Asia’s Young & Wealthy Art Collectors
There is an interesting shift in the art collection world. Wealthy young collectors in Asia, particularly millennials and Gen Z, are boosting the demand for art, notably through online channels.
High-net-worth millennials in Asia increased their spending on art, with notable contributions from mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan. International auction houses, including Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips, have seen a significant uptick in purchases by young Asian collectors. Millennials accounted for almost 40% of Christie’s buyers in Asia Pacific, with a 65% increase in Gen Z buyers in 2023. South Korea and Taiwan stood out as key contributors to the flourishing art market in 2023.
Young collectors are reshaping art preferences, favoring digital art and prints (Gen Z) and sculptures, installations, and film or video art (millennials), according to the Art Basel & UBS report. Millennials are drawn to figurative and surrealistic works, expressing a preference for emerging artists over blue-chip names .
In Asia, millennial buyers are embracing both contemporary and classical Asian art, reflecting a cultural connection. At Christie’s 2023 Hong Kong Autumn Auctions, 40% of new buyers acquiring Chinese ceramics, paintings, and artworks were millennials.
“We have increasingly millennials and younger collectors buying at Christie’s [and] starting to collect … that we’ve been able to also engage much more with all our digital innovations,” Francis Belin, president of Asia Pacific at Christie’s said