Artists to watch from Art Basel Hong Kong 2025

Our first trip to Art Basel Hong Kong was an unforgettable experience, solidifying, in our opinion, its position as one of Asia’s leading art fairs. From 28 - 30 March 2025, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre hosted 240 galleries from 42 countries, offering an impressive range of global and regional artistic expressions. With 91,000 attendees across VIP and public days, the fair highlighted Art Basel’s dedication to nurturing Asia’s vibrant art ecosystem. We were particularly excited by the Encounters sector, curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, which featured large-scale installations such as Christopher K. Ho’s Return to Order and Lu Yang’s interactive digital installation DOKU the Creator. The Discoveries section, showcasing solo projects by emerging artists like Zhu Tian and Ernie Wang, also stood out with its thought-provoking works challenging societal norms.

View of Art Basel Hong Kong 2025. © Art Basel

The Public Program was equally impressive, offering free events such as a film program with 29 artist films, Conversations exploring evolving patronage and AI’s impact on art, and performances by Natasha Tontey, Mayunkiki, Operator, and Pedro Wonaeamirri. The Exchange Circle hosted talks and workshops, while Art Basel collaborated with M+ for Night Charades by Ho Tzu Nyen. Tai Kwun’s ‘Artists’ Night’ also returned, featuring experimental music and art.

Exhibitors reported strong sales, with works by artists like Yayoi Kusama, Tracey Emin, and Zeng Fanzhi being placed in prominent collections. The inaugural MGM Discoveries Art Prize was awarded to Shin Min for her installation Ew! There is hair in the food!!, earning her a USD 50,000 prize and an exhibition opportunity in Macau.

Here is our guide to the artists who stood out at this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong and who should be on your radar.

Christopher K. Ho

Presented by PHD Group, Encounters section 

Installation view of Christopher K. Ho’s Return to Order (2022-2025) at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025.

#FLODown: Christopher K. Ho’s Return to Order in the Encounters section was an exploration of Modernist design through algorithmic processes and digital fabrication. Drawing inspiration from a 1950s architectural exercise by John Hejduk, Ho’s 30 brass and aluminium sculptures were reflective and abstract, challenging the viewer’s perception of both form and function. Beyond its their very aesthetic appeal, Ho’s work critiques the power structures inherent in Modernism, questioning whether its visual language, often associated with authority, can be redefined by outsiders.

Instagram: @ckh7ckh7

Betty Muffler

Presented by Ames Yavuz, Encounters section

Installation view of Betty Muffler's Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) (2024-2025) at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025.

#FLODown: Betty Muffler’s Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) was one of the most emotive pieces we came across at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025, presented in the Encounters sector. Muffler, an Aboriginal healer, created large-scale paintings that draw on First Nations knowledge, spirituality, and healing practices. Through her lived experience as a survivor of the British nuclear tests at Maralinga, her work channels stories of survival, trauma, and the resilience of the land. Muffler’s work offers a beautiful form of storytelling and collective healing, creating a powerful, meditative space for viewers to reflect on the past and its environmental impacts. She is a crucial voice in the art world.

Shin Min

Presented by P21 Gallery, Discoveries section

Works by Shin Min, presented by P21 in the Discoveries sector. © Art Basel.

#FLODown: We had to walk by this a few times before we were able to get close enough to see it, given how busy the booth by P21 Gallery was, featuring Shin Min’s Ew! There is Hair in the Food!!. Shin Min was one of the standout artists at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025, using her work to critique the dehumanising realities of the service industry, particularly for women. The installation featured a commanding central doll surrounded by contorted, uniformed female figures wearing hair nets—symbols of corporate control over women’s bodies. Drawing from her own experience working low-wage jobs at McDonald’s and Starbucks, Shin Min transformed her frustration into art, initially sculpting figures from discarded paper sacks. Her work challenges the expectation of passivity, femininity, and servitude imposed on female service workers, exposing the entrenched misogyny within the industry. She became the first recipient of the MGM Discoveries Art Prize.

Instagram:@atshinmin

Saju Kunhan

Presented by Tarq in the Discoveries section

Saju Kunhan, 11th May 1980 Wedding Day #1, 2024. Copyright: Saju Kunhan. Courtesy of the artist and Tarq.

#FLODown: Saju Kunhan presented a series of works in the Discoveries section that immediately caught our attention. His piece 11th May 1980 Wedding Day (2025), displayed at the Tarq booth, comprised 32 panels on recycled teak wood, based on photographs from a family wedding album. It captured the couple’s special moment, surrounded by family and friends, while reflecting Kunhan’s deeper exploration of history, memory, and identity. The piece’s unique combination of personal history and abstraction, alongside its materiality, makes Kunhan’s work particularly striking and an artist to watch closely.

Instagram: @saju_kunhan

Pacita Abad and Pio Abad

Presented by Silverlens Gallery, in collaboration with Tina Kim Gallery, Encounters section

Pacita and Pio Abad's installation in the show's Encounters sector. © Art Basel.

#FLODown: Pio Abad, a recent Turner Prize nominee, contributed to the Encounters section at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 by co-curating the presentation of three monumental trapunto paintings by his late aunt, the renowned Filipino-American artist Pacita Abad, with Alexie Glass-Kantor. The works—Through the Looking Glass (1996), Fly Into a Rage (2000), and The Sky is the Limit (2000)—showcased Pacita’s signature technique of intricate stitching, padding, and embellishing painted canvases. The presentation highlighted the emotional depth of Pacita’s abstract art. Alongside this, Pio Abad also presented new drawings from his 1897.76.36.18.6 series at Silverlens Gallery, exploring themes of memory, history, and personal narrative.

Instagram: @pioabadigsh

Lu Yang

Presented by DE SARTHE, Encounters section 

View of a work by Lu Yang, presented by de Sarthe (in collaboration with Coma) in the Encounters sector. © Art Basel.

#FLODown: Lu Yang was a crowd-pleaser in the Encounters section with her debut of DOKU the Creator (2025). With a focus on AI, virtual reality, and CGI, Lu Yang has become a leading figure at the intersection of art, technology, and identity. DOKU the Creator, an immersive installation featuring a digital avatar, explores the concept of selfhood in the virtual realm and questions the blurred boundaries between human and machine. His work has challenged conventional notions of authorship and creativity, particularly with projects like selling AI-generated art in blind boxes. With exhibitions at global institutions like the Centre Pompidou and the Venice Biennale, Lu Yang’s work pushes the limits of art and technology. While we can’t be certain about the future of AI in art, this was certainly an intriguing presentation and he is definitely a name to watch in the years ahead.

Instagram: @luyangasia