Alibaba’s Jack Ma debuts in Hong Kong auction — as an artist

HONG KONG — A painting created by Jack Ma and Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi that will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on Sunday could fetch as much as HK$2.5 million (S$463,000) for charity, according to the auction house.

The oil on canvas painting executed in 2014 depicts planet Earth and is titled “Paradise.” Mr Ma and Mr Zeng teamed up on the art piece to raise awareness of environmental protection, according to the Sotheby’s catalog.

“This is the first time I’ve painted, and to have been able to do it with Fanzhi — I am deeply honored,” Mr Ma, the billionaire co-founder and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding, said in the catalog. “Together we have created an earth: to protect the earth, to protect the oceans, to protect the air,” he said.

Mr Zeng is one of China’s pre-eminent contemporary artists whose painting “The Last Supper” set a record for an Asian living artist when it sold for US$23.3 million (S$33.4 million) at Sotheby’s in 2013.

The work will go on the block during the Modern and Contemporary Asian Evening Art Sale as part of Sotheby’s five-day fall sales from Oct 2-7 where wine, jewelry, furniture, ceramics, watches and art will be auctioned at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Mr Ma is China’s second-richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. BLOOMBERG