
The October 4-7 fair will feature the debut of Masterpiece in the Far East although its presence will be reduced.
ATG understands that as civic unrest escalated in August, Masterpiece offered its exhibitors the opportunity to cancel and several accepted.
Some 24 dealers drawn from the fair’s London eventhad been scheduled to exhibit in a designated Masterpiece Pavilion.
Showcase
However, Masterpiece London managing director Lucie Kitchener told ATG that 15 exhibitors will now take part in a curated object-focused showcase, rather than individual dealer stands.
“This will then be developed into a larger-scale gallery stand-led presentation in Hong Kong at Fine Art Asia in 2020,” she said.
In a statement Fine Art Asia director Andy Hei acknowledged that “news coverage of the current situation in Hong Kong is causing concern” but said that Fine Art Asia and works on paper fair Ink Asia would be “held as scheduled” with around 100 exhibitors.
“We are closely monitoring local events and in frequent contact with dealers to keep them apprised of events while preparations for the events are progressing according to plan,” he said.
The Masterpiece-Fine Art Asia alliance is a reciprocal arrangement.
In turn, Fine Art Asia had a presence at this year’s Masterpiece London from June 27-July 3, with a group exhibition on a shared stand.