Art master Paul Chiang has a special connection with Taitung, the seaside city that he credits with giving him “a second creative life”. When he moved to Taitung in 2008, the abstractionist, who previously created monochromatic works, began to express himself with colour. Now he hopes to share the tranquil magic of its environment through the Paul Chiang Art Centre. Challenging conventional notions of galleries and museums, the art hub has been designed to highlight Taitung’s landscapes, with its collection of small spaces arranged harmoniously among its mountains. While finishing the art centre, which is now partially opened and will be completed in 2024, Chiang also presented a solo exhibition featuring over 100 of his works from his time in Paris and New York and his return to Taiwan.

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As co-chairman and global director of The Art Assembly, Magnus Renfrew organises six major art fairs, including Photofairs Shanghai, Sydney Contemporary, India Art Fair, Taipei Dangdai and the recently concluded Art SG, which ran in January 2024. Featuring 114 galleries from 33 countries and territories and attracting more than 45,000 visitors, this year’s Art SG fulfilled its greater mission of fostering cultural dialogue in the region, as well as strengthening Southeast Asia’s connection to the international art world. “We are delighted by the response to the second edition of Art SG—the first major art fair of the year and a must-see on the cultural calendar,” said Renfrew, who also co-founded the fair, in a statement.

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In 2022, Silverlens Gallery opened its first international location, a 2,500-square-foot space in New York that continues the work started by founder Isa Lorenzo almost two decades ago. The renowned Manila gallery, which is managed by Lorenzo and co-director Rachel Rillo, has trained the spotlight on Filipino contemporary artists, including Pacita Abad, Maria Taniguchi and Wawi Navarroza. With the New York gallery, the pair presents more of the region’s talents on a larger stage, hosting shows for Malaysian photographer Yee I-Lann and Filipino multi-media artist Martha Atienza, as well as group shows of contemporary artists from around the world. For Rillo, the New York exhibitions are “focused on an audience that is seeing ‘us’ for the first time, for institutions and academies, and a very diverse and exciting community of Asian-Americans”.

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Liza Ho’s love for the arts has resulted in various cultural projects, including the consultancy platform OUR ArtProjects, the art hub The Zhongshan Building and the gallery The Back Room. For Zhongshan, Ho and her partners transformed a ’50s-era building, which in its previous life was a frozen food distributor, residential and commercial spaces and a hostel, into a creative centre that supports artists, designers, musicians and researchers. Today, the hub is home to Malaysia Design Archive, Tandang Record Store, Tommy Le Baker and Ho’s consultancy and gallery. For The Back Room, Ho, who has over a decade of experience in curatorial processes and gallery operations in Southeast Asia, champions art as something that can be enjoyed by all, presenting, for example, the topics of Chinese diaspora or interactions with the urban environment, as seen through the lens of Asian artists.

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“Going forward, all museums will embrace the parallel strands of digital and physical experience. At M+ we have been very clear that our digital museum has to be as active, developed and sophisticated as the physical museum,” said Suhanya Raffel to Tatler about the future of museums and art. The director of the contemporary art, architecture and design museum is dedicated to expanding M+’s collection of 20th- and 21st-century visual culture, all of which are housed in 33 galleries spread across 183,000 square feet of exhibition space. True to Raffel’s vision, pieces from M+’s exhibitions can be viewed online via the museum’s website.

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Dr Joven Cuanang established the Pinto Art Museum on a two-hectare botanical garden to share his collection of contemporary art with the public. Furthering his connection with the art community, the neurosurgeon has also been a patron of young Filipino artists since the 1980s when he started supporting the local artist group Salingpusa. Today, his museum highlights surrealist, expressionist, minimalist and conceptual art, including pieces from the original members of Salingpusa, most of whom have become stars of the art world. To promote Filipino artists around the world, Cuanang also co-founded Pinto International, which has championed artists such as Leeroy New, Maia Cruz Palileo, Sara Jimenez and Eric Zamuco.

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Kennie Ting, director of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), oversees one of the foremost museums in Asia that specialises in pan-Asian cultures and civilisations. Through its collection of antiquities and decorative art, which Ting builds and curates, ACM highlights the connections among the peoples of Asia and beyond, notably presenting the exchange of ideas and faith through the lens of Singapore’s history as an international port. In 2021, Ting was conferred the rank of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2021. The honour recognises his work in strengthening the cultural ties between Singapore and France through ACM, specifically its Angkor: Exploring Cambodia’s Sacred City exhibition, which inspired the signing of a cultural agreement with France.

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Maggie Weng is making art accessible to more people through the Fubon Art Foundation, which organises and supports exhibitions, performances, lectures and research. One of its most interesting projects, The Very Fun Park, is a “museum without walls” that displays paintings, sculptures and art installation pieces in public spaces all over Taipei, including alleyways, bridges and even the busy intersection of Zhongxiao E and Dun Hua S Roads. Further extending its reach, the foundation launched the Fubon Art App, a digital calendar that carries information about art and cultural activities in Taiwan and beyond. The CEO is also one of Asia’s top collectors and has built a collection of more than 600 pieces without guidance from advisors.

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Tatler Asia’s Most Influential is the definitive list of people shaping our world today. Asia’s Most Influential brings together the region's most innovative changemakers, industry titans and thought leaders who are driving positive impact in Asia and beyond. View the full list here.

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