|
|
 |
|
| Passion Investments: Art |
China Syndrome
Michelle Tsai
04/01/2007
|
One night last November, at
Christie’s contemporary art auction in New York, crowds in the sales room
applauded when paintings by Willem de Kooning and Andy Warhol set new records.
The next morning, the auction house was abuzz with anticipation as bidders
awaited works by the likes of Keith Haring and Cindy Sherman.
 | FANG LIJUN'S Series 1, No. 5 sold for $531,200 at Christie’s
last November. The artist is considered to be the leader of China’s Cynical Realism movement.(Photograph courtesy Christie’s.) |
So few paid attention when bidding opened for Lot 343, an oil
painting titled Series 1, No.
5. It appeared that this masterpiece by Fang
Lijun, one of China’s most gifted contemporary artists, was about to quietly
slip past the throngs, right into the fingers of private collector Howard
Farber. A New Yorker and retired real estate developer who became mesmerized by
Chinese art after a trip to Hong Kong in 1996, Farber was sure the painting was
worth considerably more than the $150,000 to $200,000 estimate. He raised his
paddle.
As the price climbed, fellow buyers craned their necks to see
what the fuss was about. They asked, "Who is this guy and why is he spending so
much money on this? Who is this artist?" Farber recalls. Most had no idea when
the gavel fell at $531,200 that the gray-toned painting of two bald men was a
prototypical work by the leader of Cynical Realism, an important art movement in
China.
Series 1, No. 5 proved more
expensive than even the Max Webers and Georgia O’Keefe that Farber had purchased
in the 1980s. But he believes it was a steal. "If the auction had been held in
Hong Kong, the painting would have sold for double or triple," he says. "I
consider that I bought a Jasper Johns that day."
VALUE JUDGMENT
Contemporary art has emerged as one of China’s hottest exports. As
buyers both inside the country and abroad scramble to acquire the paintings and
sculptures of a society undergoing a transformation, prices are escalating at a
breakneck pace. But works by some emerging artists can still be had for five
figures, a fraction of the cost of comparable European or American artwork. |
Like economists and politicians around the world, contemporary
art collectors are developing a serious interest in China. The country’s newest
stars are artists like Fang, Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang and Wenda Gu, cultural
interpreters who have grown powerful almost overnight as art lovers and
speculators from the West—and more recently the East—rush to own a piece of the
Middle Kingdom in transition. Zealous buyers smash auction records every few
months, but everyone agrees that what makes Chinese art one of the most exciting
areas of the contemporary market is the sense of freshness coupled with historic
change. "We’re building it as we go, and the histories aren’t written yet," says
Ingrid Dudek, Chinese contemporary specialist at Christie’s.
Just 10 years ago, most art historians believed the global contemporary stage would have little room for Asian artists, according to Ethan
Cohen, a New York dealer who has been obsessed with Chinese art since he
organized a Yuan Yunsheng exhibit as a Harvard undergraduate in 1983. During
that era, most Chinese artists struggled against poverty. Cohen recalls seeing
the photographer Rong Rong in Beijing’s East Village, an artist community on the
then-outskirts of the city. "When I visited the apartment, the cooking stove was
next to the toilet. Whoever had five dollars would take people out to dinner,"
Cohen says. "Now many of them are driving around Beijing in Land Rovers."
Today, many curators have finally woken to the realization that
these innovative Chinese artists have long been participating in the
international contemporary scene, says Zhang Bing, director of the Shanghai
Duolun Museum of Modern Art, the country’s first government-sponsored
contemporary art museum. Large institutions are even starting to buy. The
Museum of Modern Art in New York recently acquired a handful of video works by
Chinese artists, while British collector Charles Saatchi recently scooped up one
of Zhang Xiaogang’s dreamy Bloodlines portraits for $1.5 million.
This country’s art is emerging as the Chinese axiom states: Dripping water cuts
through rock.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
