Cans Asia Art News｜Gin Huang-The Head of Gin Huang Gallery_Our ambition is to spot the next rising star who will become as shining as Kaws in trend ar

As I walked into Gin Huang Gallery, what first came into view was a
huge sofa decorated with a few Kaws soft pillows and Takashi
Murakami iconic flower cushions. At the same time, putting down the
task at hand, Ging-Yi Huang expressed her warm welcome and cordial
greetings to my arrival. As could be seen from the accessories Huang
wore (e.g. a silver ring with Murakami’s icon) to the ornaments in
the gallery, it was not difficult to tell that she is an enthusiast
for trend art. Huang rarely socializes but rather spends most of her
time and efforts on doing research with her tablet computer. As a
new generation of galleries, Gin Huang Gallery does not follow the
conventional practice of art galleries but uses the power of social
media to promote its features. The gallery develops its marketing
strategies with the focus on social media platforms; as a result, it
has begun to receive commissions through O2O (Online to Offline)
e-commerce. To cross a threshold from tradition towards innovation,
Huang pointed out that all we need is simply a smartphone, with
which we can have access to connect with fashion/art influencers on
Instagram. Gin Huang Gallery has been building its online database
regarding international pop culture, determined to stay on the
cutting-edge of trend art. 

Since 2004, the first year when Huang entered the world of the art
industry, she had undergone a series of rigorous training in the
galleries, including Tina Keng Gallery, Soka Art Center in Beijing
and Philippe Staib Gallery. The training lasted for nearly ten
years. Not until 2016 did Huang establish her own platform-Gin Huang
Gallery, located in Neihu District, where has the highest density of
galleries in Taiwan. 

Just in May, Gin Huang Gallery held the first-ever exhibition of
British trend artist George Morton-Clark in Taiwan. Beginning with
contacting the artist herself, Huang curated and conducted the
entire art show. Huang said joyfully: 

“I am always doing research on trend artists. When I noticed George
was associated with many art giants such as Takashi Murakami and
Kaws, I looked into his artworks and they captivated me immediately.
By sending a private message to George on Instagram, I invited him
to present his solo exhibition in Taipei. At first, I didn’t expect
to hear back anything from someone with nearly 40 thousand followers
on Instagram. Surprisingly, George and I got in touch quickly and we
decided to collaborate in about ten minutes. I felt it must be
fate.” 

She added,

“George’s art agency in Europe is called Opera Gallery. Thanks to
his preceding experience in exhibitions, our first cooperation ended
successfully. During the period of his solo exhibition in Taiwan,
George and I reached a franchise agreement and Gin Huang Gallery has
now become his sole agency in Asia.”

Asked why she paid attention to pop culture, Huang
explained: 

“Initially the growth of Kaws resonated with me; seeing his
artworks reminded me of those days when I was a college student fond
of collecting action/toy figures. Then, more and more young
collectors came and asked me whether the gallery would be able to
help order the artworks by trend artists. That’s when I started to
question how come the gallery was still stuck in a rut while our
clients had already moved on. Of course, the key thing is that I
love pop culture. Who says there can’t be action figures in a
gallery? I just want to place them in my gallery! ”

When it comes to the transformation of the art market and rapid
growth of trend art in Asia, Huang studying trend art for years gave
her opinion: 

“Asian trend art can no longer be ignored, especially the fact that
co-branding in the industry of trend art will continue boosting the
recognition and reputation among artists. Take Takashi Murakami as
an example. He collaborates with MADASAKI, Mr., and Off-White to
create crafts, supporting and carrying his apprentice artists.
Besides, trend artists are skilled at working jointly with luxury
brands. Again, Takashi Murakami is familiar with media and press; he
has also collaborated with Louis Vuitton to produce co-branded
handbags for a long time. George’s next marketing strategy will be
similar to that of Murakami. When he was in Taiwan, George had a
crossover project with AllSaints, a British leather jacket brand
with more than a hundred years of history. He did a live painting on
the leather jacket of the brand. George also had the experience
co-exhibiting with Basquiat as well as working together with Knots
Rugs for an exclusive carpet (Knots Rugs is a hand-knotted rugs
producer in the UK with more than a century of history). All of
these demonstrate the practice of brand-artist
collaborations.”