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Making its mark: Chinese contemporary art comes of age

Abstract: Chinese contemporary art hits the big time with the first comprehensive sale ever held,  by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in October, signalling important opportunities for investment.

When there’s a buzz in the contemporary art world, things tends to get loud, even boisterous at times. This autumn it’s not the sound of applause that’s attracting art lover’s attention (or the wine) but the smell of gunpowder.

At what’s considered the first and most comprehensive sale of Chinese contemporary art ever held, auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong at the end of October, an artist catching the attention of buyers and the media was “gunpowder” artist Cai Guoqing.

Cai simulates traditional Chinese ink paintings by exploding small amounts of gunpowder on paper, creating similar effects usually achieved by brush.

But it was not just Cai Guoqing that caught the imagination of the art world.

As the auction closed at the Island Shangri La Hong Kong hotel on October 31, a key moment in the history of Chinese contemporary art was marked.  The sale signals the first public opportunity for assessing the value of Chinese contemporary art on the world contemporary art market.

The Sotheby’s sale included works from the last century to the present day, and along with Cai Guoqing, featured Xu Bing, Zhang Xiaogang, Zao Wuji, Yue Minjun and Wang Guangyi.

Starting bids ranged from HK$10,000 (US$1,285) to HK$4,200,000 (US$539,644), with the highest successful bid reaching HK$5,000,000 (US$642,449).

It’s not certain why Chinese art is generating quite the fuss it is at this particular moment in the contemporary art world, but its no passing fad.

This month, ArtReview magazine, an influential insider in the world of contemporary art, names China its next major player. Headlining Chinese contemporary art with a profile of Cai Guoqing, ArtReview also takes a look at an important collection of contemporary Chinese art owned by a former ambassador to China, and gallery owners talk about promoting contemporary Chinese art in art markets around the world.

The November issue also publishes the third annual influential list of the art world’s most significant players, including, for the first time, China Academy of Art President Xu Jiang, grandson of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Xu makes an appearance on the list at number 95.

“There is nothing sudden about this interest,” says Sotheby Hong Kong CEO Henry Howard-Sneyd. “It began in the mid-1980s as China opened the door to self-expression. It’s coinciding with the incredible economic opportunities that accompany the current China!China!China! beat.”

Part of the reason is that the art work is only now surfacing, creating what Howard-Sneyd calls a secondary market. This is a market where art bought by collectors 15-20 years ago is being resold for the first time.

“This is happening at a time of artistic confidence,” says Howard-Sneyd. “Chinese artists are still reacting to changes in their political and physical environment in artistic ways that I think the Chinese are themselves very proud of. The inclusion of Xu Jiang on the world art list is evidence of this,” he says.

One to watch says Howard-Sneyd is the development in Chinese contemporary performance art found for example in the calligraphic face and body work of Zhang Huan and calligraphy of Xu Bing that is recorded by the artists on paper and in photography.

Howard-Sneyd says work by Cai Guoqiang exceeded its reserve price, as expected, to reach HK$600,000 (US$77,099).

Cai made a name for himself while working in Japan between 1986 and 1995, exhibiting at the Tate Modern in London and MOMA in New York in 2002 and 2003. Evelyn Lin, head of contemporary painting at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, says the sale confirms that Cai’s works on paper are now valued at between HK$300,000 (US$38,547) and HK$600,000 (US$77,099).

“This sale is the first of its kind anywhere in the world and the first in a series of sales,” says Howard-Sneyd. “It doubled expectations!”

“Chinese contemporary “impressionists’ – those artists who left China to study in France in the last century -- are the most valuable of the sale, however, and include Zhao Wuji,” says Howard-Sneyd.

Although not so well known outside of contemporary art circles, Zhao Wuji’s work reserved for between HK$3,000,000 (US$38,547) and HK$4,200,000 (US$539,644) and fetched the highest price of the sale at HK$5,000,000 (US$642,449).

The buyers came mainly from the United States and Europe, Howard-Sneyd says, although a small number of Chinese were bidding at the auction, prompting speculation whether the work might find its way to the mainland.

Of this, Howard-Sneyd said, “People buy for personal taste and investment. It’s an international market.”.

On the mainland, the Chinese contemporary art market is also booming.

Heading the curatorial team of the 2004 Fourth Shanghai Biennale, Zhang Qing is not surprised at the success of Chinese contemporary art.

“The Shanghai Biennale is an important showcase for what’s happening in the Chinese contemporary art scene,” he said. “It is an honour to introduce modern art to more and more Chinese people.

“I estimate that about 20 percent -30 percent of Chinese art works are bought by Chinese people,” Zhang said, arguing that the contemporary art market in China is predominantly driven by buyers from the United States and Europe.

This is a fact supported by Brian Wallace of Beijing’s Red Gate Gallery, who has been dealing in Chinese contemporary art in China since 1991.  The Red Gate Gallery now exhibits the works of 15 artists, and clients come from members of the business and embassy community, both expatriate and Chinese.

“It’s a strong market with lots of potential,” said Wallace. One to watch, he says, is Red Gate Gallery artist Sheng Qi.

The Red Gate Gallery has just returned from a successful touring exhibition in Melbourne, Australia, where the Chinese contemporary art market is also flourishing.

Not surprisingly, Chinese contemporary art is not the only art making waves in China. Western art is currently now in vogue on the mainland.

Although Western art has been popular in China for centuries, there has never been a demand to buy it, except for rare cases when Chinese collectors have had knowledge of art gathered from trips abroad. Today, China’s opening up has gradually reversed this trend and has created a market with buyers eager to purchase work from Europe and the United States.

Taping into this market, well-known Dutch art dealer Peter van Os brought 200 contemporary art works from his gallery in Arnheim, Holland, to exhibit and sell at the Wang Fang Gallery in Beijing in October. The exhibition will tour China through November, selling as it moves.

Van Os is confident: “I have been visiting for 17 years. Although in the early days, the market in China is ready.”

Whether Chinese contemporary art abroad or Western art in China, one thing is certain: Chinese contemporary art has come of age and art market trends are moving to the sound of the “China! China! China!” beat. And if the recent sale at Sotheby’s is anything to go by, it’s well worth keeping an eye on.