Task Force

How Andr Fu made light work of turning a historic space into the new Perrotin Shanghai gallery

- Catherine Shaw

Over the past three decades, Emmanuel Perrotin has built up a global business based on his sharp eye for creativity and impeccable timing. This September saw the opening of the French art dealer’s 18th gallery – his first in mainland China – near Shanghai’s Bund waterfront. It’s a long way from his first venture at the age of 21, when each morning he would rise early to transform his bijou Parisian apartment into a chic gallery, showing work by then little-known artists such as Damien Hirst and Maurizio Cattelan.

Shanghai is a natural home for Perrotin. Newfound wealth and enchantment with art have buoyed several art fairs, private institutions such as Wang Wei’s Long Museum and Budi Tek’s Yuz Museum, and now offices for blue-chip galleries Lévy Gorvy and Hauser & Wirth. The area around the city’s Huqiu Road in particular has become a new cultural enclave, home to the Rockbund Art Museum and Christie’s auction house.

‘We have been looking in this area for a few years, but wanted to find the perfect space where people would want to spend quality time,’ says Perrotin of the top floor of the Concession-era building, which he has turned into an airy 1,200 sq m contemporary gallery.

Perrotin already had form in Asia, spotting the potential of Takashi Murakami long before he became internationally renowned, and opening a 650 sq m gallery in a RAMSA-designed building in Hong Kong just before Art Basel chose the city as its Asian outpost in 2013. He also opened galleries in Seoul in 2016 and Tokyo in 2017, which exhibit an eclectic roster of artists including Daniel Arsham, Izumi Kato and Paola Pivi.