President of intl auction house in Asia-Pacific says despite disruptions caused by the pandemic, the art market in the Greater Bay Area remains strong. Zeng Xinlan reports from Hong Kong.

A visitor (center) views a painting at Christie’s Hong Kong Autumn Auctions’ preview exhibition held in Shanghai in 2021. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area “is exciting, ambitious and necessary,” according to the president of auction house Christie’s Asia Pacific. 

“It’s just incredible to see what has been achieved in such a short period of time in that region, which everybody knows,” Francis Belin told China Daily in an interview. “And I think it’s just beginning of the journey. There’s a very strong agenda (which) actually makes it happen. And I have no doubt that it will happen.” 

The Greater Bay Area has what it takes to nourish a vibrant art and auction market.

Francis Belin, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific

Belin said that the Greater Bay Area has what it takes to nourish a vibrant art and auction market. 

“You have very successful entrepreneurs across many cities (in the Greater Bay Area). You have an incredible talent pool. It’s a region that is going to continue to have very strong activity for Chinese mainland talents. Therefore, I think the boom and the growth that we see in the region will continue to support what we do when it comes to art, culture, and the auction business,” he said.

And the plan to develop Hong Kong into a hub for arts and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, adopted in 2021, is set to create more opportunities for the art, culture, and auction businesses in the city.

While Hong Kong will stay at the heart of art and auctions in Asia, backed by the free flow of capital, merchandise and people, as well as the rule of law, mainland cities within the area could facilitate and embrace wonderful opportunities, Belin added.

“I think we are looking forward to seeing how this is going to apply to the Greater Bay Area,” he said, adding that tremendous opportunity exists for the whole region to play an important role in art and culture. “We’re very excited about it,” he said. 

Belin said that the auction house’s strategy for the bay area has two very important parts — one part for the mainland, the other for Hong Kong. “We have a very active pool of collectors across the Greater Bay Area. We have been present through various types of initiatives throughout the years, holding events in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc.” 

Despite the disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, Belin said the art market within the area continues to be strong and sustained. 

“2020 was a difficult year, especially the first half, while 2021 was a record year for us. It was a record year in Asia,” Belin said, adding that last year’s auctions saw the highest percentage of Asian collectors, who have been active across all categories. 

Francis Belin, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Asian buyers accounted for 31 percent of Christie’s global auctions sales in 2021, the majority of whom were based in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. Buyers from Hong Kong and other cities within the GBA made up about two-thirds of that majority, Belin said.

Collectors in the Greater Bay Area are much younger on average than those in other markets such as Europe and the United States, he added. “We see collectors in their 30s … at a very serious level of collecting, extremely knowledgeable of art and extremely enthusiastic.” 

Belin also commented on the art-buying trend in the bay area, which has seen collectors embrace categories outside the more traditional Asian arts. “Interestingly, we see (a shift from) the very strong appeal of classic Chinese arts, Chinese paintings and Chinese works of art to modern and contemporary Chinese art. We also see that collecting pattern evolving toward Western arts and luxury goods such as jewelry, watches, handbags and wine,” he said. 

A silver lining of the pandemic, in Belin’s opinion, is the acceleration in digital innovation for the ways in which art is presented and art transactions can occur at auctions. “An important example is the livestreaming that we have developed at a tremendous pace. … We had more than 12 million viewers for our auction last year.” 

Highlights of the auction house’s digital experiments include the launch of a mini-program on WeChat, the omnipresent social media platform on the mainland. “The level of activity is phenomenal. The level of engagement is phenomenal, as you  can imagine,” Belin said. 

“You can pretty much do everything you wish to do with Christie’s. You can open an account, you can register for sale, you have access to the whole catalog of sales that are presented around the world, whether they are online sales or live auctions, you can browse through the sale … you can also now place bids in online sales.” 

In addition to WeChat, Christie’s has also launched initiatives on Chinese social and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu. “We have over 100,000 followers and we have partnered with a lot of luxury brands already in a very short period of time,” he said. 

In the future, Belin said, the auction house is looking forward to a closer engagement with collectors within the bay area. “The first auction that we held this year confirms that the market is very vibrant and solid.” 

France-born Belin has had over a decade of experience working in Asia. “I’ve been in Asia since 2005. I spent most of my career in Asia, and a very big portion of it was in China. It’s fascinating to see the speed at which everything has developed and changed and all the opportunities that we have.” 

Contact the writer at xinlanzeng@chinadailyhk.com