January 2009

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Sir David describes his meeting with Tsong-zung Chang as providential. ‘It was almost as if we were meant to meet and work together. We were enormously fortunate in having all these events come together at the same time,’ he says. It would be a mistake, however, to presume that the works that he bought either for any of his various China Clubs and restaurants or for himself were acquired because Chang said so. ‘Although perhaps 90% of everything in the club came from one of my exhibitions, or from a show we both put on, he chose everything himself. I don’t think it is possible to advise David Tang’, laughs Chang: ‘He has a very good eye and very strong views. Unlike most people, he was never too interested in whether a particular artist was important or not because he was so confident that what he picked was right for its purpose.’ He was convinced, for instance, of the merits of exhibiting 20th-century Academy-style painting at the club too. Says Chang: ‘I never had any real interest in this art but David said it was necessary to have these things which most people understand in order to have the avant-garde art in the club. When I thought about it I realised he was absolutely right. All of these avant-garde artists were trained in exactly the same way as those modern painters and having both reveals just how the contemporary artists have moved on.’

It is clear that Sir David is passionate about the works of art he has collected. He was involved in their framing, and organises their rehanging. ‘I go out of my way to change some of the art and the artefacts in the club every month or so,’ he smiles. ‘It is very endearing to me when members remark about a new picture.’ Given his bursting storage spaces and manic schedule – which also involves serving as a trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, as the chairman of the Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee at Tate, director of the Asian Art Archive in Hong Kong and patron of the new Art HK fair (he was knighted this year for his services to charity), I ask him if he is still collecting. He looks at me as if I have asked the most stupid question he has ever heard. ‘Of course you have to keep buying, keep weeding out the ones you no longer like.’ In fact, he sells very rarely.

As if to illustrate the point, we leave the apartment to collect Chang from his Hanart tz Gallery, where Sir David finalises the purchase of his latest acquisition, The Best of Time, painted last year by Gang Zhao, the youngest of the artists of the famous Stars Group. We then set off to a less glamorous side of Hong Kong in pursuit of a large art warehouse for his ever-expanding collection.