Charlotte Raybaud presenting highlights from Warhol in China, a landmark sale of Andy Warhol photography that took place in May 2017 in Hong Kong
Phillips: As you look ahead to our first-ever Day Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design in Hong Kong, which artists and designers are you most excited to offer?
Charlotte Raybaud: Our inaugural Day Sale aims to respond to a growing appetite for cross-categorical collecting, a trend that we're increasingly seeing in Asia with collectors looking at a wide range of international artists. We will be presenting a broad selection of pieces covering a lot of ground, with established artists as well as emerging ones, including paintings, works on paper, sculptures, editioned works and photography. Also very exciting is our decision to present Design alongside our 20th Century & Contemporary Art selections. There is a strong interest in Design in Asia—as evidenced by our 100% sell-through rate of Design pieces in our previous sale—and we are looking forward to continuing our presentation of the two categories alongside each other.
P: Can you tease any favorite works that are planned for November?
CR: Phillips prides itself on having its finger on the pulse of what our collectors are looking for—and the inaugural Day Sale will be no different. Some personal favorites of mine are works by Yoshitomo Nara, Christine Ay Tjoe and KAWS. Without giving too much away, we also have a striking red Takashi Murakami that I think will create some noise this season! We have a strong selection of Danish and Italian designers that I absolutely love, featuring some great pieces by Gio Ponti and Hans J. Wegner.
Above: Day Sale highlights Takashi Murakami Untitled, 2017 © 2017 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved; Paavo Tynell Table lamp, model no. 5061, circa 1940s; Hans J. Wegner Large 'Architect's desk', model no. JH57, designed 1954, and Early swivel chair, model no. JH502, circa 1955
P: With this new Day Sale format, do you anticipate introducing new artists to auction in Asia?
CR: The tastes in Asia are already very sophisticated, with collectors participating in many international auctions and flying abroad to regularly attend auctions, fairs and gallery openings that present a plethora of works. There is clearly an incredible appetite for new material here and our goal with the Day Sale is to respond to this—I anticipate introducing sought-after, but perhaps overlooked or even hard-to-come-by artists to Asia. The Day Sale format is also designed to specifically appeal to a growing number of younger Asian buyers who are just building their collections, and by this virtue alone I look forward to introducing more emerging artists to the auction platform.
P: Can you name a few contemporary Asian artists who are beginning to receive more market recognition?
CR: The Indonesian abstract artist Christine Ay Tjoe is a name that immediately springs to mind—a personal favorite of mine. Following a tremendously successful show in the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, as well as international gallery representation via White Cube, she is gaining a lot of market recognition outside of Southeast Asia and Asia as a whole. Her pieces draw from a rich spiritual background and are raw and sentimental.
Another artist whose work I adore is Tomoo Gokita, a Japanese artist whose mainly monochromatic works have an alluring, almost film-noir appeal. He's recently had two packed shows in Hong Kong and Tokyo, presented by Taka Ishii Gallery x McNamara Art Projects and Tokyo Opera City Gallery respectively. I'm proud to say that Phillips currently holds the auction world records for both these artists and I am certain that the demand for them both will continue to be on the rise!
The tastes in Asia are already very sophisticated.
Above: Christine Ay Tjoe Small Flies and Other Wings, 2013, sold in May 2017 for HK$11,720,000, a world auction record for the artist; Tomoo Gokita Women in Crime, 2015, sold in May 2018 for HK$2,740,000, a world auction record for the artist.
P: And similarly, are there examples of Western artists who were previously overlooked but are now catching on in countries like China, Japan and Korea?
CR: As I mentioned earlier, the Asian market is already very much tuned in to the international art markets, so a lot of our collectors are aware of Western artists. With the surge in Western galleries opening in the region, however, even more Western artists are being introduced more regularly—names such as Jonas Wood, George Condo, Mark Bradford and Peter Doig are really popular here.
P: Do you collect art yourself? If so, which artists or pieces would you like to have in your collection?
CR: I have just begun to dabble in collecting art—the collection is quite slim at the moment but I love artists such as Jonas Wood, Izumi Kato, Daniel Arsham, Marlene Dumas and Lee Kit, and hope to add these to my collection in the (hopefully) not too far future! I also hope to collect Design and am especially fond of Danish pieces.
P: Also looking ahead to the fall, what are the gallery shows in Hong Kong you're most looking forward to seeing?
CR: Fall in Hong Kong should be very interesting. My eyes are on Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth at the moment, as they are going to be presenting a Murakami show and Zeng Fanzhi show respectively. These two names have been commonplace since when I first joined the industry and I am interested to see the artists' new works.
P: What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone who is new to collecting art and design?
CR: I believe in collecting works that you genuinely like and can grow to love. I would avoid buying into trends without understanding an artist's work. It is important to keep your eyes and ears open, and attend as many auctions, fairs and gallery shows as possible, and to read as broadly and voraciously as possible. There are always new artists to discover, meet and befriend.
If you are interested in selling with us this season, we invite you to contact Charlotte Raybaud or submit your property using our online consignment tool.