HONG KONG.- Before an overflowing saleroom and telephone bank, Sotheby’s Hong Kong Contemporary Asian Art Spring Sale 2010 achieved a total of HK$144,881,000 / US$18,569,679, far exceeding the high estimate (HK$126,851,000 / US$16,342,214*). Liu Ye’s highly sought-after early work Bright Road fetched an impressive HK$19,140,000 / US$2.45 million after a round of intense bidding, almost tripling its high estimate (HK$4.5-6.5 million) and achieving a World Record for the Artist at Auction.

Evelyn Lin, Head of Sotheby's Contemporary Asian Art department, discussing the sale said: "Tonight's sale demonstrated a strong return for blue chip Contemporary Chinese artists after a period of adjustment in which we experienced constricted supply. There is no question that these results show pent-up demand for great art. We set a world auction record for Liu Ye, and there was heated competition for top tier talents such as Cai Guo-Qiang, Yue Minjun, Zeng Fanzhi, Wang Guangyi and Fang Lijun. Bidding came from all over the world -- China, Indonesia, Korea, Europe, the United States and Taiwan -- through the efforts of Sotheby's international team."