From developing The Pawn and Duddell’s restaurants to co-founding Design Trust and chairing Para Site art center, Alan Lo has helped to redefine Hong Kong’s culinary and cultural scenes. A longtime arts philanthropist, the entrepreneur, developer, and collector established the Singapore-based Yenn and Alan Lo Foundation (YAL Foundation) with his wife in 2022, which fosters Asian transnational artistic practices and dialogue.
The foundation sponsored the first three iterations of the SAM S.E.A. Focus Art Fund, which acquired artworks for the Singapore Art Museum’s collection from the S.E.A. Focus art fair by emerging Southeast Asian artists, including Tan Zi Hao, Phi Phi Oanh, Saroot Supasuthivech, Lai Yu Tong, and Agan Harahap. Later this year, YAL will launch the Kim Association, a nonprofit art space in Singapore, led by Hong Kong–born curator and writer Christina Li, that will commission and present work by Asian transnational artists.
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Lo’s commitment to nurturing the art landscape extends beyond Asia through his involvement on the boards of the Princeton University Art Museum Advisory Council, the Tate Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee, and the Global Council of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Beyond his philanthropic and institutional roles, Lo is a discerning collector with a keen eye for emerging talent and a deep appreciation for artistic innovation. With Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 having just closed its doors, Lo shares with ARTnews his insights into this year’s fair, and discusses the evolving trends shaping Asia’s contemporary art market.
ARTnews: What works did you purchase at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025?
Alan Lo: I bought a canvas, Your Freedom, by Dublin-based, Japanese artist Atsushi Kaga, from Mother’s Tankstation. I’m in conversation about a few things, but this is the one that has been confirmed. Some of the artists that are on my radar are Trevor Shimizu, Hanna Hur, Lotus L. Kang, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, and Owen Fu.
Atsushi Kaga, Your Freedom, 2024.
Courtesy the artist and mother’s tankstation, Dublin | London
What factors ultimately convinced you to purchase Atsushi Kaga’s work?
I’ve always liked his paintings, and he only produces a few works every year. There’s always a rabbit in the painting, which is himself I think, and other things going on. There’s something quite whimsical but also quite morbid about it. I think he also exemplifies a Japanese artist who’s based in the West. The cofounder of the gallery used to be his teacher, and he’s been with the gallery for something like 18 years, so that relationship is quite meaningful.
Was this purchase planned in advance, where you took the time to compare and reflect? How much research do you do before a fair?
I do my homework. I do my research. I’ve been following Atsushi Kaga’s career for some time now, so it was offered to me finally, before the fair, after waiting for almost two years.
Did you make any spontaneous acquisitions while walking through the fair? Are you an impulsive collector?
Yeah, my friends know that I’m a shopaholic. I’m trying to change that, to be a little bit more disciplined. I didn’t make any spontaneous purchases this time. I’ve been a good boy. My wife and I are lucky we work with a few advisers. We’ve been reviewing, looking at previews and different materials. There’s a list probably of a hundred Asian diasporic transnational artists on our radar, so I think it’s a focused exercise.
Christopher K. Ho, Return to Order, 2022–25, installation view, at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 in the Encounters section.
Photo ALIGSTUDIOS/Courtesy Art Basel
Were there any new discoveries that caught your attention at this year’s fair?
In the Art Basel Encounters section, there was a series of sculptures by Christopher K. Ho, a New York–based, Hong Kong artist who’s also the director of the AAA [Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong]. There were two large-scale sculptures and a series of small sculptures; we already own one of them, which we loaned for the installation. Cole Lu is very interesting. He’s a Taiwanese artist who’s based in Brooklyn. I had the opportunity to see his commission at the Bangkok Art Biennale recently. WangShui is very good. They’re a New York–based artist, who was in the 2024 Venice Biennale. I saw the work at the Kurimanzutto booth and was fortunate enough to see their first solo show in North America when I was in New York back in November. It’s interesting to see how their practice is evolving.
Did you notice any particular trends at the fair?
I feel that sculptures are having a bit of a comeback. I saw a lot of smaller-scale, installation-type or sculptural works—artists’ practices that focus on different types of materiality. I don’t know whether it’s a trend: I see a lot of artists who’ve been around for a long time, but who have always been overlooked, so it’s kind of a rediscovery. Someone like Kim Yun Shin, for example, who for the most part of her life was neglected and has only recently been getting institutional attention.
View of Lehmann Maupin’s booth at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025, showing two sculptures by Kim Yun Shin.
Photo KITMIN LEE
How would you describe the atmosphere at Art Basel Hong Kong this year? Did you notice any shifts in the energy, audience, or overall market sentiment?
The market is soft. You get that sense talking to gallerists, secondary dealers, or auction houses. It’s a fine line. Obviously, Art Basel Hong Kong is resilient. There’s the support from collectors, but at the same time, there’s also a kind of iffiness about what’s happening with the economy. So the vibe is positive, but with a note of caution.
How was the fair compared to previous editions?
It was better than I expected. I think the mood is a little bit more upbeat this year. Maybe the China tech stocks are doing quite well lately, so collectors are feeling less poor. Collectors aside, we saw a lot of curators and people from major institutions around the world who flew in, so I think it’s also a positive note in terms of their interest in Hong Kong and what’s happening here. I was at Para Site hosting our annual brunch and it was so crowded; we saw people from all over the world. We’re very happy. There was healthy attendance from all over Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, and Europe, but it was quite obvious that we were missing our American friends.
What’s your outlook on the current state of the Asian art market in light of the economic uncertainty in China, slow auction sales, and US tariffs on Chinese goods?
I think in general I’m pretty positive about it. I mean markets correct, markets go through consolidations, markets shift. Asia is very interesting now. It used to be Hong Kong and China, and now you see so many more activities across Southeast Asia, so it’s growing and it’s exciting. I feel that post-Covid, Southeast Asia is definitely seeing a lot more noise, a lot more projects happening, a lot of patron-led initiatives of foundations, museums, festivals, and biennials, which is great. It actually makes us look at Asia more holistically. We shouldn’t be too siloed, and we should really look at the whole Asian context to see whether we need to adapt to the new landscape.