These artists sourced for lost treasures for an exhibition

Kimberly Leong and Chris Tay make up the Chris Tay Art Advisory, which is debuting in Malaysia with its curatorial effort The Abstr(action) exhibit. Photo: Pipal Fine Art

Ask anyone how old art is sold and the first thing to come to mind is usually the auction house, with a man in a stuffy suit banging away his gavel while patrons wave about numbered paddles.

But Chris Tay, 29, and Kimberly Leong, 29, are thinking differently. These former auction house employees are bringing old pieces out of collectors’ vaults and back into the public view at galleries.