EKCART ASIA

EKCART ASIA is a collectors’ art advisory that showcases tightly edited art collections from dynamic markets. The collection seeks to identify key aesthetic themes before they become market trends. This strategic foresight allows us to take a chance at patronising new talent at good prices. EKCART ASIA is not just an opportunity to own art but also seeks to support artists’ careers and new markets and genres.

Trendsetting Leader:
We are a trusted voice in emerging contemporary art and emerging markets.

Educational Wisdom:
We see art as a tool to educate audiences about unexplored cultures.

Art Futurist:
We have the foresight to make the right decisions to keep ahead of the art market.

Xu Guanyu: Opened Closets, 2019 Series: Temporarily Censored Home, Archival Pigment Print 101.6 x 127 cm ( 40 x 50 in)

Kitty Go, Founder of EKC Art Asia Limited

Before establishing EKCART ASIA in 2021, Kitty Go was an Asia-based freelance lifestyle and art journalist for 25 years (1995-2020). She contributed to publications such as the The Financial Times FT, The Wall Street Journal WSJ, China Daily and South China Morning Post SCMP from Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo and Taipei. She also wrote for regional newspapers and magazines which were based in Manila, Singapore and Malaysia.

EKCART Asia (an acronym for Emerging Kitty Collects after her two Instagram art accounts) was an idea that came from her experience as a journalist where in the last 10 years of her career, she witnessed the rise of Chinese and South East Asian classical, modern and contemporary art, particularly at auction.

In the early to mid-2000s, there were  around 50 art syndicates worldwide but none were able to raise the necessary capital and the art market also met a decline at this time. She also thought that  there was not enough knowledge and understanding, hold-time and inventory to establish art syndicates as an alternative investment class.

She looked into its history and found two successful art syndicates – one, in living memory, was the British Rail Pension Fund started in 1974 as a hedge on inflation then liquidated from 1987-1999 with an annual compound return of 11.5 percent. The other, La Peau de l’Ours, a French syndicate that began in 1904 and sold in 1914, made a profit of four times the investment for its investors.

There were also two Chinese contemporary ink collections that caught Kitty’s attention — the Estella and Origo collections. Sotheby’s handled both sales— Estella on April 2008 and Origo on April 2016.

Kitty strongly believes that Chinese buyers after buying back their ancient culture, as well as western and Chinese contemporary art, will start appreciating contemporary calligraphy for the following reasons – a) calligraphy is a foundation of Chinese culture b) using ink requires skill and control that does not exist in western oil and acrylic paintings c) the Chinese will realise the depth of their culture and how ancient arts like calligraphy, classical painting and poetry can inspire and be expressed in contemporary art and d) for non-Chinese, calligraphy ink art is always a beauty to behold and appreciate (visually and financially).

This prompted her to establish the Juanita Collection, an art fund dedicated to mid-career contemporary Chinese Ink Artists. This type of fund will act as an EKCART ASIA icon – because Kitty believes that it has great investment potential. She uses this analogy, “Like Hollywood, the art business will always be there making the same films but with changing talent and a constant flow of superstars…Contemporary calligraphy and ink are so much a part of Chinese culture they are equivalent to any type of painting medium in western art…”