Posts Tagged ‘art auctions’
Posted by artradar on October 19, 2010
ART AUCTION FUNDRAISER HONG KONG CURATOR INTERVIEW
Para/Site Art Space, a non-profit organisation located in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, will hold its annual Para/Site Fundraising Auction in early November this year. It will take place in the Kee Club, who also support the event, and is one of the most important fund-generators for the space. Para/Site is devoted to the exhibition of local and international contemporary art. It is also a space where seminars, talks and workshops take place regularly.
We had the opportunity to talk with the Para/Site Director and Curator Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya who has been working for the space for one-and-a-half-years, half of his contracted commitment. We wanted to know more about him, Para/Site Art Space and what special surprises the upcoming auction will have for attendees.
Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya, director and curator of Hong Kong's non-profit Para/Site Art Space. Image courtesy of Para/Site Art Space.
Fominaya and Para/Site: small scale projects with international interaction
How long has Para/Site Art Space been running for?
Para/Site was founded in 1996. It was one of the first organisations of its kind to be created in Hong Kong. In 1997, other organisations like 1Artspace were created. Para/Site started as an artists’ collective, providing a space for member artists to exhibit. Very soon it became a space for other artists coming from abroad to show their work. Para/Site started an international programme and this has continued until now. Para/Site, in a way, was a pioneer in inviting curators to work full time. I am the second curator who has joined the space. (Editor’s note: Before Fominaya, Para/Site employed Tobias Berger, a German curator who worked for the space for three years from 2006 to 2008.)
Why did you decide to join Para/Site Art Space?
Several reasons made me want to join this space: I wanted to distance myself somewhat from the European gallery/art space model. I wanted also to be able to curate all major parts of a project. In Europe, the scale of the projects I was working on was very different. I was used to working on big projects within a large team. I wanted to experiment with small scale projects, as they give me a much closer relationship with the artist. But, we also have a minor budget here! It is very challenging (smiles). The logic of culture working in a large scale organisation or in a small one is very different. I have to say that it was very shocking for me at first! I had to adapt to a different scale of project and to a different culture.
What has changed since you first joined Para/Site Art Space?
We have worked harder to develop our facilities for our Hong Kong artists and also to increase our public programme by developing some workshops…. [We are] promoting local art abroad and making dialogue between the art and artists possible in and outside Hong Kong. An example of a workshop has been the participation of the director of education at MoMA, Philip Yenawine, who talked about museums and education. [Past] workshops weren’t that much focused on artists but more on art administrators, curators, etc..
Zhang Dali, 'AK-47 (V.7)', 2010, acrylic on canvas, 102 x 82 cm, unique edition. Image courtesy of Para/Site Art Space.
What have you been doing before you joined Para/Site Art Space?
Before coming to Para/Site I worked in a very different type of environment. I was working as a curator in a contemporary and modern art museum in Spain for six years. It was a different type of organisation; it was much larger and we covered all the twentieth century. At Para/Site Art Space … it’s a totally different type of environment, being a micro non-profit organisation with only four people working on our projects. Most of those projects are commissioned works that the artists develop for us. We have a very active international programme, which is very different from [the programme we had in] my previous job. That’s one of the challenges.
How is it funded?
The money raised in the auction covers almost half of our annual budget. That’s why it’s a very important event for us. We want to fundraise approximately HKD1,000,000 during this event. [We have organised] this kind of event for almost ten years now and we always had a very successful response. The rest of the budget is covered by the government, a French petrol group and smaller sponsors like corporate entities.
Rem Koolhaas, 'Lagos', 2007, photographic paper, 112 x 84 cm, special edition for Para/Site Art Space. Image courtesy of Para/Site Art Space.
Para/Site Fundraising Auction to sell one-off and special edition works
Can you explain the fundraising event to me in a few words. How do you get the artwork? What happens on the night? How did you select the artists?
The event is basically a fundraising auction. We are very cheeky and we ask the artists to donate their work to Para/Site. Some of the participating artists have worked with us and the others just want to support us in a generous way. During the event, the idea is to sell all the works in a pleasant atmosphere. From the 28 artists that participate in the events, around ten of them will attend the event. Those ten artists are based in Hong Kong. Unfortunately we don’t have the budget to fly all the artist here but we’ll have a very good representation of the selection we made. This night is very special, because it gathers different kinds of personalities together: curators, art gallery owners, artists and art lovers. Make sure to RSVP to attend to the auction as the event, with 100 people expected, will have limited places.
For this fundraising auction, 28 artists will participate. This selection of artists is a good representation of what we do. It is a mix of local Chinese, Asian and international artists. Some are very established and others not so. We’ll have secured the participation of a very established artist, Rem Koolhaas, who is donating a photograph titled Lagos. He has never sold his work before. You know what to do if you want to get it: Come to the Kee Club and it’s yours! We also have Ai Weiwei, a very interesting artist who we already exhibited last April and May. [We have] Zhang Dali, one of the pioneers of the Chinese avant-guarde and a very established artist. We have also a good representation of artists from Hong Kong. This event is a great opportunity to get artworks of a very good quality. I want to highlight also the big support from some galleries and foundations that have donated works to Para/Site, such as Cat Street Gallery. All the works that will be part of the auction will be shown here in Para/Site space.
It’s a big challenge as we curate a large number of art works and deal with artists from all over the world,… almost thirty artists, most of whom do not live in Hong Kong. The process is really like curating a show, the only difference is that the artists donate their work instead of selling it. Surprisingly, most of the artists we approached, even those who didn’t have any past relationship with Para/Site, had heard about this space and wanted to help and support us. It is a big responsibility; it has to go well for us, but it is at the same time a celebration.
Ai Weiwei, 'Swatter', 2007, brass gilded, 0.5 x 50 x 7cm.
Fominaya on running a non-profit art organisation
How do you choose which artists to represent Para/Site Art Space’s regular exhibition?
For the most part I invite the artists I want to work with. I do review the portfolios that we receive but the process I follow is mostly by invitation. I generally focus in the region, working with Hong Kong artists on international projects as a mission. I’m really focussing on Chinese, Asian and South Asian artists. We use the fact that Hong Kong is a door between the West, China and the south of Asia to get our inspiration for creating our programme. We want to show what Hong Kong means in a political, geographical and economic sense. At the same time, I try to stay away from what you can find in a commercial gallery. Actually, that’s one of the reasons why we don’t work that much with painters. Most of the work [we show] is installation and moving image. Personally, I’m very interested in moving image art.
Has the mission of Para/Site Art Space changed over time?
We continue with the same philosophy as before my arrival. In these two years, we have been developing more international projects with Hong Kong artists. We have also done a few projects with artists from outside Hong Kong, creating a dialogue between all of them. An example is the exhibition we curated with Joseph Kosuth and Tsang Kin Wah in 2009.
Has Para/Site Art Space always been in Po Yan Street? Or has the gallery been in another location before?
In April 1997, Para/Site Art Space was located in Kennedy Town before moving to its present location in Sheung Wan District, but it looks like we will have to emigrate. Sheung Wan is an area of Hong Kong that is getting very expensive. Next door, a luxurious apartment building is being built. The prices in the area are getting as expensive as the Peak. I think we need to move to a larger space to develop different types of projects with different scales. For the moment, the space that Para/Site has suits the type of exhibitions shown, but also the human resources and the budget we have available.
Sometimes you can find very famous artists in Para/Site. They don’t do the same kind of work they usually do in big museums as they have to adapt their work to the space. They also don’t have so much pressure and they tend to use this space to experiment, trying out different types of work.
How would you like to see Para/Site Art Space grow?
The artist community in Hong Kong is very active and developed. There are many commercial galleries but most of them are small and Hong Kong needs powerful galleries that can support its artists. What we would need in Hong Kong would be a larger number of non-commercial art spaces. A bit like Para/Site but on an even larger scale in order to allow the local art community to develop their projects.
The desire we have for Para/Site is to have a larger budget and a bigger venue that will help us achieve our larger goals. We want to make possible more dialogue with other art spaces around the world in order to develop projects. But this is not a short-term idea. This needs to be done over time to assure its sustainability.
SB/KN/HH
Related Topics: non-profit, art spaces, events, curators, Hong Kong venues
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Posted in Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya, Art spaces, Curators, Events, From Art Radar, Funding, Hong Kong, Interviews, Nonprofit, Professionals, Venues | Tagged: Ai Weiwei, AK-47 (V.7), Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya, art administrators, art auctions, art collectors, art foundations, art funding, art museums, art seminars, Asian art, Cat Street Gallery, contemporary art, contemporary Chinese art, corporate funding, curator, exhibition, funding, fundraising, fundraising events, gallery director, government funding, hong kong, Hong Kong art, installation art, international contemporary art, Joseph Kosuth, Kee Club, Kennedy Town, Lagos, MOMA, Nadim Abbas, non-profit, non-profit art organisation, Painting, Para/Site Art Space, Para/Site Fundraising Auction, Philip Yenawine, Po Yan Street, Rem Koolhaas, Sheung Wan District, Swatter, Talks, Tobias Berger, Tsang Kin Wah, Video, Video art, workshops, Zhang Dali | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 19, 2010
EMERGING YOUNG ASIAN ARTISTS
The “Alternate-Friday Top Series” is a series of lists, produced fortnightly by Artprice, which provide artist ranking on various themes. The September 10th edition lists the top ten artists aged under thirty that have achieved the highest auction results in the first half of this year. Asian artists overwhelm artists from other areas and we name them here.
Artprice has listed ten artworks by eight artists, Peng Si and Kao Yu appear twice in the list, and of those ten, nine have been created by artists from Asia. The number one spot, however, goes to an artwork by American Dash Snow.
As Artprice summarises, “What do these artists from such different backgrounds and cultures have in common? They have all managed to carve a place in the art market before reaching their thirtieth year, have all exhibited their work in numerous exhibitions … and all have plenty of potential to continue their artistic careers.”
Peng Si (ranked 2 and 3 out of 10)
Peng Si, a Chinese artist based in Beijing, holds second and third ranking, with Portrait of a Man in Red (2006) and Portrait of a Man in Yellow (2006) which sold for USD51,359 and USD48,791 respectively at Christie’s May 2010 sales in Hong Kong (Asian contemporary art). Peng Si produces oil paintings that have a dreamlike quality, mixing classical Chinese imagery, while equally expressing a unique modern value.
Peng Si, 'Portrait of a Man in Red', 2006, oil on canvas, 188 x 118 cm. Image taken from artnet.com.
Erinç Seymen (ranked 4 out of 10)
Erinç Seymen, a Turkish artist who lives and works in Istanbul came fourth. His Untitled (2010) fetched USD32,306 at Sotheby’s in London in April’s sale (2010). The work combines car paint, aluminium, steel and fibreglass and represents a pink butterfly with a body in the form of a grenade. Untitled (2008) and Civilian (2006) bear the same pink tonality.
Yang Na (ranked 5 out of 10)
Chinese artist Yang Na’s Gold Coined Hibernation (2008) (acrylic on canvas), sold under the hammer for USD31, 381, at 33 Auction in Singapore in May, 2010. Yang Na is part of the new wave of artists that grew up during rapid economic expansion in China, becoming exposed to a technological world of new media. The art communicates the artist’s experience of this technology and media. She often creates simplified characters, with exaggerated features that lie between the metaphysical and irreality.
Yang Na, 'Gold Coined Hibernation', 2008, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 cm. Image taken from artnet.com.
Kao Yu (ranked 6 and 9 out of 10)
Chinese artist Kao Yu, takes third and ninth place in the rank, Love Tear Gas (2004) fetched USD30,217 in June, 2010 at the Shanghai Hosane Auction Co. and Ultimate Taste of Capitalism (2009) fetched USD23,038 in April, 2010 at Phillips de Pury in London.
Zakaria Ramhani (ranked 7 out of 10)
Zakaria Ramhani, a Moroccan artist holds seventh place with Faces of the Other (2008) that fetched USD30, 000 at Christie’s April, 2010 sale in Dubai. Living and working in Tangier and Montreal, he uses his mother tongue and the language of the Other, French. Moving between speaking the two languages inspired him to create visual and audio portraits. The portraits explore human identity, investigating issues of self and other by establishing a dialogue between painting, writing and sound.
Noriko Yamaguchi (ranked 8 out of 10)
Noriko Yamaguchi, a Japanese artist, holds ninth position in the rank. The three telephone girls Keitai girl suit 3 (old model) Keitai girl suit 4 (silver) Keitai girl suit 5 (white and red) fetched USD25 679 in Christie’s Hong Kong in May, 2010. The “Keitai Girls” are futuristic archetypes that explore the future development with the human body and its interaction with technology.
Ariadhitya Pramuhendra (ranked 10 out of 10)
The final artist on the list is emerging Indonesian artist Ariadhitya Pramuhendra. Memorable 2 (2008) fetched USD21,827 in May, 2010 at Christie’s in Hong Kong. The charcoal portrait on canvas reflects his continual questioning of his religious, social and art world identities.
AN/KN/HH
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Posted in Emerging artists, Lists, Trends | Tagged: 33 Auction, Alice Nava, Alternate-Friday Top Series, Ariadhitya Pramuhendra, art, art auctions, art market, Artprice, Chinese art, Chinese artists, Christie's auctions, Civilian, contemporary art, Dash Snow, Emerging artists, Erinc Seymen, Faces of the Other, Gold Coined Hibernation, Keitai girl suit 3 (old model) Keitai girl suit 4 (silver) Keitai girl suit 5 (white and red), Keitai Girls, Lists, Love Tear Gas, Memorable 2, Noriko Yamaguchi, Peng Si, Phillips de Pury, Portrait of a Man in Red, Portrait of a Man in Yellow, Shanghai Hosane Auction Co., Sothebys, Turkish artists, Ultimate Taste of Capitalism, Whitney Biennial, Yang Na, Yu Kao, Zakaria Ramhani | 1 Comment »
Posted by artradar on October 10, 2010
ART PRICE DATABASE DEALER NEWS
Artnet group, the leading art price database and online art auction company has chosen the year 2010 to branch out into a brand new venture: art dealing. And it chose a surprising venue for its debut.
Artnet booth at Hong Kong International Art and Antiques Fair 2010.
In a brief chat with Max Wolf, Modern and Contemporary Specialist in the Artnet booth at Hong Kong International Art and Antiques Fair 2010, Art Radar learned more about the ambitious plans Artnet has to break into high-priced art dealing and what has surprised the Artnet representatives about the collectors they have met on their first visit to Hong Kong.
Most people know you from your Price Database but this is a new venture?
It has spawned from our online auctions. We found a need to extend from our private treaties with dealers and collectors and a lot of the galleries on our website who perhaps don’t want to sell the work on the website, perhaps because it is a more significant work.
Yes, so this is the first time that we are showing work which we are not necessarily putting online for sale.
This is the first time you are in a fair?
Exactly.
Why did you choose this fair?
It seemed to align itself with this collection we are offering … this complete set of Warhols.… Hong Kong seemed like an ideal venue and it just serendipitously worked out with the timing that it just made sense…
Right. So how has your experience been?
Great, we have had considerable interest from a handful of collectors. We shall see; today should be pretty revealing…. We took the less-is-more approach and I think this has worked out well for us. We have this Warhol portfolio, a Haring, another Warhol and two Ashers.
What do you propose to do with this new arm? What do you hope for your new venture?
Sales! Of course. (laughs)
And apart from that (laughs) do you plan to go to more fairs in the future?
Absolutely.
Which fairs would you like to try?
Well, depending on how this works out…. But with our online auctions and our private treaty sector of the business this seems like the natural progression for us.
What is your background in art?
I am one of a handful of auction specialists with Artnet.
So you didn’t come from the art world to Artnet?
Yes, I came with an auction background and was hired by Artnet to become an online auction specialist. There are six of us specialising in photography, unique painting works and prints.
How is that going?
Our online auctions are doing really really well. It seems that we are a panacea for the economy in a downturn. We are useful to collectors who don’t want to wait six months to consign a piece to a bricks and mortar auction house and then wonder whether it will be bought in. And then they have to pay for shipping and insurance even if it is bought in. With us they send us a .jpeg and within two weeks have money in [their] pocket.
That is great, great for the art world, great for collectors.
It is great. We have really enjoyed seeing the diversity of buyers. We sell to a lot of dealers but we also sell to private collectors, new buyers [and] new young collectors from all over the world…. From Australia, Kazakhstan, from all over. You would be surprised at the breadth.
You must have a great deal of information about where new collectors are coming from, the data…
Yes, the data that our technical team can gather, where and when is pretty impressive…
Have you been to Hong Kong before?
No.
What kind of collectors have you met over the last three days?
A wide variety but we have seen a considerable number of serious collectors from Taiwan. We were surprised…. We thought we would see more Mainlanders but we have seen Taiwanese and local Hong Kong collectors, some Koreans and Brits, but we were surprised by the size of the Taiwanese presence.
About Artnet services (source: Artnet website)
In the mid 1980s Artnet developed its first product, the Price Database. Today the Price Database has a broad base of customers dominated by major auction houses, art dealers, museums, and insurance companies. Representing auction results from over 500 international auction houses, the Price Database covers more than 4 million auction results by over 188,000 artists, ranging from Old Masters to Contemporary Art.In 1995 the company transitioned the Price Database to the Internet and introduced a second product, the online Gallery Network, building and hosting websites for art dealers and galleries on its platform. In 1999, the online auction business was launched and now has 60,000 collectors visiting the site each month.
KCE/KN
Related Topics: auctions, Market watch, collectors, Hong Kong
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Posted in Auction staff, Auctions, Business of art, Hong Kong, Interviews, Market watch | Tagged: art auctions, art dealers, art dealing, art fairs, art Hong Kong, Artnet, HKIAAF, Hong Kong International Art and Antiques Fair, Max Wolf | 2 Comments »
Posted by artradar on August 26, 2010
ART FAIRS TAIWANESE ART EVENTS INTERNATIONAL ART ASIAN CONTEMPORARY ART
Art Radar presents a Sunday at Art Taipei 2010 in nine images accompanied by quotes from Korean gallery director Jung Yong Lee and the refreshingly honest Pearl Lam, panel members at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum, five gallerists presenting their thoughts on the fair, and Australian new media artist Josephine Starrs who spoke at the one of the Art Taipei 2010 Weekend Art Lectures.
Pearl Lam, Director of Contrasts Gallery, and Jung Yong Lee, Director of Gana Art, speaking at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
Pearl Lam, Director, Contrasts Gallery, as heard at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum conversation, Asia International Galleries: The Next Movement: “When the price goes up very high it goes down very fast. It happens to design and it happens to contemporary art. So in the last six months people have been very careful and very cautious about contemporary art, but in blue chip artworks like the post-war or the impressionist it is just going up. And there are a lot of private sales, a lot of secondary market sales. So most of the galleries are actually making money from the secondary market.
Collectors are actually referring to the auction prices as a reference and a lot of young collectors need the auction to validate the price. But I have my thoughts about auctions because auction prices, for me, are never accurate unless they are a really high price like 20, 30, 40 million USD 1. Because it’s very easy; you can put a painting in an auction, we can get all our friends sticking our hands up, push the price up…. So my way of seeing things … most of the auction houses are making money from private clients.”
Joanna Li, Fish Art Center, beside Huang Poren's stainless steel sculpture 'What the heck!'. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
Joanna Li, Fish Art Center: “This is my fifth time at Art Taipei. In the past two years we have brought brand new artworks [to the fair] and all the artists are Taiwanese. They’re still young, around 26 years old. We also have modern artists…. We have sculptures, oil paintings. We have sold more medium priced artworks…. [The collectors are] from Taiwan, a few customers are from Hong Kong and China.”
Outside Art Taipei 2010's main exhibition hall. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
Mizuma Sueo, Director, Mizuma Art Gallery (Tokyo, Beijing): “This is our second time at Art Taipei. Today’s audience, there are so many people … but the last three days a little less. It’s a little less than last year. Sales are stable. We have sold some [works by] young Japanese artists and Chinese artists, but we have sold only one piece to a Taiwanese collector. The other pieces were sold to a Korean collector, Hong Kong and Japan. The audience is mainly Asian.”
Inside Art Taipei 2010's main exhibition hall. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
Jung Yong Lee, Director, Gana Art, as heard at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum conversation, Asia International Galleries: The Next Movement: “When the crisis came we had a very hard time,… I’m from a commercial gallery and we have to sell a lot of artwork to maintain our operation. But when the crisis came there were literally no sales for at least six months to over a year. So what we ended up doing was, since we couldn’t find a client who was investing, who was collecting art for their collections, finding clients who were companies and local governments who had a lot of promotional money to spend. We did consulting for companies. We made outdoor sculptures, we decorated lobbies for hotels, the façades of buildings; we did a lot of projects like that. And we also helped to make art parks or small private museums.”
Chen Liu, 'Blue Blossom Standing above the sea', 2010, oil on canvas, 200 x 140 cm. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
Junghwa Ryu, Curator, Arario Gallery (Cheonan, Beijing, Seoul, New York): “Art Taipei 2010 is more organised than the last one. Many visitors are interested in new contemporary art and we feel that the Taipei government has supported the fair well with their policy of focusing on an international base. However, the results for the sales are … not good as of now. Hanna Kim (1981, Korea) and Osang Gwon (1973, Korea) have been paid much attention. I guess in general the Taiwanese love a more light and cozy style than heavy and serious.… They are sensitive to trends and new skills.”
Sculptures by Taiwanese artist Ju Ming. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
James Hsu and Elise Chen, Ping Art Space (Taipei): “This is our third time here. Obviously it’s more international this year because there are more galleries participating in this art fair and we have collectors from Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia. In the past we would mainly have Taiwanese collectors…. Five years ago there might be just one Japanese gallery here but after this year there is this reputation in Japan that there is a good market in Taiwan. So this year there are 26 galleries from Japan. Also, in Taiwan, we have this history of collecting contemporary art for 20 years [and] after this period of time you can see that the market is getting better and better. Last year the economic crisis affected the market a lot and so this is like a rebound.”
Digital print by Australian media artists Josephine Starrs and Leon Cmielewski, part of their 'Downstream' installation, as exhibited at Art Taipei 2010. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
Josephine Starrs, as heard at the weekend art lecture, Recent and emerging trends in Australian media art: “This is some of the work that we are exhibiting here at Art Taipei in the <Encoded> exhibition. ‘Downstream’ explores new ways of representing the relationship between nature and culture. We are imbedding poetic text into [satellite] images of landscapes at particular risk from climate change. The work focusses on the degradation of the Murray-Darling, the largest river system in Australia, but it could be any river system in the world that is in danger from changes in climate.
We have changed the satellite imagery to write text in the landscape imagery, as if the landscape is sending us messages. When we started looking at this landscape imagery we noticed that the river almost looked like writing already. So we decided to change the river and embed this text from a famous Australian poem. The words say, ‘and the river was dust’.”
Shen Bo-Cheng's 'Read- Lleine Eschichte Der Photographie' (2010), exhibited as part of Art Taipei's MADE in TAIWAN - Young Artist Discovery event. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
E.D.Lee Gallery Co., Ltd (Taipei): “We have been to Art Taipei twice. This year it is more international, a lot of foreign galleries have joined us here and there are a lot more people. We have sold many works today. This year all of our artists are from Taiwan. Almost all of our collectors are Taiwanese but we also have collectors from Japan and Korea.”
Yan Chao, 'The Width of the Strait', 2009, mixed media on canvas, 150 x 180 cm. Image property of Art Radar Asia.
We hope to bring you more on Art Taipei 2010 in the coming weeks, including an overview of what was said at the 2010 Art Taipei Forum sessions and public art lectures we attended.
KN
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Posted in Business of art, Collectors, Events, Fairs, From Art Radar, Gallerists/dealers, Globalization of art, Interviews, Overviews, Professionals, Promoting art, Taiwan, Venues | Tagged: 2010 Art Taipei Forum, Arario Gallery, art auctions, art collectors, art fairs in Asia, Art Taipei 2010, Art Taipei 2010 Weekend Art Lectures, Asia International Galleries: The Next Movement, Asian art auctions, Asian art fairs, Australian new media art, Blue Blossom Standing above the sea, blue chip artworks, Chen Liu, Chinese collectors, climate change, Contrasts Gallery, curator, Downstream, E.D.Lee Gallery Co., economic crisis, Elise Chen, Encoded, Fish Art Center, from Art Radar, gallery director, Gana Art, Hanna Kim, Hong Kong collectors, Huang Poren, installation, James Hsu, Japanese collectors, Joanna Li, Josephine Starrs, Ju Ming, Jung Yong Lee, Junghwa Ryu, Kate Nicholson, Korean collectors, Leon Cmielewski, Ltd, MADE in TAIWAN - Young Artist Discovery, Mizuma Art Gallery, Mizuma Sueo, Murray-Darling, Osang Gwon, Pearl Lam, Ping Art Space, poetry, private sales, Read- Lleine Eschichte Der Photographie, Recent and emerging trends in Australian media art, Sakshi Gallery, satellite imaging, sculpture, secondary market, Shen Bo-Cheng, Taiwanese collectors, The Width of the Strait, Viki Kuo, What the heck!, words in art, Yan Chao | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on July 22, 2010
ART AUCTIONS NEW TECHNOLOGY MOBILE PHONES
Art Radar Asia has found a new tool available to collectors when bidding for artworks at auction – lots can now be won via mobile phone bids.
M. F. Husain's 'Kerala - V'.
As reported on the Saffronart website, the online auctioneer concluded its most recent sale on 17 June, with ten lots won by the company’s new mobile application.
Ten lots were won via Saffronart’s new mobile application, which allows bidders to bid from Blackberrys and iPhones. Those lots totaled $934,272. M.F. Husain’s Untitled was the highest lot sold via mobile, making $235,750.
Saffronart, a specialist in Indian art, was founded in 2000 by art collectors Dinesh and Minal Vazirani. It is renowned for its innovative use of new technologies within the art industry; their online auction model was recently the subject of a case study at Harvard Business School. The company has galleries and offices in Mumbai, New York and London. This most recent online auction grossed $6.7 million.
KN
Related Topics: business of art, market watch – auctions, Indian artists
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Posted in Artist Nationality, Auctions, Business of art, Indian, Market watch | Tagged: art auctions, art market, Blackberry, business of art, Dinesh Vazirani, Harvard Business School, Indian art, Indian artists, innovative technology and the arts, iPhone, Kate Nicholson, London, M.F. Husain, market watch, Minal Vazirani, mobile bidding application, mobile phone bidding, Mumbai, new york, online auction, Saffronart, technology and the arts | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on July 21, 2010
SEOUL AUCTION HOUSE RESULTS
A recent article by The New York Times explains the market trends of recent Hong Kong newcomer, Seoul Auction’s two highly successful auctions held in 2009: Korean collectors continue to acquire Western contemporary artists, Chinese artists buy modern Chinese paintings and Korean art sales are a hit and miss affair. Read on for more…
Seoul Auction was established in 1998, and was for many years was the city’s only auction house. In 2008, it opened an office in Hong Kong, and since then has been gaining international credibility as a top-rate Asian auction house. Seoul Auction uses the auction platform as a way to introduce Western art to the Asian market, as well as introducing relatively new work from South Korea and other Asian countries to the international market.
Damien Hirst, 'The Importance of Elsewhere – The Kingdom of Heaven,' 2006, butterflies and household paint on canvas, 292x243.9 cm.
Trends in Western art
Seoul Auction’s record-breaking 2.2 million dollar sale of Damien Hirst’s The Importance of Elsewhere – The Kingdom of Heaven, arguably its most notable achievement, and similarly pricey sales of other Western artists have revealed a flourishing market for Western Art in Asia. Works from Damien Hirst’s “Butterfly” series have proven very sell-able, although Seoul Auction has avoided his brush paintings – a pair of silk screen prints failed to sell at their April sale.
Donald Judd’s linear block sculpture Untitled (Progression 87-26) and Robert Indiana’s Eight from his number series are among those that fetched the highest prices. Roy Lichtenstein has also been introduced and has had a healthy reception.
According to the chief executive of Seoul Auction, Jun Lee, “Korean collectors are very sophisticated.” He adds that they had been collecting Western contemporary art “for the past twenty years, even when the market was not that active, even in New York. They are very open-minded. It’s a survival strategy under these circumstances, in periods of recession. We’re trying to persuade our contacts with whom we’ve built relationships over the past ten years to sell.”
Popular Asian contemporary artists
The “Infinity Nets” mixed media sculptures by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama have been highly successful. Works by Anish Kapoor, introduced to Korea by Seoul Auction, have also been highlighted as having healthy sales.
A photographer takes a picture of Yayoi Kusama's 'Venus No.1, Statue of Venus, Obliterated by Infinity Nets' (1998) at the Hong Kong International Art Fair. Taken from freep.com.
Korean art hit and miss
Although Korean works account for forty percent of Seoul Auction’s offerings in Hong Kong, sales of Korean art have been hit and miss. Kim Whanki’s abstract geometry paintings have sold well, but video artist Nam Juin Paik’s work has failed to sell. The article accredits this to the relatively short history of South Korean art in the international market compared to that of Japanese and Chinese artists, although in recent years sales to Western collectors have increased.
Chinese collectors prefer traditional art
Chinese art has been undeniably popular among Chinese buyers. Sanyu’s Flowers in a White Vase, Wang Yi Dong’s Girl and Peaches and Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask Series no 21 3-1 sold for good prices, some even exceeding their estimates.
Also popular among Chinese buyers are traditional paintings, such as works by Impressionists Chagall, Renoir, and Picasso, but they are less interested in less familiar American pop artists. According to an article by the Hong Kong Trader, there is also a trend for crossover art.
With the growing trend for crossover art (Chinese buying Japanese art, Japanese buying Korean art, etc), Ms Shim expects more Asian auction houses will look to set up a base in Hong Kong. By moving early, she says, Seoul Auction will gain a strong foothold. ‘We are preparing now for the good times ahead.’
As expressed in The New York Times article, the buying power of China is told only too well through the popularity of traditional works when contemporary works are struggling to sell.
Read the full article here.
MM/KN/KCE
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Posted in Auctions, Business of art, Collectors, Hong Kong, Market watch, Promoting art | Tagged: American pop art, Anish Kapoor, art auctions, art auctions in Asia, art market, Asian art market, Asian collectors, auction houses, Butterfly series, Chagall, China, Chinese art, Chinese collectors, Collectors, consignors, contemporary art, Damien Hirst, Donald Judd, Eight (numbers series), Flowers in a White Vase, Girl and Peaches, hong kong, Impressionsts, Indian art, infinity nets series, Japan, Japanese art, Jun Lee, Kim Whanki, Korean auction houses, Korean collectors, Maya McOmie, Misung Shim, mixed media, Nam Jun Paik, Numbers series, Painting, Picasso, Pink Rose, Recession, Renoir, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, Sanyu, sculpture, Seoul, Seoul Auction, South Korea, South Korean art, South Korean consignors, The Importance of Elsewhere – The Kingdom of Heaven, The New York Times, Tranquility, Untitled 06-1, Venus No.1 Statue of Venus (infinity nets), Wang Yi Dong, Western art, Western collectors, Yayoi Kusama, Zeng Fanzhi | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on June 9, 2010
GLOBALISATION CHRISTIE’S ART AUCTIONS
Globalisation in the art market may be slowing down according to an article published recently in The Economist. In spite of the growing numbers of artists and buyers from locales ranging from Africa to Asia, May sales in New York were dominated by American artists.
The article states:
“At the Christie’s sale, the first of the two main evening auctions, three-quarters of the buyers were American”.
With the prices of work by top Asian artists still lagging behind big-name American contemporaries, it may not come as a surprise that Asian artists are sometimes underrepresented in main and evening sales abroad. That is not to say that Asian artists do not fair well in Asian markets. In Artprice’s Top 100 Hammer Price List, only seven Asian artists crack the top 50. Not surprisingly, all were Chinese artists with sales in Beijing or Hong Kong. Numbers such as these suggest that there is still some preference for homegrown artists.
The Beijing sale of Chen Yifei's 'Thinking of History at My Space', 1979 landed him at #69 on Artprice's Hammer Price List
Even so, the unusual dominance of American artists at Christie’s New York sales this past spring did not go unnoticed.
“This is the most significant post-war and contemporary art collection ever sold at auction,” Christie’s Amy Cappellazzo said afterwards. “It was a quintessential American sale.”
We at Art Radar Asia wonder if this is really so surprising? There are few Post War Asian artists represented in these sales because Asian artists have only received attention in the last twenty years. For contemporary artists it is a different matter. While there is no doubt that some Asian artists, and those from other emerging countries, are now well known, their prices still lag behind those of top contemporary American artists. And, of course, main sales, and evening sales in particular, feature only the very best, usually most expensive, works.
Read the full article here.
EH/KN
Related Topics: business of art, collectors, market watch – auctions, market watch – globalisation
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Posted in American, Artist Nationality, Asian, Auctions, Business of art, Collectors, Globalisation, Market watch | Tagged: American artists, Amy Cappellazzo, art auctions, art market, art sales, Artprice's Top 100 Hammer Price List, Asian artists, auctions, Christie's auctions, Christie's May sales, Christie's New York, Christie's sales, contemporary American art, contemporary Asian art, contemporary Chinese art, Erica Holloway, Fu Baoshi, Globalisation, Landscapes Inspired by Du Fu's Poetic Sensibilities, Post War artists, The Economist | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on June 2, 2010
CHINA ART MARKET TRENDS ART COLLECTORS
A recent article published on English.news.cn by the Xinhua News Agency has highlighted the emergence of Chinese mainland buyers of high-priced modern and contemporary Western art.
The article reports that top art dealers and auctioneers in the West have seen their high profile works go to mainland collectors, many of whom are newly rich entrepreneurs. A number of these art professionals believe China has the potential to become a huge market for Western art.
Pablo Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932) was recently sold at a Christie's sale in New York for a record $106.4 million. It is believed to have been purchased by a Chinese collector.
“I think the potential for Western art in China is huge, just massive. There have been a very few people buying impressionist modern paintings since 2004 and 2005 but suddenly, since last year, there has been almost a surge.” Ken Yeh, chairman of Christie’s Asia in Hong Kong (as quoted on English.new.cn)
“Mei Jianping, professor of finance at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Beijing… believes what is happing is similar to the Japanese art spending spree in the late 1980s, which saw the impressionist art index increase by more than 200 percent.” English.new.cn
“To capture this interest in art,” the article mentions, “China may actually be getting its own first traded art fund. The Shenzhen Culture Equity Exchange is later this year expected to launch one. It will be open to investors who want an alternative to investing in individual works of art.” Many believe these new Chinese buyers are making “sensible investment decisions and not bumping up prices by paying silly money.”
“They are buying art because they like it but also for investment. If they spend $1m, $2m or $10m for a painting they want to make sure they will get a return five, six, seven years down the road.” Ken Yeh, Christie’s (as quoted on English.new.cn)
Of course, as the article relates, there are some art professionals that believe this trend is pure hype.
“I think there may actually be more of a market right now for major works in the Flemish part of Belgium than in the whole of China. I think mainland buying of significant Western art is a long way off.” Ben Brown, owner of Ben Brown Fine Arts (as quoted on English.new.cn)
Brown believes that this trend will only benefit auction houses where prices for high profile art are being pushed up by Chinese underbidders.
Read the full article here.
KN
Related Topics: collectors, business of art, market watch
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Posted in Collector nationality, Definitions, Land art, Middle East, New Media, Paris, Uzbekistani, West Asian | Tagged: art auctions, art collectors, Ben Brown, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Chinese art market, Chinese mainland art buyers, Chinese take art market by storm, Christie’s Asia, English.news.cn, impressionist modern paintings, Ken Yeh, Mei Jianping, Nude Green Leaves and Bust, Pablo Picasso, Shenzhen Culture Equity Exchange, Western art, Western art market, Xinhua News Agency | 1 Comment »
Posted by artradar on April 7, 2010
ART COURSE CHINESE ART
A half day seminar “State of the Art – China 2010: Trends and Developments in Chinese Contemporary Art” will be hosted by ArtInsight and the University of Westminster – Asian Studies department on 12 April 2010.
State of the Art - China 2010
This symposium includes leading figures in the Chinese art scene, like Simon Kirby, director of Chambers Fine Art, Beijing, artist Sheng Qi, and other well-known industry professionals who will analyse the future of Chinese contemporary art. It will consider the development of art spaces, the fluctuating art market, and Asia’s growing importance in the international art scene.
Though the seminar fee is £95 for attendees, there is a student rate of £25. It will be held in Central London at the University of Westminster.
AL/KCE
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Posted in Chinese, Courses, Events, London, UK | Tagged: Anders Petterson, art, art auctions, art education, art in London, art market, art news, Asian art, Chambers Fine Art, Chinese art, Chinese art trends, Chinese contemporary art, contemporary art, contemporary Chinese art, Jeffrey Boloten, Katie Hill, London, Sheng Qi, Simon Kirby, Sylvain Levy, symposium | Leave a Comment »
Posted by artradar on March 28, 2010
CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART MARKET
Chinese Contemporary Art Lots Sell Out in London
Major auctions held in February 2010 in London featured impressive sales of Chinese contemporary art works reports Jing Daily with surprisingly high sell-through rates compared with works from other markets. The rising presence of Chinese collectors and bidders underpins the phenomenal performance in sales and the momentum is expected to continue claims the newspaper.
Ian McGinlay, Head of Client Development for Asia at Sotheby’s, expects mainland Chinese collectors to become increasingly ubiquitous — and forceful — at auctions of contemporary art, with these buyers going for works by “blue-chip” Chinese artists like Cai Guo-Qiang, Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi and others.
Look for work by Wang Guangyi at upcoming Sotheby's auctions
As Jing Daily reports, the overall sell-through rate of the four auctions held by the three auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury — 90.5% (19/21) — was well above the overall performance of the entire aggregated sales.
At Sotheby’s, 100% of Chinese works (9/9) sold; at Christie’s, 82% (7/9); at Phillips, 100% sold (3/3).
For more of the original coverage, Jing Daily has more.
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LLH/KCE
Posted in Auctions, Chinese, London, Market watch | Tagged: art auction results, art auctions, auctions, Cai Guo Qiang, Chinese contemporary art, Christies, contemporary art, Ian McGinlay, Phillips, Phillips de Pury, sell-through rate, Sothebys, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Xiaogang | Leave a Comment »
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