Hong Kong’s May auctions experienced only moderate success. Coming in at HKD 1.24 billion (USD 160 million), Christie’s Hong Kong’s total haul from its four live 20th and 21st Century Art auctions (May 28–29) attained just below 70 percent of its total from last year. The auction house got off to a shaky start with its 20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale on May 28, drawing in HKD 725 million (USD 92.5 million)—just half its previous year’s haul of HKD 1.4 billion (USD 180 million)—with a comparable 57 lots to its then 58. The night’s leading bid was Basquait’s Black (1986), composed of Xerox-boxes mounted on wood, that went for HKD 62.6 million (USD 8 million); the seller (“a Prominent American Private Collection”) was attempting to flip it after acquiring it in October 2020 at Sotheby’s New York for USD 8.1 million—but to no avail. The lot prior, Jeff Koon’s kitsch-lux Sacred Heart (Magenta/Gold) (1994–2007) steel sculpture, was captured at HKD 60.9 million (USD 7.8 million). Both sold on the lower side of their estimates and were the only two deals that exceeded HKD 60 million (USD 7.6 million).

There were several notable outliers from the steady stream of modest results. The lead-off lot, Zenzaburo Kojima’s Red Background (Nude) (1928–29), went for four times its high estimate to HKD 2.1 million (USD 268,000), followed shortly by one of René Magritte’s surreal conversation starters (Le promenoir des amants, 1929–30) that topped its HKD 35 million (USD 4.5 million) high estimate to reach HKD 51.2 million (USD 6.5 million). Meanwhile, Still Life with Big Durian (c. 1965) by Singaporean female pioneer Georgette Chen far surpassed expectations, cementing a new auction record of HKD 14.3 million (USD 1.8 million) for the artist. Most works hovered near estimates, including a HKD 5.9 million (USD 750,000) wood sculpture from late Taiwanese master Ju Ming, Taichi Series – Single Whip (1994). The night’s nine unsold lots included a 5.5-meter-tall KAWS wood sculpture, a 4.5-meter Georges Mathieu blue behemouth, Dan Colen’s textured purple splatter abstraction inspired by Disney’s Fantasia, and a much-traded Liu Ye female portrait, signaling that perhaps tastes are evolving or buyers are treading carefully.

This newfound restraint plagued the subsequent Post-Millenium Evening Sale, which earned HKD 163 million (USD 20.8 million) that same evening. What seems a marginal improvement from its HKD 140 million (USD 17.9 million) total in 2022, however, fell flat considering twice the number of lots were presented compared to the year before. Nevertheless, “cute” offerings proved evergreen. Javier Calleja’s Yoshimoto Nara-esque painting of a green-eyed ginger-haired adolescent, I DON’T CARE (2020) sold above its HKD 6 million (USD 770,000) estimate at HKD 10.1 million (USD 1.29 million). Also from the same year, Atsushi Kaga’s iconic white bunny morosely contemplating a table of plants and foodstuffs, A Breakfast in January (2020), sold for five times its high estimate at HKD 2.52 million (USD 320,000). Meanwhile, one in ten lots from Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Day sales were unwanted. Among the offerings, Yue Minjun’s pink, laughing man portrait Joy (2000) busted estimates to sell for HKD 1 million (USD 130,000), but two of fellow Cynical Realist painter Fang Lijun’s multipart woodblock prints failed to find any takers.

Chinese contemporary art faired better at Bonhams Hong Kong’s two key live sales on May 27, which grossed HKD 61 million (USD 7.78 million). The REdiscovery: Manfred Schoeni’s Legacy auction of the eponymous contemporary Chinese art collector and connoisseur earned HKD 35 million (USD 4.5 million). Thirteen of fifteen lots sold, with Zeng Fanzhi’s unsettling psychological paintings of masked men claiming the highest prices. Zeng’s Mask 2000 No. 3 (2000) depicting said character walking a bulldog by the beach, topped the group at HKD 24.7 million (USD 3.2 million).

The remaining HKD 26 million (USD 3.3 million) came from the sale of 65 lots—three were withdrawn and 13 unsold—from its Modern & Contemporary Art and Southeast Asian Art auction. The top three lots were: Ayako Rokkaku’s Untitled (2007) acrylic canvas of three girls in a flower field, leading at HKD 4.1 million (USD 520,000); Huang Yuxing’s fluorescent-colored abstraction Everyone Is the Same (2013–16), which went for HKD 2.9 million (USD 370,000); and late Taiwanese painter Richard Lin’s Rothko-inspired color-field painting, Two Square Series (1960), at HKD 1.3 million (USD 170,000). Vietnamese art enjoyed high demand, with all 20 paintings finding homes for up to HKD 2 million (USD 256,000) apiece.

As Hong Kong muddled through a lackluster second quarter, pressure looks set to build for a proper rebound in the second half of the year—improved macro economic conditions permitting.