Tang Contemporary Art Shutters a Hong Kong Location as Creditors File Complaints and Artists Claim Overdue Payments

A Hong Kong branch of the gallery Tang Contemporary Art closed in June amid accusations of overdue payments to its artists as well as its landlords and service providers. Vivian Har, director of the Hong Kong location, confirmed to the Art Newspaper (TAN) that the gallery is facing “major operational challenges across the region.”

Founded in Bangkok in 1997 by Zhjeng Lin, Tang continues to operate showrooms there and in Beijing, Seoul, and, as of 2024, Singapore; the gallery also expanded its original Bangkok space that year. The gallery has regularly taken part in prominent international fairs including Art Basel in Hong Kong and Miami Beach, Frieze Seoul, Expo Chicago, the Armory Show in New York, and Taipei Dangdai. Tang did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ARTnews.

A document from Sino Real Estate Agency, representing the gallery’s landlord, Grand Apex Ltd., demands HK$1.6 million ($201,000) in overdue rent from January to August of this year, along with fees and interest. (The document was reviewed by TAN; ARTnews has not independently verified it.) The document notes that a bailiff has previously seized and auctioned property from the premises, but that has not met the debt.

Artists also tell the newspaper that the gallery failed to pay them for art sales for up to a year as well as failing to return consigned works on demand. Shanghai artist Lin Fanglu tells TAN that the gallery owes her 160,000 yuan ($23,800) “and continues to hold eight of her works in overseas locations.” Ling even offered to cover the gallery’s expenses, she said, if it would return two works currently in Beijing. New York–based Li Nianxin says the gallery owes both Nianxin and Deng Shiqing about $10,000 each, after the two recently showed together at the Hong Kong location. A Thai artist anonymously shared with TAN a legal complaint alleging breach of contract that the artist filed in August in Thailand; it demands more than 15 million baht ($450,000).

Wang Jiannan, formerly artistic director at the Hong Kong branch, told TAN that artists were reluctant to speak out previously, for fear of alienating the gallery while it still owed them money and in hopes of showing there again. “But when they saw the space fold,” said Wang, “they began taking action.” Wang blames the troubles on the Singapore and Seoul expansions, flawed systems for processing payments, and the founder’s “unwillingness to relinquish the high-profile H Queen’s space in [Hong Kong’s] Central district when its lease expired last year.”

Har, the Hong Kong director, tells TAN that the gallery is up-to-date on rent on its flagship H Queen’s venue. She says that Tang is paying art logistics company Crozier in installments and negotiating payment schedules with artists. “As long as we had the budget, we tried to meet their requests,” she told TAN, noting that the gallery produced catalogues for them and promoted their shows. “So now, when the situation is tough, I hope they can understand.”