds the arts in the US? With Kickstarter poised to provide more funding to the arts than the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) in 2012, we take a look at who doles out those dollars. ...Read more...

It is in the negotiation between documents, artifacts, and experiences that Puerto Rican-born, New York-based photographer Mónica Félix’s work stops to ponder. In her most recent exhibition Reina(Queen) at the Museo de las Americas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Félix explores her self-image as a woman through a collection of highly performative conceptual self-portraits... ...Read more...

ArtSlant's Collector's Catalogue is a special edition publication focused on bringing new artists and new work to the attention of our worldwide audience of seasoned buyers, committed art lovers, and first-time purchasers. The artists included in our August 2012 Collector's Catalogue can be contacted directly or through their galleries. ArtSlant is pleased to present them for your consideration.