Asia+ / First Open

“With a packed saleroom and significant telephone and internet bidding, Christie’s ASIA+/First Open auction saw strong international participation across all the lots offered. The top lot of the sale, Liu Ye’s “Yuan Yuan” achieved nearly double its estimate at HK$3.16million, selling to an Asian private buyer, and Wu Guanzhong’s portrait of Hong Kong, “A Sleepless City”, sold at HK$1.96million, well above its estimate. Works by Japanese and Korean artists achieved multiples of their estimates, notably Paik Nam-June’s “Buddha King” and Kazuo Shiraga’s “Goshoku Zanmai”.  Through this internationally curated sale Christie’s brought a new dynamic to the market in Asia, demonstrating that the language of art transcends geographic boundaries,” said co-curators Marcello Kwan of Christie’s Hong Kong and Edward Tang of Christie’s New York.