With @westbundartfair – one of Shanghai’s most iconic art fairs – opening today, I can’t stop thinking about some statistics from the recent @artbasel and @ubs Survey of Global Collecting, as authored by the visionary Dr Clare McAndrew of Art Economics.

As someone who has spent her... entire career advocating for Asian artists in the West and encouraging collectors to embrace new cultural concepts, I was thrilled to learn more about the demographics that will reshape the future of the art market.

Firstly, the report revealed that female high net worth (HNW) collectors showed higher spending levels and displayed new collecting tendencies. In Mainland China, this same demographic led expenditure, averaging more than twice that of men, with McAndrew hypothesising that female collectors are more likely to embrace the risk associated with collecting more than their male counterparts. 

I’ve always observed Gen Z’s explosive ability to redefine taste and culture. Reflecting how their varied preferences rewrite the traditional rules of collecting, Gen Z dominated in categories like collectible handbags, sneakers, and luxury assets, with average sneaker spending nearly five times higher than other groups. In fine art, Gen Z had the highest activity rates in digital art, with 26% hoping to purchase a digital work; possibly reflecting their upbringings as digital natives and preference for collecting works that can easily be shared online. 

While many have bemoaned the state of the market in previous years, I am personally optimistic about how the next generation of collectors – particularly ones who are younger, female, and hail from Asia – might elevate new and necessary voices and revolutionise the very nature of collecting. 

Image Credit:  West Bund Art & Design. 

#ContemporaryArt #ArtCollecting #UHNWI

Sources: 
UBS Survey of Global Collecting
Artsy, ‘Wealthy women spend more on art than men, Art Basel report reveals.,’ 
The Guardian, ‘‘Mind-blowing’: Why do men’s paintings cost 10 times more than women’s?’

In this week’s episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, I’m joined by Ben Luke – art critic, curator, journalist, and host at The Art Newspaper – to explore the evolving role of curators and how art connects us to wider cultural and social conversations.

Together, we discuss why curators ...don’t need to come from a traditional art history background, and how empathy, creativity, and the humanities can help bridge divisions in today’s world.

It was a pleasure reconnecting with Ben in London!

The full episode is available to watch now on my YouTube channel and Spotify.

“People in the West like to talk about Modernism, but so much of arts and culture come from history and heritage. We need to expose people to those expressions and learnings, in order to understand how we arrived here, today.”

Approaching art from a cultural and historical perspective,... rather than rooting it in Western paradigms, is something that I’ve been passionate about throughout my career, and I’m pleased to have discussed this in my interview with @maleemalee.hong, @arttactic Commissioning Editor.

I’m always grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts on the increasingly larger roles the Chinese and African art scenes are playing on the world stage.

Head over to ArtTactic to read the full interview.

#PearlLam #Contemporary Art #ArtTactic #ArtMarket
#Chinese Art

A few weeks ago, I was joined by Dr. Cleo Roberts-Komireddi on The Pearl Lam Podcast, where she shared how Indian art has challenged and inspired her. She recalled visiting a performance space in Goa, where discomfort became the beginning of curiosity and connection.

Discover the full ...conversation on my YouTube channel now.

Visiting ‘Kerry James Marshall: The Histories’ at the @royalacademyarts was definitely one of the highlights on my recent trip to London. The show is the largest survey of Marshall’s work in Europe, and impressively charts the many decades he spent depicting the lived experiences of Black ...Americans. 

I was absolutely enthralled by his epic, large-scale paintings, which reference everything from civil rights and personal experiences to comics and sci-fi. Rendered in bold, dynamic strokes, each scene reflects Marshall’s mastery of colour, depth, and luminosity. To me, it’s easy to see why many celebrate Marshall as one of the most crucial voices in contemporary art today. 

Exhibitions like these remind me of the power of the visual arts to bridge us across time, space, and geographies, and create new spaces for us to appreciate each other’s cultures and lived experiences. 

 #PearlLam  #ContemporaryArt  #RoyalAcademy #KerryJamesMarshall #AmericanArt

Have you ever thought about a person and then they call or message? According to Romy Jacobsen, being open to this vibration allows you to see more of the future.

Find the full episode now on The Pearl Lam Podcast YouTube channel.

Together, we delve into numerology, consciousness, and the invisible forces behind our everyday experiences — from the coincidences we notice to the energies we attract.

It was an absolute pleasure catching up with Romy.

The full episode is available to watch on my YouTube ...channel and Spotify now.

The use of AI in art-making has been a hot topic for a few years now. But what does it mean for us when institutions of higher learning try to integrate it into the curriculum?

Australia’s University of New South Wales recently came under fire for rejecting student requests to teach ...generative AI to artists, raising concerns around intellectual property, environmental costs, and fundamentally, the sense of shared humanity that art is meant to represent.

While there are arguments for future-proofing students’ creative careers and how artists have historically been trained on the works of others, many creatives remain concerned about their art being scraped and used to train AI without their consent. There’s also the undeniable environmental cost of AI, with reports suggesting that 700,000 litres of water could have been used to cool the machines that trained ChatGPT-3 at Microsoft’s data facilities.

Every generation has its fair share of disruptive technology, and AI definitely is the most groundbreaking one in recent times. How would you respond to AI being used in higher learning this way?

🗞️: The Guardian

On a recent trip to New York City, I had the pleasure of visiting the recently renovated Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met. (@metmuseum)

The Wing first opened to the public in 1982, following a gift from Nelson Rockefeller to the Met, which included a collection of some five hundred ...works from sub-Saharan Africa. The exhibit has grown extensively since then, now playing home to everything from portraiture and devotional sculpture to textiles and decorative art – all masterpieces in their own right. 

Equally breathtaking was the range of historic turning points and social developments that the works represented, as they foreground themes of dynastic succession, generational rites of passage, ancestor veneration, and much more. 

The visit was such a wonderful reminder of how art encourages us to reconsider our  perspectives on history and culture, and I’m already dreaming of the next time I get to explore this mammoth institution. 

#NewYorkCity #TheMet #MetMoment #PearlLam

"Nobody is spending money on early intervention"

Suzi Godson, founder and creator of Tellmi spoke on a recent episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast.

Watch the full episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcast now.

"It is happening, so we need to get that support to them"

Suzi Godson talks youth mental health on a recent episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast.

Now available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify

The suspension of several art fairs mirrors the wider economic slowdown. I speak with Cleo Roberts-Komireddi about what this moment signifies for artists, collectors, and the future of an unregulated art world.

Catch the full episode on YouTube.

With the help of technology, Avant Arte turned prints into a £1 million donation from LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Cleo Roberts-Komireddi explores how innovation is resharping the art world.

Full episode on YouTube.

It was a genuine pleasure to share a conversation with Cleo Roberts-Komireddi for the latest episode of my podcast. Together, we reflected on the continuity of artistic expression, from the immersive qualities of ancient cave paintings to the ways in which contemporary art constantly reconfigures ...itself.

What struck me most is how art, regardless of time or form, sustains its power to create emotional connection, to reveal human obsessions, and to shape cultural identity. Speaking with Cleo was a reminder that art is not static but a living dialogue across history.

How can a traditional language be represented in new ways?

This was something I pondered on my recent visit to the 2025 Hangeul International Pre-Biennale (@hangeul_biennale).

It was enlightening to see Korean and international artists come together to explore the event’s theme... “Drawing Words, Connecting Lives”, which centres on the past, present, and future of Hangeul – the modern writing system of the Korean language.

Seeing familiar faces such as @mrdoodle, whose large-scale mural ‘HANGOODLE’ graced the walls of the 1927 Art Centre, made me smile, and reconnecting with many dear friends in Korea reminded me of how wonderfully interconnected the art world is.

The event definitely whetted my appetite for the central Hangeul International Biennale, which I look forward to attending in 2027.

#PearlLam #ContemporaryArt #Biennale