Auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen takes bids on the Picasso masterpiece ‘Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O)’ at Christie’s in New York City on May 11. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

The post As China’s Appetite For Art Grows, A Private Bank Helps Collectors Feed Their Passion first appeared on Indian Art News.

Christie’s, hit by anemic spring sales due to the financial crisis, had been banking on the current autumn sales in Hong Kong, now the firm’s third biggest arts hub after New York and London, for a reversal of fortunes.

In the fine Chinese modern paintings sale, 84 percent of lots were sold including a world auction record for Chinese artist Fu Baoshi, whose “Landscape inspired by Dufu Poetic Sentiment” was hammered off for HK$60 million ($7.7 million), a price market experts said was around four times higher than its 2006 price.

“The market has been quite good,” said Hangzhou based Chinese dealer and collector Tao Xiaomin, who was bidding at the sales.

“In the first half of the year, (traditional) Chinese paintings have experienced a boom and records have fallen.”

In recent sales in Beijing by leading Chinese auctioneers Poly International, several works exceeded or neared the 100 million yuan mark including Wu Bin’s “18 Arhats” that sold for nearly $25 million, a world record for any Chinese artwork.

“The classical Chinese paintings market is dominated completely by Chinese buyers now,” said Taiwan collector and dealer Michael Wang.

“The best works are now being sold in China, with the Chinese auction houses having overtaken Christie’s and Sotheby’s for traditional and classical works.”

In Hong Kong, another highlight was “Vertige Neigeux” of a snowscape in the Swiss-Alps by Chinese 20th Century artist Chu Teh-Chun that made $5.8 million, an auction record for Chu.

A clutch of abstract works by established Chinese master Zao Wou-ki also achieved firm prices including “19-11-59” that went for $3.9 million, almost three times its pre-sale estimate.

However, in a possible sign of the broader market’s continued fragility, one in five paintings went unsold in the evening sales of Asian contemporary and Chinese 20th century, including Chen Cheng-po’s Alishan, a stirring landscape of Taiwan’s famous peak with giant cypresses and a sea of clouds.

For Chinese classical paintings, meanwhile, 24 percent went unsold, but, as has been the case throughout the downturn, there were strong results for exceptional works including Ren Renfa’s “Five Drunken Kings Return on Horses” that made $6 million.

Chinese contemporary art, whose feted artists like Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Minjun once trailblazed the rise of Chinese art before the crisis, saw few outstanding results in Christie’s sales.

Japanese artist Masami Teraoka was a rare standout for Asian contemporary art, whose Cloisters/Venus and Pope’s Workout” sold for US$622,000.

(Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
HONG KONG (Reuters Life!)
Source – Thomas Reuters

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The general economy and also the art economy is clearly headed for some choppy waters…” This is what mega-dealer Larry Gagosian told his staff in a tough-talking, if ungrammatical, memo published last November in Flash Art, as the global financial meltdown continued to panic investors, the US recession was officially confirmed and unemployment figures for the country soared by 533,000 in that month alone.

The post The new reality—the state of the art market in 2009 is not easy to predict first appeared on Indian Art News.

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LONDON.- The continuing international appeal of Asian Art was demonstrated in the September New York sales which realised $51.1 million, the second highest total ever for Asian Art Week at Christie’s New York. This autumn, Christie’s London Asian Art Week will run from 4 -11 November 2008, featuring further treasures of great rarity and beauty, with many highlights offered from superb private collections. Estimated to realise in the region of £7 million, the sales include: A Private English Collection of White Jade Carvings & Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Export Art on 4 November at King Street; Japanese Art & Asian Textiles including the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection on 6 November at South Kensington, Chinese Art on 7 November at South Kensington Japanese Art and Design including an Important Group of Swords from a Private European Collection on 11 November at King Street.

A Private English Collection of White Jade Carvings & Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Export Art: 4 November at 10.30am & 2.30pm, Christie’s King Street
Christie’s Asian Art Week London opens with the sale of Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Including Export Art on 4 November. The auction comprises over 250 lots including superb jades, ceramics, Buddhist sculptures and paintings. Following the success of the Blot collection in May 2008, the November sale will feature two distinct jade collections. Rare archaic jades from the collection of Baron and Baroness von Oertzen are led by an outstandingly fine shield-shaped yellow jade belt hook, Western Han (206 BC – AD 8), which is believed to have been made for a king or prince (estimate: £100,000-150,000).

18 exquisite white jade carvings dating largely to the Qianlong Period (1736–95), are offered from a private English collection. With estimates ranging from £4,000 to £200,000, the centerpiece is a dramatic, exceptionally fine and rare Imperial white jade ‘phoenix’ wine-pot and cover (estimate: £200,000-300,000). The spout is the shape of a phoenix head, exemplifying the long standing history in China of using birds’ heads to provide the shape of the spout on both bronze vessels and ceramic wares. The wine-pot also features a magnificent dragonhead handle and a domed cover with an exquisite peony finial. Among the other jades from the collection is a very fine and rare imperial white jade archaistic vessel (estimate: £180,000-220,000), comprising a trumpet neck with elegant overlapping plantain leaves decorated with geometric motifs. The technical difficulties and the extravagant use of top-quality material employed in the making of this vase, indicates that it could only have been made for the use of the Emperor himself, probably on the writing desk of his private study.

Elsewhere, two works from the famous Palmer Collection will attract great interest. Executed in very different mediums, the first is a beautiful and extremely rare Yongzheng (1723-35) porcelain bowl decorated in famille rose enamels, with an unusual roundel design of peaches and bats (estimate: £150,000 – 250,000). The second is a superb 17th/18th Century rhinoceros horn water–dropper, carved in the form of a lotus leaf, with its stem forming the spout (estimate: £80,000-100,000). Further highlights range from a fine silk kesi tapestry depicting Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, riding on a phoenix above Daoist immortals who await her on a garden terrace (estimate: £15-20,000), to a pair of painted album leaves bearing portraits of two of the Qianlong Emperor‘s favoured Imperial bannermen, accompanied by inscriptions from the Emperor’s own brush (estimate: £100,000-150,000).

Japanese Art & Asian Textiles including the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection on 6 November at 10.30 am and 1pm Christie’s South Kensington
The world of Japan is brought to London once again, as part of the Christie’s events for Asia Week in London. The South Kensington sale on Thursday, 6 November encompasses all periods from the 17th Century through to the middle of the 20th Century, offering rare and desirable treasures for both the modern buyer and the traditional collector of Asian Art. The craftsmanship of Japanese metalwork continues to be very popular. A selection of the highlights from the Meiji Period (1868-1912) include a rare bronze okimono of a bird of prey signed Matsatsune (estimate: £8,000-12,000), a stunning silver vase by Miyamoto (estimate: £8,000-10,000) and a naturalistic silver pheasant signed Morinobu (estimate: £1,500-2,500). Amongst the netsuke on offer are examples carved in wood, ivory and stag antler, with further examples in fossil walrus and amber by the contemporary Western netsuke carver Guy Shaw (estimates range from £500-4,000). The sale also features ceramics, including many examples of 19th Century finely painted Satsuma pottery, 20th Century Shin Hanga woodblock prints, cloisonné enamel, inro, ojime and a European private collection of pipecases.

Following the success of The Imperial Wardrobe sale in New York, March 2008, Christie’s are pleased to offer a further selection from the Collection with the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection of Korean and Japanese Textiles. Including Japanese kimono and resist dyed indigo futon covers and wrapping cloths, the sale also features unusual and rare Korean ritual cloths (pojagi), including a 19th century brightly coloured ‘Windmill’ design (estimate: £4,000-6,000) and court costume. Estimates range from £500 to £5,000. The final selection of Chinese costume and textiles from this collection will be offered in May 2009. In addition, beyond the collection, the sale features a selection of Chinese and Japanese costume and textiles including kimono, Canton export coverlets, court dress and rank badges such as a pair of 19th century Chinese Kesi censor’s rank badges (estimate: £6,000-8,000). Key works also include a mid-19th Century Chinese Imperial turquoise chi’fu or formal robe, which is embroidered with nine gilt, five toed dragons (estimate: £12,000-14,000). The use of turquoise robes was the privilege of the immediate members of the Imperial family and is usually associated with female members; this robe displays the elbow bands and closed front of a lady’s robe.

Chinese Art on 7 November at 10.30am and 2.00pm, Christie’s South Kensington
Christie’s South Kensington Chinese Art sale specifically caters for both traditional and new buyers in this vibrant category, with estimates ranging from £500 to £10,000. Works from private Asian, European and English collections will be offered, including a further selection of wonderful pieces from the Von Oertzen archaic jade collection. Imperial ceramics and white and pale celadon jade carvings from the 18th and 19th Centuries which are currently in strong demand are well represented, highlighted by a small yellow glazed dish dating to the Zhengde Period (1506-21) (estimate:£3,000-5,000) and a pair of white jade table screens, early 19th Century (estimate:£5,000-8,000). Spanning the 15th century through to the 20th century, further ceramics featured include a selection of blue and white vases and brushpots, and celadon dishes and bowls, one highlight in this group being a finely painted blue and white brushpot dating to the Transitional Period, (estimate: £2,000-3,000). Amongst the specialist works of art, there are selections of fine cloisonné enamel models including a pair of standing birds dating to the Qianlong Period (1736-95) (estimate: £3,000-5,000), cinnabar lacquer including an Imperial threecolour box and cover dating to the Qianlong reign, (estimate: £4,000-6,000) and also gilt-bronze Chinese and Tibetan models including a set of Eight Tibetan gilt-copper auspicious emblems dating to the 18th Century (estimate: £3,000-5,000).

Japanese Art and Design including an Important Group of Swords from a Private European Collection on 11 November at 2pm, Christie’s King Street
Drawing Asian Art week London to a close is the auction of Japanese Art and Design including an important group of swords from a private European collection at Christie’s King Street on 11 November. Featuring a diverse range of over 250 works representing 200 years of Japanese history, the auction highlights include an impressive pair of Ando presentation cloisonné vases, Meiji Period (1867-1912) (estimate: £150,000-250,000) illustrated left, which were given by Emperor Taisho, in 1920, to the Korean Crown Prince Yi Eun and Princess Masako of the House of Nashinomoto, on the occasion of their wedding. The exquisitely decorated vases, depicting song birds amidst wisteria and white chrysanthemum blossoms, were formerly in the collection of an ecclesiastical institution. They were recently discovered and identified as the pair that match a koro [incense burner] which is held in the collection of the Nagoya City Art Museum.

Among lacquers in the sale spanning the 16th century to the modern day, is a remarkably fine contemporary lacquer writing box illustrated right and table [Suzuribako and Bundai], by Kitamura Tatsuo, born in 1951, who often signs, as in this case, Unryuan, 20th century (estimate: £30,000-50,000). Each piece decorated in vivid gold, black, red, white, green and blue lacquer, they depict scenes in the battle Osaka natsu no jin (The Osaka Summer Battle) which occurred in May 1615.

A private European collection of prints comes fresh to the market, having not been seen for over 50 years, it includes fine examples by Suzuki Harunobu (c.1725-1770), Kitagawa Utamaro (c.1753-1806), Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), for example a fine impression of Hiroshige’s Moon Cape, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo, estimate £4000-6000. In addition to this collection is an unusual work, an Okubi-e portrait of Yaozo, by Toshusai Sharaku (active 1794-1795) (estimate: £25,000-30,000). Sharaku is widely considered to be one of the great masters of woodblock printing in Japan, despite having an extremely short period of activity. He designed portraits of the Kabuki actors and this work depicts the actor Ichikawa Yaozo III as Tanabe Bunzo in the play Hanayame Bunroku Soga performed at the Miyako-za in the fifth month of Kansei 6 (1794). Elsewhere, there is a Yoshitoshi print album (One Hundred Aspects of the Moon) (estimate: £20,000-25,000). Other key examples include a superb hand-painted scroll by Hokusai, depicting an interior scene and a panoramic view of the journey along the Sumida River from the Nihonbashi Bridge to the Yoshiwara (estimate: £40,000-60,000). The inscription on the scroll indicates that it was commissioned by Utei Enba, a writer of comic verse, and painted by Hokusai at the Danjuro establishment.

The Important Group of Swords from a Private European Collection features 18 swords with estimates ranging from £5,000 to £300,000, led by an important Ko-Bizen Tachi, signed Kuni Tomonari saku, the remarkable sword-smith, Kamakura Period (12th-13th century) (estimate: £280,000-300,000). It is a masterpiece of early work by Tomonari. A further important sword with an elegant Heian shape is by Yoshikane, and dates from the late 12th to early 13th century (estimate: £150-180,000). There is also a collection of sword fittings formed in the late 1940’s-70’s by Burnie McDonald Craig, which includes many examples acquired from notable London sales including those of Vever, Hawkshaw, Naunton and Hawkins.

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With relatively little off-limits, artists are producing diverse and often controversial works.

By CHELSEA MASON

Imagine an investment that returns over 6,000% over twelve years.

This is exactly what some collectors of contemporary Chinese art are receiving at recent auctions around the world. Last year, collector Howard Farber sold Wang Guangyi’s 1996 painting “The Great Criticism: Coca-Cola” for US$1.59 million.

His original investment? $25,000.

For the past couple years, the popularity of contemporary Chinese art has skyrocketed exponentially, creating opportunities for investors and artists alike. Just this past April, Zhang Xiaogang’s “Bloodline: Big Family No. 3” took just over US$6 million at a Sotheby’s auction. That Hong Kong auction largely focused on Asian contemporary art and the sale of the Zhang painting shattered the record for highest price at auction for a single piece by a Chinese contemporary artist. The previous record, set at the same auction where the Wang Guangyi piece sold, was set by Yue Minjun’s “Execution,” which went for US$5.9 million. Only one month later, Zeng Fanzhi’s “Mask Series 1996 No. 6” broke the record again, taking a staggering $9.7 million at a Christie’s Hong Kong auction.

“The market for Chinese contemporary art is healthy and strong,” said Xiaoming Zhang, Sotheby’s worldwide senior specialist of Chinese contemporary art, in a statement. “Our series of Chinese contemporary art sales held in Hong Kong last spring exceeded US$51 million and was the highest total ever for a Chinese contemporary sales series at Sotheby’s.”

“New artist records continue to be set with each sale season,” he said.

While Chinese artists have been part of the worldwide contemporary art movement since the end of the Cultural Revolution, the world is just starting to take notice.

“There have been really interesting pockets of interest for at least the last fifteen years, but there has not been a stable gallery system in Asia to support that, and there hasn’t been a lot of dedicated gallery representation in the West, so you had pockets of collectors…interested in collecting this art but there was nowhere to go,” said Ingrid Dudek, an Asian contemporary art specialist at Christie’s.

Noting the recent successes of Chinese contemporary art at Christie’s auctions, Dudek added that Christie’s was in part filling this void. “As it [Chinese contemporary art pieces] started to come up at auction, we focused on developing that [market interest], and really capitalizing on the international demand,” she said.

In addition to private collectors and art dealers, corporations are snatching up these pieces for reasons of their own. For the past few years the East West Bank in Pasadena, California has been amassing a collection of some of the biggest names in contemporary Chinese art.

The East West Bank Collection features a wide range of contemporary Chinese art works. Click for a larger image.

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Guan Yi tells us about his plans to open a museum and sculpture park on a 16.5-acre plot of land in Beijing

Guan Yi in front of Huang Yong Ping’s Bat Project III, a replica of the US spy plane that crashed in Hainan in 2001

Guan Yi, 42, has assembled the most important holdings of contemporary art in China. He comes from a family which made huge sums of money in chemical manufacturing in Qingdao but in 1997 ceded management of the family business to his brother to concentrate entirely on collecting. At the time most contemporary art was going abroad to foreign buyers and he believed that “we Chinese should recognise that this art of our time is important”.

Guan Yi believes he is collecting art as a mission, doing the work that public institutions and the Chinese government are failing to carry out. He now owns “700, maybe even 800 works” of Chinese art including pieces by Huang Yong Ping, Wang Guangyi, Zhang Peili, Wu Shanzhuan, and Yan Lei. Around one third of the collection consists of large-scale installation pieces. He says he is increasingly frustrated by the rampant speculation in the Chinese art market which is making it difficult for talented young artists to emerge today. He also sees the lack of professional art critics in China as another big problem. The tendency in China to equate high prices with art historical importance is hampering the development of significant work, he says.

Although Guan Yi prefers to stay out of the limelight, he granted us a rare interview at his warehouse in Song Zhuang, on the outskirts of Beijing, to discuss his project to build a museum for his collection as well as a sculpture park for works commissioned from international artists.

The Art Newspaper: What are your intentions for your collection?

Guan Yi: I am planning to open a large contemporary art museum in a district of Beijing called Beigao, which is between the 798 art district and the airport. The land I hope to develop is next to a space where China’s Ministry of Culture is also planning to open a contemporary art museum.

TAN: Are you working with the Ministry of Culture?

GY: No, they are doing their project independently. I am doing mine, they are doing theirs.

TAN: In China all land belongs to the government and usage rights are a complicated issue. Have you discussed this with the authorities?

GY: Yes, we have communicated, but there are some outstanding legal issues regarding the land. In China, land is not for personal use. Under present law you can only get a 20-year lease on land, so we are negotiating on this point. The amount of investment I commit to the museum will depend on the guarantees I receive from the government on this issue. We want a definite decision.

TAN: What is your idea for this private museum? There aren’t many such museums in China.

GY: I have collected a lot of installation work. What you can see here, in my warehouse, represents only 10% of my collection. One third of what I own is installation work and some pieces are more than several hundred metres in size, so to display my collection, I need a space of 15,000 sq. m. If you give these big pieces to a government museum such as the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, the Shanghai Art Museum, or the Guangdong Museum of Art, they have no place to put them. So I thought the solution was to build an art museum, not far from the centre of Beijing, something like Dia:Beacon [in upstate New York].

TAN: So Dia:Beacon inspired this project?

GY: Yes, partly, but they have converted a disused factory, whereas I will construct a new building to display my collection. I especially like the idea that I can get architects and artists to collaborate on this so the space can be designed around the works of art, to make the space fit the art. This model is new for China.I have 16.5 acres of land, and the built space cannot be more than 15% of the entire area. So a big part of the land will be used for a park which I will use to show installations. And this will be the international part of the museum complex.

For example, I admire the Serpentine Gallery in London. Hans [Ulrich Obrist] and Julia [Peyton-Jones], the co-directors, are my very good friends. When Hans visited my collection he was very excited, very moved, by what I have here. So, I would like to invite international artists to create installations for this section of the museum. Works that fit the environment, so it will become an installation park.

In a way it will also be an environmentally-themed museum. It will use solar power and other devices. Also, the transportation around the park will be powered by environmentally friendly methods. We would like to explore ways that artists can turn this into a kind of installation work. For instance, I very much like the work of the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson that was in Tate Modern [Eliasson’s giant sun, The Weather Project, was installed in the Turbine Hall from October 2003 to March 2004]. In 2003 I met him in Shenzhen, and when I saw his work in Tate Modern I wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive.

TAN: Is the museum going to be entirely funded by you?

GY: It is my personal project, my own money. The more we talk about this museum, the more I feel I should talk about the things that happened in the past which brought me to this point. In the 1980s, I was also an artist, but maybe not as modernised as other artists, I can’t paint very well.

I can’t write well either, but when I was quite young my older brother bought me a Nikon FMR. In the 1980s in China, this was an extremely good camera, so I became a photographer. That time in China was called Wenhua Autobahn, or the Culture Utopia period.

TAN: Yes, I’ve heard that in the 1980s, books were freely translated and there was a lot of information coming in from the West, even though the economy wasn’t developed. But it all ended after 4 June 1989.

GY: Yes. So I was around during that time, until 4 June. Then in 1992 or 1993, as China’s economy started developing, I went into business. I still paid attention to developments in the art world, but by then information was restricted and you couldn’t read about much in the Chinese art press. People would bring me Taiwanese art magazines, artists’ magazines and by 1997 I was already thinking about returning to the art world. But how to do it? There was no way for me to be an artist. For a while I thought of becoming an architect, but then I discovered that wasn’t so easy either. So for a long time I made a lot of plans, and attended a lot of exhibitions, events, and thought about how I could return to the art world. At the same time, I would see work I liked a lot, so I started collecting.

After I started buying art, I realised that the whole system for collecting contemporary art in China was organised for foreign buyers, everything was going abroad. No one Chinese was collecting contemporary art. This got me very excited. I thought that what I could do was come up with a method to save some contemporary art for China.

The last 30 years have been years of great change in China, in our society, in our ways of thinking. It is an immensely important period in our history. It is symptomatic of government ideology, that there was no systematic collection or protection of art and culture during this period. So I became anxious to do this. I am not being a nationalist, I just feel that we ourselves should have kept some work of this period, not others. For example, if this work is collected in Paris, and then they give it back to you or lend it to you, this is a separate thing but we Chinese should recognise that this art of our time is important.

The big problem is that the government is not collecting these works. In reality it should be the big three national art museums collecting this art, but actually they collect very few works.

I have loaned various works from my collection: after the Ullens show [Guan Yi loaned several pieces to the Huang Yong Ping retrospective which closed at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing’s 798 district in June], I am lending several works to Japanese museums—three institutions are hosting a three-month show of Chinese art. But I would now like to give this collection to the country, or more accurately, give it to society. If I say I am giving it to the country, I don’t know who that is, where do I look to find the person to give it to?

Another factor is that they will just look at my collection and say “this art is very expensive”, there’s no understanding of whether it is good or not. So no one understands its value and this is a real problem. Before my collection is handed back to the country or society, I will have to wait, until they are clearer about what it is.

There are other things that make me anxious, for instance that works of art are increasingly expensive, even young artists are expensive and it is hard to keep up. So now, when we buy things, we need to be increasingly careful to choose only the best art. There is no extra money to go and buy other things. So I only collect the work of a small group of artists, maybe around 30. There are tens of thousands of artists in China today, but I think to collect 30 to 50 artists, is enough. I think now, it’s even hard to find 30. If you were to choose ten from each decade of the last 30 years, this would be enough. And these 30 aren’t necessarily the 30 most expensive on the market.

TAN: Would you consider selling works from your collection at auction?

GY: I won’t sell at auction, but I now own 700, maybe even 800 works. So, maybe, some works are no longer as relevant to my overall collection or do not fit into my system.

TAN: Do you think there is a danger when you sell the work of a particular artist—like when Charles Saatchi was perceived to be no longer collecting an artist—that this could damage the artist’s career?

GY: Well, Saatchi stopped buying Damien Hirst’s work and Hirst is doing pretty well. Hirst is important, but his work is a bit too expensive.

TAN: So how do you choose works for your collection? Do you pay attention to what the critics say?

GY: I decide by myself [Guan Yi shows me two inscribed doorpost signs from an old temple]. These words describe how what happens outside the temple has no influence on the interior, but how being outside the temple you can still be inside the temple in your mind. You can carry the spirit of the temple with you. I pay great attention to this. I think in China, there is too much “tryism” [a combination of capitalism and trying things out to see what happens. Guan Yi points to another phrase on the doorpost].

This phrase refers to an ancient Chinese monk who went to India to study Buddhism, but what this means is we don’t have to travel to India to study Buddhism. If you are very familiar yourself with Buddhism, there is no need to travel. What I mean by this is not a kind of nationalism, many people have been here, groups from museums all around the world have visited this warehouse. But to understand Chinese contemporary art, you must understand that its history is very short, it is hard for us to know what is good and what is bad. And with the [prices achieved at] auctions recently, this makes it even more difficult, as people use this as a way of judging art. So now it is very hard to write about Chinese art. There is no education, there is no tradition, no texts. How do you get an accurate answer to any question? Who can tell you? Chinese critics? There are far too many problems with them. Too many people have become business-oriented, so you have no idea if they are telling the truth or lying. In the west, critics are clearer on the work, so the price and critical meaning are quite separate, but in China critics aren’t clear. Can we trust the national art museums? The art museums are also not clear, the market has such an influence. So, I rely on myself.

TAN: Is there anyone else who shares this desire to keep some contemporary art of China in the country?

GY: No, I am alone. I really don’t know if other people are with me or not, I don’t communicate much with others. If you look at a lot of other collectors, they are following the auction market. If you follow the auctions, then the whole thing is turned upside down. I’ll tell you a story: in 2004, just when this warehouse was finished, a lot of people, including bankers, came to visit to have a look at my contemporary art.

But after they had looked, they wanted to know: all of this work I had spent so much money on, what is it? They said, if you gave it to me I wouldn’t want it, and I would have nowhere to put it. But then, in around 2006, they got back in touch. They said they had heard these things had become extremely expensive and that they would like to come again and have another look. And I said, “no way, no way” would I let them look again. Because they didn’t understand what they were looking at. It was only when the art had a price attached to it that they paid attention to it. So, it is not about art or culture for them, it is about a capitalist way of looking.

Now, a lot of people are investing in art, it has become a kind of stock, a lot of people are paying attention to it. Capital is becomingly increasingly important in art, and you must be especially careful of it, it’s a bad influence. It’s like Marx said. I have re-read Marx and a lot of what he said is right. It is not about developing art, it’s all about the price. This means this is the most difficult, most dangerous time for art in China. To be a young artist now is increasingly difficult. In the 1980s, for example, it was easier to become a good artist.

TAN: Some young artists now sell for tens of thousands of US dollars right at the beginning of their careers. Is this dangerous for their development as artists? Maybe a Picasso can cope with this, but for most artists it is normal to go through a period of struggle, to discover what it is they want to do.

GY: Yes, although there aren’t that many like Picasso. In China a lot of young artists come up with an idea, and with that one idea they can sell several hundred pieces. In the 1980s an artist would have an idea, then do perhaps two or three works and then leave it and move on. Now it has become like a production line this idea, several hundred pieces, that idea 200 pieces…not a lot to do with art.

TAN: Many believe that the political art coming out of China is made for foreigners. Do you think it is foreigners encouraging political expression? Or is it Chinese artists painting what Westerners perceive to be Chinese, like Mao Zedong or the Cultural Revolution?

GY: I think this is a very simple question, like a child’s question. So how will I answer? These political paintings are a very small, insignificant part of Chinese contemporary art.

TAN: So which contemporary artists do you think are important?

GY: The most recent period: Wang Xingwei, Xu Zhen, Yang Fudong, Zheng Guogu, Zhou Tiehai, Yan Lei, Liu Weihua, Cao Fei, Qiu Anxiong—they all represent this time.
Translated from Mandarin by Chris Gill

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