almost famous: Michelle Blumenthal: Art Curator

Text: P.Ramakrishnan
Photography: David Wong

"There are only three times when a woman should be mentioned in the paper - when she's born, when she's getting married and when she dies," says Michelle Blumenthal. "I grew up in that old-world scenario with old fashioned virtues, so I'm not completely comfortable with this sell publicity."

Time, then, to talk about what she knows best: art. Blumenthal represents some of the finest mainland artists and acts as liaison between the art and business worlds, an example of which is visible at the Conrad hotel's Brasserie on the Eight restaurant, which is exhibiting the work of Sichuan artist Luo Fahui, one of her select few clients that include Yang Xhu, Sun Liang and Huang Yuanqing.

It may seem an odd choice to exhibit the esoteric artist's work in a highly commercial setting, but the reason is straightforward. "Hong Kong does not like to go to art galleries - that's for a very select group - but they do like to go out to eat," Blumenthal says. "For that reason, for the art to reach the public and high-profile guests who might see something they like and pick it up, I chose the Conrad. In Europe and America, there's a niche of trendy people, the art connoisseurs, where there's an acceptance of art in the social fabric and it is respected and nurtured. We have to strive for it a little more here."

Born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and raised in Cape town, South Africa, Blumenthal has a background in public relations and marketing. She later worked as a commodities trader and for a shipping line, a job that brought her to Hong Kong 18 years ago.

"There was always an attraction to get away from what I had done before," she says. A growing interest in art and China led to a natural progression into the world of Chinese art and a change of career in the early 1990s. Through her company, A+A Phoenix, she arranges exhibitions and deals with the business interests of her mainland clients. "Many work to live, I choose to live and work this way," she says.

She often attends local art exhibitions and events but only acts as an agent for mainland artists. "Mainland artists are a little more sophisticated, there's a depth to their work that's brought on by a level of education that supersedes that of local artists, so their choices are a bit more sophisticated. They are more in tune with what's around them. Artists there have a different history, whereas Hong Kong has been ccomfortable for a long time. Disomfort is something that encourages growth."

Blumenthal says she builds trust with her artists and stays with them through their development. "I don't believe an art dealer or a gallery owner should dictate the work of an artist, which does happen often. Gallery owners wield a certain power the artists, once they pick one and like the focus of their work, their genre; the artist might be forced to stick to that, to what sells. But if he or she changes, that same framework might not surround him or her. Limiting that creativity where an artist has to replicate a formula that is stifling creativity."

She shuns high-profile launches, aware that many in Hong Kong would turn up more for the photo opportunity than the artistic talent on display. Instead, she prefers to balance commerce and art with smaller exhibition launches.

"There is one particular family in Hong Kong who collects contemporary Westerrn and old Chinese artifacts and one of the ladies is very knowledgeable. I asked her to attend an opening but she saw a preview of the work and did not like it so she didn't want to attend... That is a form of artistic integrity I fully appreciate.

"When you look at a painting and it does absolutely nothing for you inside, then it doesn't work. If it does not provoke, it's dead. it's just colours on paper, it's..."

Substitute wallpaper?

"Exactly."