Unstoppable Gallerist Pearl Lam Is Leaving Her Mark, from Shanghai to Miami
Portrait of Pearl Lam. Courtesy of Pearl Lam Galleries.
“I don’t have jet lag. Jet lag is a luxury. That means that you’re always well-rested,” Pearl Lam tells Artsy after handing over a bag of snack-sized Cape Cod Salt & Pepper Kettle Chips and a Diet Coke.
Artsy meets the Hong Kong gallerist on the 10th floor of a building in Manhattan’s Garment District just after she has finished recording an episode for her self-titled podcast at ASL Studios. New York was just a pit stop in Lam’s hectic schedule. In fact, just hearing about Lam’s travels could induce jet lag in most.
“In New York, I see some friends, do the podcast, spend the day looking around,” she says. “Then I’m off to Miami for three days and L.A. for four days before heading back to London. I just came from Tokyo—three nights, three days. Before that, I was in Hong Kong for four days, Shanghai for one day, and Beijing for three days. It’s just back and forth, back and forth. I haven’t stopped moving.”
Portrait of Pearl Lam. Courtesy of Pearl Lam Galleries.
Exterior view of Pearl Lam Galleries in Shanghai. Courtesy of Pearl Lam Galleries.
Energetic, fashionable, and indefatigable: No one could guess that Lam had been crossing continents in recent days. Lam’s international lifestyle—and magnetic personality—has made the gallerist one of the most recognizable and ever-present faces across the art world. At the heart of it all is Pearl Lam Galleries, which operates out of two locations in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Founded initially as a nomadic project called Contrasts in 1993, and in 2005 as a permanent space, the gallery has built a reputation for nurturing cross-cultural dialogues by compiling a roster of Chinese and international artists.
In 2024, Lam is continuing to helm the gallery in new directions. Earlier this month it debuted at 1-54 London, and later this year it will stage its inaugural appearance at Art Basel Miami Beach. On top of it all, Lam often mounts “takeovers,” such as an installation series at the buzzy Mayfair restaurant Sketch. Her fourth and final takeover aligns with the Lunar New Year in early 2025, featuring Paris-based artist Michael Korman. And back in Shanghai, the gallerist has debuted 70 Square Metres, a new gallery space and studio. Based in the city’s historic French Concessions district, the space is designed to host ambitious exhibitions and an ongoing artist residency program. The first 70 Square Metres residency will host American painter Moses Hamborg.
The making of Pearl Lam
Portrait of Pearl Lam. Courtesy of Pearl Lam Galleries.
The daughter of Hong Kong real estate tycoon Lim Por-Yen, Lam wasn’t originally set on a career in the art world. At 11, her father sent her away to the U.S. and U.K. for her education. There, she earned a degree in accounting and financial management, followed by a master’s in law. Yet, as the years passed, her real passions developed elsewhere.
“I was going to university; I wanted to study art or architecture,” Lam says. Upon returning to Hong Kong in 1992, her ambitions were met with stern opposition from her father. “I said, ‘I want to open a gallery.’ But at the time, I was really naïve as well. I wanted to open a gallery, not fully understanding, but I just wanted something my father couldn’t control. He said, ‘Over my dead body!’”
At that moment, clad in “black lipstick, torn tights, and looking very, very punk,” as Lam recalls, she negotiated a high-paying job within her father’s company and left for Shanghai. It was there that she dove headfirst into the city’s contemporary art scene—which at the time was a far cry from the cultural metropolis it would become. “I always say that I thank my father because, without him, I wouldn’t have learned anything about Chinese contemporary art,” Lam says.
In 1993, she hosted pop-up exhibitions under the banner “Contrasts,” the name of her gallery for the next 20 years. The first permanent location popped up in Shanghai in 2005, and in 2012, she returned to Hong Kong, where she renamed her gallery Pearl Lam Galleries.
A bridge between the East and West
Portrait of Pearl Lam. Courtesy of Pearl Lam Galleries.
Lam’s first introduction to the Shanghai art scene came when she met Chinese artist Sun Liang at a gallery opening. Liang, who had just participated in the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993, helped to bring Lam into the close-knit art scene. It was a critical moment because at that point, Lam had spent most of her life outside of the Chinese art world.
Initially focusing on design, Lam’s gallery soon became a hot spot for Chinese collectors in the international art scene, and vice versa. In 2004, her exhibitions caught the attention of the French cultural attaché in Shanghai. Soon after, Lam was asked to curate a major exhibition, “Awakening: La France Mandarin,” which traveled from Shanghai to Beijing, Hong Kong, and eventually Paris. This was one of the first steps in forging a connection between the European market and that of Shanghai.
Today, Pearl Lam Galleries’s eclectic roster varies from British artists such as Mr Doodle and Philip Colbert to Chinese contemporary painters such as Su Xiaobai and Zhu Jinshi. The gallery’s program embodies Lam herself: one that soaks up a multitude of influences and experiences between East and West.
Lam continues to double down on supporting the artists who work with her. With 70 Square Metres, the residency program is designed to nurture her artists’ careers. Here, the gallerist has already invited artists such as Nigerian artist Yusuff Aina Abogunde, Japanese artist Chisato Matsumoto, Ghanaian artist kwaku yaro, Japanese artist Arashi Tanaka, and Nigerian artist Samuel Nnorom to take part in the residency program, alongside its inaugural resident, Hamborg.
Addressing a changing market
Portrait of Pearl Lam. Courtesy of Pearl Lam Galleries.
Lam’s local market is undergoing dramatic changes, including what the gallerist refers to as “your generation,” referring to Gen Z. “You guys don’t even like to go out and always play games on the computer. They don’t even have a girlfriend or boyfriend.”
Lam links this to younger collectors’ dwindling desire to attend social events like art fairs, including tentpoles like Art Basel Hong Kong. “Your generation doesn’t really need social life activities,” she says. “You guys will change the lifestyle, whether the art fair is going to be important or not, but I feel one of the importances is because it’s sociable. It’s a community.”
Yet Lam remains optimistic about younger generations and their attitude to collecting art. “Art is a luxury, so your economy has to be better. [However] for those who can afford art, it doesn’t mean they will stop buying art,” she says. “They are still buying, especially the younger generation. The older generation is more cautious and prudent about spending.”
And like that, Artsy’s conversation abruptly comes to an end, as Lam has to rush to another appointment across town. In the elevator, Artsy asks if she was planning to visit the beach in Miami when she heads there for December’s Art Basel Miami Beach. “I hate the beach,” she quips. Instead, as we exit onto 37th Street, she leaves with a parting shot: “I love the concrete,” pointing at the city around her.
Update: The takeover at Sketch in January 2025 will no longer be presented by Zhu Peihong and Lilyo Zhao. Instead, the presentation will feature work by Michael Korman. The text has been updated to reflect this change.
