Performance of Asia tops West for first timers at auction in 2008/09

AUCTION PERFORMANCE

It may be of some surprise that Asian artists have outperformed their Western counterparts in “first time auction results” during the height of the art market boom. According to ArtPrice’s 2008/2009 contemporary art market report, buyers are giving Asian artists new to the auction market stronger backing than new Western artists.

This support is evident in the high proportion of Asian artists achieving the top hammer prices:  64% of the “top 50 best hammer price for new auctioned artists in 2008″ were given to Asian artists predominantly from China, Japan and Korea.

Of the top 10 best first-timer hammer prices, half were given to Chinese artists born between 1949 and the early 1960s. The top price of Euro 347,510 was given for a work by the artist You Jindong (b 1949)  known for his works created with gunpowder.

 

 

© ArtPrice, TOP 50 Best hammer price for new auctioned artists in 2008

Out of the three main Asian countries (China-24, Korea-4, Japan-3) represented in the list, Chinese artists’ prices have had the most dramatic reduction from the high point in 2008. Although times are different now, the price correction within the contemporary Chinese art market has significantly lowered the price barriers for collectors. It is considerably more economical to purchase “new auction artists” in 2009.

So Hing Keung's photograph titled "Central, Hong Kong, 1998" sold for USD 4,515 at Sothebys in Hong Kong on October 6th, 2009

In recent Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong on October 6th, the average price for a Chinese “new auction artists” was drastically lower at USD 12,000 compared to USD 130,000 during the previous year. In addition to Chinese contemporary art, the price barriers for contemporary Japanese and Korean art remains accessible in the current market.

Korean artist Lee Kyoung Mi's painting titled "San Francisco on the Table" sold for USD 12,255 at Sothebys in Hong Kong on October 6th, 2009

Related Information and Posts:

• Contemporary art market Asia now bigger than US for first time says Artprice – November 2009
• Liquidity propels prices, Chinese Political Pop is back – Sothebys Contemporary Asian Art Auction 2009 Hong Kong – October 2009
• Outlook for Chinese art market – interview Larry Warsh – Arttactic podcast – May 2009

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more market and auction house news

SF/KCE

Contemporary art market in Asia now bigger than US for first time says Artprice

ASIAN ART MARKET

Visitors enter a Sotheby's auction room in Hong Kong for a sale of modern and contemporary art on October 6, 2008.

For the first time ever, the total auction revenue from “contemporary art in Asia” is greater than the total of the United States artprice reports. The statistics are collected from a 12-month period spanning from July 2008 to June 2009. Asia generated €130 million versus the United States’ €123 million. China is the highest gainer out of this trend, having generated €95 million from contemporary art during the same period.  According to the report, this means China is continuing to “hold on to its third place global geographical art auction revenue ranking.”

The establishment of foreign auction houses such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams in Hong Kong, in combination with the financial strength of Hong Kong and Shanghai are to be accredited for China’s position. For those who are looking to begin collecting Asian art, this does not mean that the price of contemporary Chinese art is back up to its sky-high prices of a couple of years ago. Artprice’s report tell us that in the first half of 2008 the average price of contemporary works sold in China was $65,500, however, in the first half of 2009, this average dropped to $26,800.

Related posts:

• Liquidity propels prices, Chinese Political Pop is back- Sotheby’s Contemporary Asian Art Auction 2009 Hong Kong- October 2009
• Trends and opportunities in the contemporary photography market- October 2009
• Newslink round up Art Basel 2009- Indian, Japanese artists dominate coverage of Asians- June 2009

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more market and auction house news

RM/KCE

Surprising new direction taken by cadaver artists and Saatchi stars: Sun Yuan and Peng Yu – interview

HONG KONG CHINESE PHOTOGRAPHY ART

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, born in the early 1970s and both alumni of the prominent Beijing Central Academy of Art, have a long-established  reputation in Asia for their controversial collaborative installations featuring animals, human tissue and baby cadaver specimens.

In the west they made a big splash in 2008 at the record crowd-drawing Saatchi exhibition of new Chinese art, The Revolution Continues with a satirical work called Old People’s Home (click for video). Both popular and critically-acclaimed, this life-sized 2007 work featured sculptures of decrepit old people “looking suspiciously like world leaders… now long impotent”‘ rolling slowly in wheelchairs around the gallery and occasionally crashing into one another.

Taking a surprising new direction, their exhibition Hong Kong Intervention (Aug 22 – Oct 10) at Osage Gallery delves into the working environments of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong.

Each of the 100 Filipino participants took a photograph of a toy grenade placed in his or her employer’s home. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu talk with Wendy Ma about whether or not this experiment in spatial intrusion by Filipino maids creates tensions.

Toy grenade placed in the center of a dining room and the back of the Filipino maid. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: What inspired you to make photos with Filipino domestic staff?

Two years ago at a square in Central I observed the mass congregation of Filipino girls. I thought it was a very interesting situation since each one is connected to a family in Hong Kong. I started chatting with them and obtained their agreement to volunteer to do the photo shoots. Through them I could intervene in an relationship.

AR: Why do the photographs include the image of a toy grenade?

To intervene, I wanted to use a toy specifically bought in Hong Kong. It was up to them to place it anywhere inside their owner’s house, e.g. inside a garden, on the bed, blending it with the environment. Then they take a photograph of the scene. The toy is a legal product. When your kid plays with a toy grenade, you might find it cute, not dangerous. It was a chance for the participants to exercise their creativity. We wanted to use a very simple object to show how it can open up possibilities.

AR: Is it just a game or does it carry other implications?

It is a game because there are no real consequences. An example of something that is not a game would be the recent incident when a reporter threw a shoe at George Bush. However, it would’ve been a game had he said, “I’m going to throw it at you, first at your head then at your chest.” By not carrying it out, it would have remained just a concept. If something happens in reality, it changes the environment. But right now our work is only a photograph.

The proposition of the game is neutral. It doesn’t carry implications of danger. Last night someone told me that they treat their Filipino maids like guests.

Hidden toy grenade on the book shelve and the male domestic worker. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: Why is the photograph of the back of the worker juxtaposed next to the surroundings?

Actually, neither the person nor the environment is significant. They are entities with no individual characteristics. Instead of specifying a particular being, I just want to describe a phenomenon.

AR: What have you found out about their lives and about contemporary Hong Kong society?

One third of the Filipino population live outside their country. They are a special group in Hong Kong. During the week they enter into the homes of different families. On Sundays, they bond and return to their own world. When they work, they disappear into the families of Hong Kong. They play different roles in their working and living environment. They use their culture to communicate. As for us, we work outside the family and we bond when we return to our home. For them, they enter our families to work. It’s the reverse.

Bedroom and Filipino maid. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: Why is the exhibition called Hong Kong Intervention?

Intervention in Chinese can be small (eating a crab) or large-scale (invading a country). It can be magnified in the imagination of readers. You can imagine the explosive possibilities of the toy grenade, despite the fact  that in reality it cannot explode. How the viewer perceives ‘intervention’ is beyond my control.

Intervention can be a strategy to communicate ideas. Ours is the study of a social phenomenon. It does not necessarily mean invasion or changing a situation as it does in the English expression “tossing a grenade”.

Words acquire different meanings in different situations. They cannot be precise. Words cannot express what you actually feel. So art is not expressed through words or titles but through a different means to pull you closer to the underlying meaning.

AR: Are you concerned that the proprietor might feel violated if he saw the photograph of his home on display?

We had no intention to expose individuals. Like I said, the photos of the maids and the homes are not meant to be specifically meaningful; they only a representation and a portrayal of the mass.

Bedroom of a Hong Kong owner and the Filipino maid. Photography by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Image Courtesy to Erin Wooters.

AR: What is the role/identity of Filipinos in your work? Creators, participants, or assistants?

I consider all the participants as collaborators: not just Filipinos, but also the audience involved in the discussions. They are common authors of the work. As part of the contract, we don’t have to give credit to them by listing their names as they transferred the copyright to us.

Contributed by Wendy Ma

Related Posts:

Editor’s note: This post is interesting to contrast with a recent exhibition at Para/Site in Hong Kong in which Filipino domestic helpers were invited to receive manicures given by the Australian artist collective Baba International.  Whereas Baba International sought to nurture and engage with their subject physically, the “‘Intervention”‘ exhibition carries intriguing tones of depersonalisation and violence. Baba was keen to explain the intentions behind their work whereas Sun Yuan and Peng Yu step away and allow the viewer to explore and fully shoulder the responsibility for interpretation.

• Hugs in Hong Kong by mainland artists formerly branded national criminals – interview Gao Brothers -Sep 09
• Thai Chinese artist Nipan Oranniwesna shows installation art made of baby powder in Hong Kong – review- Aug 09
• Embedding the Bed in Public Space – interview Hong Kong artist and ParaSite director Tim Li - Aug 09
• Wallpaper’s guide to Beijing art districts – Jul 09
• Young Chinese Artists The Next Generation – book review – Jun 09

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more interviews on Beijing artists in Hong Kong

Unusual art investment model launched by China Merchants Bank

ART INVESTMENT

Earlier this week China Merchants Bank  launched a new ‘art banking’ service for China’s rich says the People’s Daily Online.  The unusual model allows private banking clients to pay a deposit for an artwork and take it away to enjoy for one year after which they have the option to purchase it or return it for a full refund.

“The model is brand new in China, as art investment often involves great risk and wealthy people need time to understand Chinese contemporary art,” said Cai Can huang, deputy general manager of CMB’s private banking section.

Private clients with assets of more than ten million yuan will be targeted by the fund, who is working in collaboration with the China Contemporary Art Foundation which has amassed a collection of over 3000 Chinese contemporary works.

 

Su Xinping, Sea of Desire

“We have worked with a group of Chinese and Western art experts to pick out seventy artworks including photos, oil paintings, wash paintings and sculptures, ranging from 10,000 to one million yuan,” said Su Yan, executive director of China Contemporary Art Foundation. 

We are curious about this bizarre art investment model. It is one thing to loan art for free to wealthy clients: luring and cementing relationships with high net worth individuals who will be upsold other high-return products.

But surely it is another thing altogether to offer the reward of potential gains without any of the risks. As the wealth levels of the targeted clients are merely mass affluent rather than mega-rich, and are therefore unlikely to produce sufficient returns on other product sales, one can only assume that the lenders are pretty confident that there will be no (or minimal) gains after a year.

One is left musing… Does this say something about the outlook for the contemporary Chinese art market? Is there perhaps an issue with the quality of the artworks selected? Not the latter, we hope, as this initiative could, now that the market has been decimated by the withdrawal of speculative purchasers, play a much-needed part in stimulating engagement with art which in turn just might help spawn a serious local collector base in China.

Read more at CMB Launches Art Banking in China – Peoples Daily June 10 2009

Related posts:

• Outlook for Chinese art market – Larry Warsh podcast – May 2009 
• Is there a new way to sell art? Vitamin experiments – New York Times – May 2009
• Sneak a peak at art collection and private residence of Pearl Lam – video – March 2009
• Mei Moses index founder plans Chinese version, optimistic about Chinese art – March 2009
• Domestic demand in freefall at Chinese art auctions – Nov 2008

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for news and art investment trends in Asia

Experimental art in Shanghai challenges recession – Carry On Items show review

EXPERIMENTAL ART CHINA

By Chris Moore

OV Gallery in Shanghai is displaying considerable chutzpah with its current exhibition, ‘Carry-on Items’.

In the wake of the financial crisis many galleries in Shanghai have retreated into more conservative and smaller shows. OV decided instead to run a series of highly experimental shows. Following on its earlier ‘Space Disoriented’ light-installations by Li Jing, the new show does something quite radical, converting the viewer’s experience into the art.

Walk into the exhibition and you will be confronted by a wall in the middle of the room, installed just for the exhibition. Upon it are displayed a table of numbers, 3 x 11 digits. And nothing else. What is going on here?

Phone numbers

If you live in China then eventually it will dawn upon you that perhaps they are phone numbers. Call them and you will find yourself speaking to a part of the exhibition, one of three ‘beauties’ who attended the opening night vernissage. Then everything looks utterly different.

For the opening night the artists decorated the gallery with a series of ambiguous clues. The first was the photographic and rather anodyne portrait of a young boy which appeared on the invitation but is also displayed as a huge poster covering the gallery’s shop-window. This remains. The second was a large potted orange tree with a neon ‘OV’ sign plonked precariously in its branches. The third was a measuring tape on a wall, possibly referring to other important works of Chinese contemporary art such as Xu Zhen’s 8848 – 1.86 (2005) and Wang Tiande’s recent ‘One Metre Seventy-Three’ exhibition at Contrasts gallery. The fourth was a half-crumpled disposable cup on a plinth. The fifth was a squawk-box (Doorbell) – you press the button and an obtuse announcement is made. All these things are in the first-half of the divided gallery.

Aircraft

Now, from behind the wall comes a juddering, frightening din, the sound of an aircraft taking off. So you take a peek and you see a film of an empty tarmac. The squeal of the engines begins to build, louder and louder, sending your heart racing and shredding your nerves until it is literally disorientating.

For an instant a person flashes by, launching into the sky. There is a moment’s respite but soon the engine whine begins again and another person takes off. These are post-Nietchean and supersonic versions of Bill Viola’s Five Angels.

Three Beauties

And all the while a photographer is snapping away at everyone and everything in the gallery. But some people more than others: the three ‘beauties’, women representing success, youth, vigour, modernity, and China, but also superficiality, consumerism, anti-art and – pause, wait for it – China.

After Duchamp, it is very hard to make a real anti-art exhibition. In one sense it was a great liberating moment in art but he set the bar very high. Manzoni did it and so did Beuys; Hirst also, before he became a brand. ‘Carry-on Items’ does it too, by subverting, ridiculing, and then re-appropriating the notion of ‘Found Items’.

As one of the artists, Gefei, said to me, the opening is not the exhibition. In fact, the exhibition is not the exhibition. Rather the exhibition is something that takes place when you walk in, and it goes with you when you leave, or when you call one of the numbers or make a ‘connection’. It is easiest to find it in the future as a possibility framed by preconceptions or in the past as a memory shaded by experience. Which sounds a bit pretentious. And it is too. After all, this isn’t an exhibition, it’s just pretending to be one. The artists themselves would just smile.

The final aspect of the exhibition, the catalogue, is yet to come. Prepare for take-off.

 

Another of the 'Three Beauties', Xiao Mi, with Xin Yunpeng's Doorbell (2009) installation - the 'squawk box'

 

 

 

One of the 'Three Beauties', Doing, with other guests at OV Gallery's vernissage

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Ge Fei, Boy (2009) with one of the exhibition's 'Three Beauties', the intriguingly named Doing

Phone numbers of the ‘Three Beauties’

 

 

 

 

Contributed by Chris Moore, a writer and a partner in the contemporary art investment firm mooreandmooreart.co.uk. He lives in Shanghai and specialises in contemporary Chinese art.

Related posts:

• Outlook for Chinese art market – Larry Warsh AW Asia podcast - May 2009
• Chinese artist-run spaces rise up again? May 2009
• Emerging Chinese conceptual artist Li Hui defies recession at Christies Hong Kong sale – Dec 2008

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia

Outlook for Chinese art market – interview Larry Warsh – Arttactic podcast

CHINESE ART MARKET

Larry Warsh of AWAsia in New York, a private organisation which provides Chinese contemporary art sourcing and curatorial services to global institutions such as MOMA and the Getty Museum, talks about his take on the outlook for the Chinese art market on Arttactic’s newly-launched free podcast service.

Warsh’s expertise lies in Chinese painting and photography by the first generation of historically important Chinese artists who came to prominence between 1989 and 1999.

Topics discussed include:

• the evolution of US interest in Chinese art – Americans ‘came late to the party’, Christopher Phillips’ show at ICP ‘Past Present Future’ 2004-5 was the start

 

• why the Cynical Realists appealed to the West

 

• the trend for major US institutions (MOMA, Getty) to buy and show global art, Chinese art and the upcoming show at MOMA by Song Dong summer 2009

 

• recommended books about Chinese art

 

• weaknesses of Chinese art scene (as yet undeveloped education, infrastructure and curatorial skills)

 

• opportunities in the market – Chinese photography

 

The promotion of Chinese art is Warsh’s self-confessed mission so it is not surprising that the bulk of the interview claims great investment opportunities for selected Chinese artists. He suggests that scarcity of supply (he says there are only 30-40 historically important contemporary artists) and the future potential of the Chinese buyer base (favourable demographics, population size and a growing interest in contemporary art) means that prices are bound to rise.

Asked why the top auction houses seem to be featuring less Chinese art in their recent sales, Warsh explains that he sees this as evidence of the scarcity of supply of quality Chinese art rather than lack of demand.

We are not quite convinced by this argument. If supply is scarce but the demand still exists, then the pieces that have been coming to the market recently would have made heady prices but instead they have fallen along with other art categories and asset classes. In Hong Kong’s Spring sales 2009 works by Zhang Huan failed to sell at Sotheby’s and at Christe’s a Cai Guo Qiang edition ‘Kaleidoscope Time Tunnel’ and a Yue Min Jun lot were passed in.

No matter, we like controversial opinions. Arttactic promises more podcasts with ‘key’ figures so we look forward to hearing a variety of views. To listen to this one go to ArtTactic Podcasts and search for Larry Warsh May 22 2009.

Unfortunately we cannot give you a direct page link – we hope that ArtTactic will iron out this wrinkle in its promising new service.

Related posts:

• Newslink round up Hong Kong art fair Art HK o9 - May 2009
• Sneak a peak at the collection and private residence of dealer Pearl Lam – video interview – Mar 2009
• Mei Moses index founder plans Chinese version, optimistic about Chinese art – Mar 2009
• What are the latest trends in Chinese art? Who are the top two emerging artists? – video interview Melissa Chiu - Feb 2009
• Domestic demand in freefall at Chinese art auctions – China Daily – Nov 2008
• Book: Chinese Contemporary Art 7 Things You Should Know – Oct 2008

Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for views about the Chinese art market

Chinese art market outlook 2009 – Arttactic, AWAsia

CHINESE ART MARKET

Why there are opportunities in Chinese 90s-made art and Chinese photography and how Western museums are impacting this market are some of the topics in the interview between Anders Petterson, Founder and Managing Director of ArtTactic and Larry Warsh, Founder of AW Asia.

Zhang Huan, Family Tree, photographs

Buying opportunities – 90s art and photography

AP: Where do you see buying opportunities in the Chinese contemporary art market in the short and long-term?

LW: In the short term-the next 12 to 18 months-there will be good opportunities to buy works by top-tier artists in both painting and photography. By top-tier, I mean the 40 or so who have gained art-historical recognition, have been internationally exhibited, and are being acquired by museums in the West as well as Asia. Historical works by these individuals -the first generation of Chinese contemporary artists, from 1989 through early 2000s-are relatively scarce and will continue to gain value. The global downturn has yielded some attractive pricing, particularly in comparison to top contemporary artists in the West, creating smart buying opportunities. In fact, art funds focusing on Chinese contemporary art have been formed to take advantage of this moment. Museums are also acquiring for their collections.

Chinese contemporary photography is a buying opportunity. It’s still undervalued relative to painting, which was the focus for collectors for many years. Quality works will become increasingly scarce, particularly as China develops as a consumer society with its own collector base. The Chinese audience with disposable income is growing, and a consistent percentage of those people will become art advocates and collectors.

The Chinese economy may be slowing down, but it is not in a recession. China will remain among the world’s most attractive investment destinations, and art will continue to parallel this direction. The result is that Chinese contemporary art will weather this economic downturn and will come out as an even stronger player.

Threats to Chinese contemporary art market

AP: What do you see as the main threats to the future development of the Chinese contemporary art market?

LW: Quality. As in the West, in China there are tens of thousands of artists producing all types of work. The quality varies widely. It is important to pick the artists who will have historical staying power, with solid records in terms of art-historical recognition, museum exhibitions, and curatorial interaction. In every country, the finest work by the top artists is expensive and sought-after, and it holds its value. In this, China is no exception. There are many levels of artists and art, and it’s essential to know the difference between the art business and art history. Also, over the past few years some dealers took a very aggressive approach to pricing, which shot up dramatically. A shake-out was almost inevitable, especially when the quality was not there.

I think there is not enough education regarding who the important artists are. In China, this is now starting to change. There are now more collector groups, and more lectures and seminars on Chinese contemporary art. It’s not enough, but it’s starting. There’s activity promoting education and the development of a collector base.

Western attitudes to Chinese contemporary art in future?

AP: Was Chinese contemporary art just a fad in the West? Why not? What developments are we likely to see in the West with regards to the Chinese contemporary art market?

LW: It’s not a fad, not at all. Pundits talk about it in those terms because of the speed with which Chinese contemporary art has grown and the impact it’s had on the art world. That’s consistent with the Chinese economy overall, which has seen rapid growth in many other sectors as well. We forget that the reopening of capitalism in China was a once-in-a-lifetime event, truly a phenomenon-a country waking up with such might in the course of 30 years.

There are also many notable curators, academics, writers, and collectors in the West who are studying, following, researching, and buying Chinese contemporary art, and were doing this years before it became a notable player in the marketplace. One trend that I see continuing is the integration of Chinese contemporary art into Western museum exhibitions and collections. Just in New York alone, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and MoMA have acquired Chinese contemporary works. Other U.S. and European museums are completing acquisitions as well. And while this is entirely anecdotal, among collectors I’m in contact with, interest in Chinese contemporary art remains very high, and there is a shift happening now of new collectors who are buying, as opposed to speculators.

Chinese art has also been outperforming Western and European art in the contemporary non-Chinese sales. As recently as November 2008, at the Christie’s day sale in New York-which overall did poorly-14 of 16 contemporary Chinese works sold, many doing better than their Western counterparts. There was spirited bidding from absentee and phone bids, as well as activity in the room.

Shift from West to East

AP: As a result of the increasing economic powers of the East, are we going to see a shift away from the power of Western art model to an Eastern (Asian) model? What implications could this have for the Chinese art market?

LW: Chinese culture is 5,000 years old, and national pride runs deep. China will not collect our Western heroes and icons-not widely, at least. They will create, and have always created, their own. That’s where their collecting interests lie.

In art, the Chinese will adapt many of the Western business models, but they will also evolve their own dynamic approach to working with museums, galleries, and the international art market in general. We should not think that our way is the only way.

The strength of the Chinese economy has been underestimated in the West. With a population of 1.3 billion, China has an enormous pool of consumers. The Chinese middle class is now roughly equivalent to the entire U.S. population (and growing), and their collector base barely has been tapped. They may be spending more cautiously, but they still have money.

Major development – Government support

AP: What will be the most important event(s) for the Chinese contemporary art market in 2009?

LW: The Chinese government has recognized the importance of contemporary Chinese art, and has earmarked money to promote and solidify the field via the Beijing Culture and Development Fund. They are also supporting museum exhibitions in China and abroad. This is a major development.

Inflation-resistant investment with demand in many countries

Also, I think that in the near term, China will undergo more severe inflation than it’s seen recently, making high-quality work a good haven for protecting the yuan. This will also benefit non-Chinese collectors holding this type of asset. With its broad acceptance on the international art market-London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, China-and its performance in Western and Asian auction houses, high-quality work will be salable around the globe, yielding the respective currency of choice. With the coming inflation, I predict that art will outperform other non-art investments, as it has done in the past. I project that within 24 to 36 months, prices will return to levels close to where they were, with some prices higher. Great work will achieve breakout prices sooner.

Asia is the future, and everyone in the West should be aware of this fact. Between China and India, the entire planet will be looking toward Asia as it leads the globe in new areas of development. The Chinese art market has tremendous opportunities yet to be realized. Chinese contemporary art is not going away.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Anders Petterson is the founder and managing director of ArtTactic.

Larry Warsh is the founder of AW Asia, a private organization in New York City that promotes Chinese contemporary art through institutional loans and acquisitions, curatorial projects, publishing, and educational programs. Previously the founder and publisher of Museums Magazines, he has been an active collector of Western and Chinese contemporary art for more than 25 years.

This article was originally published in the February edition of Rawfacts, ArtTactic’s monthly art market newsletter. The original text is republished here by courtesy of ArtTactic.

Related posts:

• Getty Museum acquires Chinese contemporary photographs by Wang Qingsong, Hai Bo April 2009
• Mei Moses index founder plans Chinese version, optimistic about Chinese art March 2009
• Emerging Chinese conceptual artist Li Hui defies recession at Christies Dec 2008
• Largest art museum in world to be built in South China Oct 2008
• Survey of Chinese contemporary art at San Francisco museum Sep 2008

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Sneak a peak at the Chinese art collection and private residence of dealer diva Pearl Lam

CHINESE ART DEALER COLLECTOR

Famous for occasionally not attending her own dinner parties, larger than life Hong Kong-born Shanghai-based dealer (Contrasts Gallery) and collector Pearl Lam allows CCTV into her private gallery and her residence with a video camera to view her eclectic private collection.

Shao Fan

Her apartment consists of two floors of a building in the heart of Shanghai, one floor is devoted to her private art collection and the floor above it is her residence which is furnished in an eccentric over the top style which leaves noone in any doubt of her overwhelming passion for art and design.  This energetic socialite admits in the video that she is a professional designer ‘manque’.

Usually accessible to only the ‘veriest’ of very important persons, this clip of a visit to her residence is a rare chance for the rest. In the film she discusses her collecting style, Shao Fan’s exploding furniture and Zhang Huan’s ash works.

View the clip of Pearl Lam art collection

Related links: Contrasts Gallery

Related categories: Art professionals, Chinese artists,  Zhang Huan, art videos

Related posts:

• Zhang Huan video – what inspires him and why he is taking a break from performance art Feb 2009

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Top 5 books on Chinese art by Chinese art specialist, Pippa Dennis

BOOK REVIEWS CHINESE ART

Contributed by China art scene specialist Pippa Dennis, founder of Asia Art Forum.

Nine Lives, The Birth of Avant-Garde Art in New China

Karen Smith, Scalo 2008

Easy to read, insightful account tracking the careers of the main protagonists to spearhead the emergence of contemporary art in modern China. Karen Smith has lived in China since 1992 and many of these artists are personal friends. This intimate relationship gives her account an added edge as the book traces the story of their rise against a backdrop of dramatic economic and social transformation in China.

Mahjong Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection

Feng Boyi, Christoph Heinrich, Pi Li and Uli Sigg 2005

The book to accompany the exhibition that toured the world, bringing the largest collection of Chinese contemporary art to the international public. Uli Sigg, formerly the Swiss ambassador in Beijing, began collecting in the early 1990s and has since amassed a total of 1,200 works. This catalogue presents a selection of over 200 works but its essays by some of China’s most prominent writers and critics give the catalogue its must read status.

Semiotic Warfare, The Chinese Avant-Garde: 1979-1989

Martine Koeppel-Yang, Hong Kong, 2003

 One of the few English language academic books focusing on the emergence of the Chinese Avant-Garde and placing its development within its cultural, economic and political context. This work is critical in its ability to contextualise what was happening in China’s artistic development with what was happening on the international stage.

Between Past and Future

Wu Hung and Christopher Phillips 2004

Essential reading for anyone interested in lens-based work coming out of China. This book catalogues the first exhibition to comprehensively examine experimental photography and video work from China since the mid 90s. Excellent essay by veteran curator of photography Christopher Phillips.

Inside Out: New Chinese Art

Gao Minglu, University of California Press, 1998

Another book to accompany an exhibition. This time Gao Minglu, one China’s great theorists, curates the exhibition and edits this publication. Inside Out is a survey show that presents work from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas Chinese artists. Gao succeeds in setting out the historic and cultural distinctions between these regions whilst examining issues of modernity and identity that relate to all four.

About Pippa Dennis

Pippa Dennis has been living in Shanghai for the last four years and worked for Eastlink Gallery before establishing Asia Art Forum. She has an MA in Art History from St Andrews University. For more on lectures and programmes offered by Asia Art Forum   www.asiaartforum.com

If you would like to buy any of these books please consider contributing to the running of this website by purchasing through the Art Radar shop or click on the direct link below

• Nine Lives, The Birth of Avant-Garde Art in New China – Karen Smith
• Mahjong Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection
• Semiotic Warfare, The Chinese Avant-Garde: 1979-1989
• Between Past and Future
• Inside Out: New Chinese Art

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Caochangdi, Beijing’s newest art district..as if Anish Kapoor designed an art quarter in his spare time

ARTS DISTRICT BEIJING CHINA Now Caochang-di is not yet on the radar of hotels and cab drivers, but it is quite extraordinary.

In effect, it’s a gallery quarter where the most interesting buildings have been designed by Ai Weiwei, one of the two or three most important Chinese artists. It’s as if Anish Kapoor had designed an art quarter in his spare time.

It’s in Caochang-di that you can find the unmissable. For example, there’s the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, where you can see major exhibitions of established and emerging Chinese and international artists; Platform, one of the most serious art-spaces in China, which showcases artists from all over the country; and Universal Studios, which offers exhibitions on contemporary visual arts, film, architecture and design. The list of interesting galleries there grows and grows, and New York galleries are moving there as quickly as they can.
But how to find Caochang-di?

See (in new window)

• Bonhams magazine issue 15 for full story and how to get there
• more Chinese art news

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