With the participation of 155 galleries from 29 countries, Hong Kong continues to assert itself as the international modern and contemporary art fair destination in Asia before heading to Basel and Miami (scheduled in June and December respectively). Works by blue chip artists Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama, Anish Kapoor and Andy Warhol grace the third edition of Hong Kong Art Fair that took place in May this year. Bringing together art collectors, artists, curators and the openly art-curious from all across the globe, the fair opened to giddy throngs on the day of the preview: things looked optimistic.

Among the Gagosian, Leo Castelli and Lisson Galleries, here are a selection of other heavy weights and the names they brought.

Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, solely showcased works by established Japanese artist Yoshimoto Nara. Nara’s portraits of little children are strangely endearing but on closer examination, there is always something off with their cuteness. These seemingly innocent children are tainted with menace in their eyes and their gestures hint at a propensity for violence. With its influences being part Disney, part Manga and wholly pop and urban culture, Nara’s works fit right into a collection of international Pop Art. According to artdaily.org, Rock en Roll the Roll (2009), as seen below, has reportedly sold for USD 350,000.

White Cube (London) presented Tracy Emin, Antony Gormley and rising contemporary art star Raqib Shaw amongst others, but the main attraction and pull for the crowd was a formaldehyde tank by the one and only, Damien Hirst. The Inescapable Truth (2005) featured a thankfully intact dove frozen in mid flight with its wings spread out and a human skull floating below at the base of the tank. What does it mean? Well, as Damien would say ‘It means a lot of money’, and a lot of money it is! The piece has reportedly been sold for Sterling Pound 1.75 million to a collector who obviously wants to make a statement and needs his collection to be reckoned with. For those with a tighter spending budget – what are you still doing here?!

James Cohan Gallery featured a rare Nam June Paik’s 1974 characteristic TV Buddha where he flips the ultimate icon of self contemplation, the Buddha, upon itself by placing him in front of a TV mirroring its surroundings. For the eclectic collector who appreciates video and installation art, this piece is still available at USD 150,000.

Galerie Almine Rech (Paris) participating for the first time in the fair, showcased a stunning sculpture by renowned Swiss Artist Sylvie Fleury. Fleury is known to relish a spectacle out of consumerism by assembling Chanel shopping bags as installation or sculpting Prada Shoes (1998) or displaying a dazzling gold shopping cart Easy Breezy Beautiful (2000) mocking the viewer for his (or her) superficiality and obsession with this material world.

Eternal Wow on Shelves (2007), pictured above, is Fleury’s take on a classic Donald Judd sculpture by replacing the Plexiglas shelves with stainless steel polished to mirror-perfection and unleashing on them metallic purple fiberglass blobs, for the lack of a better word. These amorphous, fluid forms offer a soft and feminine contradiction to Judd’s austere and cold stack of seven shelves. In the past, Fleury has also appropriated Piet Modrian’s square compositions by replacing the coloured squares with stuck on blue, red and yellow fur, treating the two dimensional surface with irreverence and serving up a generous mockery of the artist.

Definitely for the collector who appreciates a humourous spin on serious conceptual artists, someone who champions anarchy through art and is a feminist at heart. Speaking with the gallery Director, Thomas Dryll mentions how at USD 85,000, the sculpture is a hard sell especially when the artist, although long established, is relatively unknown in Asia and where references to Donald Judd are lost.

FYI- if I some spare cash and a trust fund, I would have bought the piece by now. But here’s a look at some familiar/ unfamiliar names, artists who are emerging and those with a growing cult following.

Rirkrit Tiravanija, showcased by Tang Contemporary, recreated two familiar skyscrapers from Beijing and Shanghai in the form of bird cages while a number of bricks sat idly aside. The skyscraper installation Untitled (no.1, jianguomenwaidajie, chaoyang district, Beijing; no.100, shijidadao, pudong district, shanghai) (2010), constructed with stacked wooden cages has a number of tiny birds fluttering within them which leaves the viewer puzzled as to whether to intervene by freeing them or to leave them be since this is art. And what is the significance of these trapped birds within these recognizable structures from China? Is Rirkrit hinting at communism?

Established Thai artist Rirkrit has always been known to invite the audience to engage with him and his work, be it by cooking for viewers or by having them cook for everyone or just generally hanging out in his space. The actions of the spectator thus comprise of the art itself.

No more a passive viewer you are also invited to buy a brick from Untitled (14086), 2010; for as little as HKD 60, you can own a piece of the sculpture by Rirkrit Tiravanija. The two skyscrapers however are still available for HKD 900,000, but not for long, as it has garnered interest by many refined collectors (who presumably have a large warehouse space where they store their substantial art collection).

Shahzia Sikander, a rare gem, featured by Pilar Corrias (London) at the second installment of SCMP ART FUTURES, a subsection of the fair reserved for showcasing emerging talent from galleries less than five years old. Shazia, who is based in Pakistan and New York, was trained in the traditional and intricate art of miniature painting, magnifies the customary small scale template and contemporizes her themes which may be anything from war and conflict to poetry and music (or a combination of both).

I am also not my own enemy (2009) is spectacular and stunning in detail like no other. This is a hand painted masterpiece; silk screened and gold leafed in certain sections, Shahzia weaves together an open landscape within decorative borders invoked from traditional Islamic geometric patterns, while Urdu scripts from the Ghazals of renowned eighteenth century poet Mirza Ghalib float over the composition. The art work itself is executed in two parts, on separate sheets of paper which are joined together along the edge in a way that emulates a mammoth sized open book.

Shahzia’s art also encompasses animation, film and installation and at a more reasonable price of USD 8000 a piece you can collect the smaller water colour, ink and gouache paintings executed on specially prepared wasli paper (pictured below) which articulate on political themes as demonstrated in Faith, Unity, Discipline (2009). This delicate water colour prominently features Pakistan’s founding father Mohd. Ali Jinnah with the country’s flag in the background and a shadowy implication of war and aggression (over Kashmir)- a dispute as old as the independence of India and Pakistan.

Shahzia Sikander is also the winner of the SCMP ART FUTURES Prize, judged by a panel which includes international uber curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. The winner (certificate pictured below) receives USD 2000 as well as a feature cover on the Sunday Post Magazine.

Imran Qureshi, a leading Pakistani contemporary artist trained as a miniaturist as well, is represented by Gandhara Art (Hong Kong and Karachi). His featured triptych, pictured below, You Who Are My Love and My Life’s Enemy Too II (2010), from afar looks like an abstract monochrome drip painting but is at the very best, deceptive. On closer observation, intricate and detailed outlines of perhaps lotus petals are drawn into the red paint splatter. At an impressive scale of 94 x 48 inches each, the work is on sale for USD 54,000.

Markus Linnenbrink, a real find at Korean gallery The Columns. Abstraction in painting has never looked more delicious, or more fun! The German artist layers on a mixture of pigment and epoxy resin on canvas or wood and then, upon drying, drills holes into the surface to expose the artistic process of painting. THISISYOURDAY (2010), pictured below is an example of that technique and the results feels like plastic or depending on how nostalgic you’re feeling, glossy hard candy from your childhood. At USD 20,000 this is a unique buy for anyone seriously considering collecting art.

In FORTHETRUTHTHATREMAINSTHATNOONEWANTSTOKNOW (2010), as seen below, Markus lets the resin drip in vertical lines; a distant descendent of 1950s American abstract artists Morris Louis and Jackson Pollock, this drip painting is far more tightly controlled leaving very little room for chance. The tight composition also reflects a sense of humour in their titles where long sentences are jammed into one word. With no breathing space in between, the accumulation of layer upon layer of paint ends up somewhere between painting and sculpture but nonetheless a complete visual delight. This piece is priced at USD 63,500 and also still available.

The Hong Kong Art Fair may have long concluded but most of the galleries are now enthusiastically in the grip of Art Basel during this second week of June, where a whole host of collectors and buyers await. Meanwhile Singapore gears up to host Art Stage Singapore (headed by former Director of Art Basel, Rudolph Lorenzo). Can the country emulate the Basel vibe in January 2011? Can this city attract the top tier of galleries to participate when Hong Kong has already established itself as the Arts hub of Asia? Well, that remains to be seen but for now, Hong Kong reigns supreme.

The Hong Kong Art Fair took place from the 27-30 May at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre

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Bharti Lalwani is a freelance writer and curator based in Singapore. She is currently revamping Melt, an ezine on art and is the co-curator for Raw Art Singapore– An exhibition for emerging artists, being held in July 2010.