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When Lehman Brothers collapsed earlier this month, the impact caused ripples on the local art scene. The bank was the title sponsor of this year’s HK08: Hong Kong International Art Fair, which doesn’t bode well for 09. But it’s not all bad in the world of art. On the same day as chaos reigned down on Wall Street, Sotheby’s London was enjoying a particularly strong sale of new works by Damien Hirst – the auction raised a record-smashing HK$980 million.

“It went really well,” marvelled Evelyn Lin from her New York hotel the morning after the sale. Lin is the head of contemporary Asian art at Sotheby’s, and I’d called her to discuss the upcoming Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Modern and Contemporary Asian Art to be held in Hong Kong at the autumn auctions. “Maybe now is not the best time for the property and financial markets, I think some of the investors are coming into our market,” she mused.

The Asian art markets are indeed surging, which is why the auction house has decided to throw an inaugural Evening Sale into the mix this October. Evening sales in London and New York tend to be high-profile, glitzy affairs, with VIP clients and celebrities rubbing shoulders during sales of highly important, top quality art. Christie’s launched the first in Hong Kong this May, and now Sotheby’s are following suit, although they have opted to abandon the glitz and glamour in favour of keeping it open to the public, and possibly finding new clients. “The way we do it here is slightly different,” says Lin. “In Hong Kong, most clients are the new generation, and some are new to auction houses. So we are focusing more on a casual way, we don’t have a formal dress code, but we want to attract new buyers.”

The Sotheby’s lot includes an impressive selection of contemporary and modern works from the Asia, including an extremely rare sculpture by Takashi Murakami, ‘Flower Matango’. There is also ‘Northern Light’, by iconic Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, and a human robot sculpture by Nam June Paik, the world’s first video artist.

Lin expects another resounding success; she says the client base has been building dramatically within Hong Kong and in the region. “The first time we hosted a Chinese contemporary sale in Hong Kong was 2004, at that time most of buyers were in Europe, 80 percent, with only 20 percent from Asia. In our most recent auction, 80 percent were from Asia.” If you’ve always fancied a Yue Minjun now might be the time to whip that fortune of yours out the bank – before it disappears before your very eyes. Clare Morin

Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Evening Sale, Fri 3, 7.30pm. Hall 2, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo drive, Wan Chai, www.sothebys.com