ART BASEL HONG KONG 2016

Art Basel was founded in 1970 in Switzerland, The Hong Kong edition is now in it's fourth year and is the first of three editions around the world. First up is Hong Kong in March, followed by Switzerland in June, before the beachside location of Miami, USA in December. Each show is unique and each host city adds its own local flair to the global event, with exhibitions and cultural events taking place at public museums, private non-profit locations and also local artist galleries.

Art Basel is without doubt the most renowned event of the international art calendar, it's no wonder that the city is ever more populated with art enthusiasts, creative people, key industry names and celebrities from all over the world over the course of the art fair, the art world gathers in Hong Kong for the first Art Basel event of the year.

There was plenty of local artists on display, emerging artists from around the world, installation pieces and of course a modest selection of the heavy weights in both contemporary and more classical early century art.

The annual art extravaganza that is Art Basel Hong Kong this year featured more than 4000 artists and 239 galleries, representing 35 counties and territories. The fair was curated with half the galleries exhibited having outposts in Asia and the Asia Pacific region. the event also coincided with The Asia Contemporary Art Show and Art Central.

"Time Waterfall" by Tatsuo Miyajima,"Courtesy Art Basel" — "Time Waterfall" by Tatsuo Miyajima,"Courtesy Art Basel"

One of the major highlights of this years Art Basel was a 490m high light installation by Japanese Artist Tatsuo Miyajima titled "Time Waterfall" which illuminated Hong Kong's tallest building; the International Commerce Centre (ICC) in the Kowloon district. The art piece was able to be viewed from the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as well as from various other vantage points around the city.

Art Basel was very much a fashion event as it was an art event. it's where fashion meets art.

I will be back here again next year, this time more prepared; allowing myself more than 2.5hrs to view the thousands of artworks on display, this year was very rushed as I underestimated the scale of the fair.