Pearl Lam is a gallerist, patron and entrepreneur. She is founder of Pearl Lam Galleries, host of The Pearl Lam Podcast and expert speaker

Nearly 20 years ago, I identified an artistic cohort that wasn’t being served by the global art market. Chinese contemporary artists were being largely ignored, and this eventually led me to build a platform for these artists by opening my first gallery in 2005.

Over the past few decades, the government of China has actively invested in the arts and encouraged individuals and corporations to do the same. As a result, more Chinese people started to buy modern and contemporary art at galleries and at auction houses, and Hong Kong has become one of the biggest art markets in the world. But there's still more work to be done.

Transitioning To A Shifting Client Base
These continual tides of change necessitate that the art world always adapts and evolves. More recently, an increase in online sales has boosted access to art and, in some ways, has made the art market more inclusive, with a wider variety of buyers than ever before. Younger consumers and influencers are now supporting industry growth as new and emerging artists from across the globe are using Instagram and TikTok to build their brands.

This means that institutions in the art market are again adjusting their business models and approaches accordingly. When we look at who is buying international art right now, it is often the younger generation in their twenties or thirties. In my experience, these buyers especially like the narratives of artists who have a lot of social media followers.

And in China, younger people are adopting a Western appreciation of art during their education in the United Kingdom or United States. I've seen how this has precipitated lots of Western galleries opening in China as Chinese buyers returning from the West seek out contemporary art and artists.

 
A Top-Heavy Art Market
Whilst this shift toward a more inclusive market can only be a good thing, the wider art market remains clustered around an established small cohort of artists. Globally, the art market is "top heavy," meaning that the vast majority of auction house sales proceeds come from works worth over $1 million, but those sales represent only a small percentage of lots sold. This suggests that the sector ignores much of the market. So, whilst shifts to digitization and influencers make art more inclusive, there is still a long road ahead.

The clustering of interest around a cohort of well-established artists also has wider implications for inclusivity in the art world. If the art market does not support the next generation of grassroots artists, then there won’t be evolution within the market. When value is too concentrated on masterworks, it makes young artists and artists from underserved or non-traditional backgrounds think that the market is impenetrable.

Gallerists As Storytellers
To counter this, the art market must cultivate new artists and artwork that attract entirely new groups and new generations of collectors. And whilst the road ahead may be long, the way that the market is doing business is already changing fast.

The infrastructure and conventions within the art market are becoming more multifaceted and more storytelling-focused. Previously, the market took it for granted that people had to understand art. This was a very Western European-centric view—that understanding why a piece is marvelous or beautiful required study. This excluded a lot of people and buyers.

I have long said that art should not require an explanation card. And this has manifested as a market that (mostly) sells static pictures and images adjusted to a video- and TikTok-obsessed generation. No longer can galleries just present a static picture. Gallerists also have to also tell the story around it, perhaps in video, and if that video is compelling and exciting and narrative-driven, it will be the talisman.

And as we learn how to tell stories, we also need to learn about the things that will keep the next generation in the art market. In my experience, they are interested in mental health and will support any artists or projects driven by artists who support it. They will support the diversification of portfolios and diversity of talent. And they also relate strongly to artists representing the "hot button" issues, like identity or climate change.

Collaborations And Technology
There are also opportunities to improve inclusivity through brand collaborations. When my gallery signs younger artists, we often push for brand collaborations. Brand ties and collaborations used to be looked down upon by many institutions of the art market, but they add huge value by supporting more democratization and often mean new clients are coming in from outside of the art world, sometimes thanks to just one artist collaboration.

Ultimately, the art world needs not to adjust to a more inclusive art world but to drive it. Institutions and galleries must utilize all of the technology available and flow with today’s world and with contemporary culture. The art world should ask the hard questions that must be asked in today’s world, and we have to choose artists who reflect what that contemporary culture is about.