Pearl Lam Knows the Hong Kong Art Scene, and Is Happy to Talk

Pearl Lam has been at the forefront of Hong Kong’s art scene for decades — a larger-than-life native-born gallerist who is known in arts circles for speaking her mind and knowing the best restaurants in town.

She opened her first gallery, in Shanghai, in 2005, rather than join her family’s development business. She has referred to herself as having been a “shopaholic” when she first joined the art world (she declined to reveal her age) before deciding to show her acquisitions to the world.

Known for her signature purple hair, Lam prides herself on discovering hidden talent across the globe. She founded the China Art Foundation, dedicated to championing Chinese contemporary art, in 2008, and is a collaborator in the 70 Square Meters residency program in Shanghai, which began last year and provides artists with residency space and resources to expand their work.

Pearl Lam Galleries will feature eight artists this year at Art Basel Hong Kong, and Lam discussed her thoughts on the city’s place in the Asian art world in 2025 as other Asian cities, such as Seoul and Singapore, are emerging as art-collecting destinations.

As Art Basel Hong Kong continues to find its ground after protests rattled the city in 2019, followed by a crippling Covid lockdown, Lam sees the future of the city — and Asia — as bright as ever, but with challenges.

The following interview has been edited and condensed.

How do you see Art Basel Hong Kong now, and how has it changed?

Before Covid, people were really focusing on the growth of the Asian market. Along with the protests, the whole art scene in Asia has changed a lot. It’s also changed economically, as has the economy for the whole of Asia. We’re still suffering. The art world goes hand in hand with the economy and finance, so if the economy is not great, the art market is not great.

What is it that continues to make Hong Kong an important city for art?

Most Hong Kong collectors are buying not to flip the market but to collect. There are serious collectors here, much more than many of the other cities that I’ve been to. Also, Hong Kong is a very convenient place. Going from Japan or South Korea to Singapore is like eight hours. Hong Kong is geographically quite convenient for Southeast Asia and for East Asia. And it’s got very good entertainment and the galleries here are all working together to create a great week for Art Basel Hong Kong.

You have long championed Chinese art, especially Chinese abstraction. How do you see that right now?

For a long time, it was really hot, and now the trend is more about diversity. It’s about women artists. It’s about Black artists, especially African artists. So, it’s no longer very cool or very hot.

How have you adjusted to that?

We just attended Art Basel Miami [Beach], and we showed Chinese art because I think I have that responsibility, but I don’t want to show just that. I show international artists along with Chinese artists. When you go to an art market, you want to create a cultural dialogue.

What will you be showing during or at Art Basel Hong Kong?

At our Hong Kong gallery during the fair, we will be showing Su Xiaobai, a German Chinese artist who uses lacquer as a medium. His work proves that abstraction is not a passing market trend but a powerful and evolving language. He is going to show a new series. Many Chinese collectors or international collectors are waiting to see his work.

At Art Basel Hong Kong, we will show two other Chinese artists, Zhu Jinshi and Zhu Peihong; along with the Nigerian artist Alimi Adewale; the Slovakian artist Michal Korman, who will also have a solo show at our Shanghai gallery during the fair; Antony Micallef; Mr Doodle (also known as Sam Cox); and Damian Elwes.

Is there a sense that Hong Kong has sort of returned?

I think when we talk about Hong Kong, we have to talk about the city retaining itself as the Asian finance center. During Covid, a lot of expats left Hong Kong and only some of them have returned. Also, America has stopped a lot of investing in China, so a lot of these funds have moved out. But I think that the geopolitics has settled down a bit lately.

How do you see global art fairs in the future?

During Covid, I think a lot of us questioned art fairs. Is it really important to go to every art fair? And I think this question is still looming. We want to preserve our funding. Art fairs are very expensive, so we must pick and choose.

How does that play into today’s art collector?

Well, there is the crypto thing, and that’s a new angle for me. They are a new group of collectors. If you think about it, since the 2000s the contemporary art market has expanded so much that a lot of new people are coming in. They take art as an investment. If art is looking like an asset to invest in, so I don’t think it’s going to disappear. And if you look at China and South Korea, you have museums being built that have art spaces and residents. I don’t think the market will be shrinking. In fact, I think the market is going to expand rapidly.