11th of May 2016
Chinese Contemporary Art. Art Galleries.
Introduction
The emergence of art galleries of contemporary art in China of the XX century, and their rapid growth was due to strong public interest in the arts, new creative trends and evidence of qualitative changes in the perception of contemporary art by the audience. This modern audience with its subtle psychological systems and the pursuit of individual forms of creative empathy brought to life and established art galleries in the cultural space of China.
There were no fundamental theoretical developments in the history of the gallery business and the organization of art galleries in China. Despite a number of difficulties and uncertainties in the assessment, and in the description of a phenomenon known as "Contemporary Art", the attempts to study this subject should be defined as episodic and sometimes non-systemic. This is due to the fact that an art gallery, as a phenomenon is relatively young and has not yet served as a subject of scientific research. More so the focus has been on the study of the museum as a "temple of art" and the pillar of the cultural life of the Chinese society.
All the literature relevant to the topic of the research can be divided into several groups: general works on the Chinese domestic art of the XX century; research on the theory of artistic culture; works on the history of unofficial art in China and the general history of the art market; periodicals on the organization of the art galleries and its activities; catalogs and critical publications exhibitions organized by galleries.
Questions:
How do art galleries cooperate with the auctionists?
What do you think, how can art galleries change the life of the city?
Why do people criticize art galleries, artists and auction houses?
How did you choose the artists for the project Encounters?
What trends in Asian art you could highlight?
How is the art in China similar to Japan and the rest of the world?
What are some of the problems connected to the art gallery business in China?
How much does art cost in China today?
Why is Chinese art directed mostly towards export and not for internal use?
The methods used are the analysis of periodicals and books on the issues of the contemporary art in China, interviews of some of the gallery owners located in China (via email), critical analysis of issues related to contemporary art in China.
Gallery analysis. Chinese art boom.
The boom in the market of modern Chinese painting began in 2005 - quite unexpectedly for most professionals. This is largely due to the general increase of interest in China in regards with the Olympics and the rise of China in the world ranking. Attention to modern China was also reflected on the current Chinese art (Gladstone).
Until recently, the sharp rise in prices for paintings by contemporary Chinese artists was provided by an exceptional increase in the demand for them in Europe and the United States. In the country itself China's contemporary art evoked confusion. Besides, a few years ago, the owners of galleries were mostly foreigners, however, today they are jostled by the Chinese. However, artists have become very choosy, not wanting to miss out on the benefits, they try to sign a contract only with the "correct" galleries, and the latter in turn begin to hunt for promising artists starting from the university students. The demand is very large, prospective students receives several proposals, thus, until recently, for an artist in China, it was much easier to break through and become famous than in Europe. In addition, gallerists confer high hopes on the rapidly growing Chinese upper stratum of the middle class (Gladstone). These people are distinguished by the investment model behavior. In addition, they try to copy the Western model.
Galleries need something to evaluate the art pieces they are offered to display. For many centuries, the art market was dominated by the traditional system of evaluation of art works: the value of any work is calculated the basis of the degree of popularity of the artist, his work recognition by society. Contemporary art market offers different criteria for evaluating works of art: it eliminates the distinction between popular and less known artists. Thus on the art market of today the greatest value have those pieces, which were able to attract the maximum attention of the public, critics, collectors, museums, and government (Gladstone).
In China, such a model of the art market was formed, starting with the 90-ies of 20th century, and now the Chinese art market has a leading position in terms of sales volume, surpassing such giants as the United States or the United Kingdom (Chart 1-2) (Gladstone). Only in 2013, China had made deals with the artwork amounting to an impressive $5 billion USD, most of which relate to the sale of the national work (Gladstone).
Experts say: "The Chinese art market is important for the global art industry not only because of the rich Chinese – these are buyers of the highest level on the international auctions and fairs, but also because China has huge reserves of art in the country." At the same time works of Chinese contemporary artists are always in demand in the European and American galleries and auctions, and the names of some of them are among the ten most attractive in the plan of investment.
Up to 90-ies of the 20th century works of art in China were exhibited exceptional in public art galleries or museums (Wallace). However, the liberalization of political and economic life in the country has made possible the emergence of joint (with the state share), and later private exhibition centers and galleries. The first private gallery – “Red Gate Gallery” appeared in Beijing in 1991 thanks to the initiative of the Australian Brian Wallace (Wallace). Together with fellow artists, he for several years held small exhibitions in the hotel rooms and rented apartments until he had the opportunity to rent the ancient Southeast Corner Tower on the city wall and stage a real exhibition hall (Wallace). Only 5 years later, in 1996 a similar progress was achieved by the Swiss Lorenz Helbling, who opened the “ShanghART” gallery. Today, these galleries have acquired global popularity, and work both with well-known and little-known Chinese artists, organizing exhibitions and educational activities in the fine arts .
The contemporary art market in China has a tendency to a certain dualism. On the one hand, the Chinese collectors and investors give their preferences to the works of traditional painting (Tsao and Ames). Moreover, to this type can be attributed not only the old canvases, but also works of masters of the twentieth century in the traditional manner (Chinese modernists). Therefore, the first place in terms of sales belongs to the painter Zhang Daqian (1898-1983), whose paintings have been sold for more than $ 291,660,000. He is followed by a recognized classic Chinese artist Qi Baishi (1864-1957), and these are joined by Li Keran (1907 -1989). Such popularity of traditional art in our opinion is due to the commitment of customers to the national classics, deep respect for their culture (Souccar). On the other hand, a new generation of Chinese collectors considers paintings only as objects of profitable investment. They "run the risk of" getting the work of little-known contemporary artists, hoping to profitably sell them a few years later, or just register it in another lot at a different auction, after having previously shown it at a gallery for some time (Savadori).
Note that the preference of European and American public are quite different from the Chinese: there collectors invest primarily in the well-known and contemporary Asian artists. Especially popular in the European auctions are Ai Weiwei and Zeng Fanchzhi (Tsao and Ames).
Many experts point out that the phenomenon of the art market booming in China is due to the demand of its paintings on the world market (Wallace). The most popular are paintings of the lower ($10-100 thousand USD) and the highest (more than $1 million USD) price segment. This feature clearly confirms that the majority of works of art in China is not acquired for personal use, but for collectibles, investment and resale. This trend allows us to make a prediction about the future growth of the Chinese art market as a whole (Gladstone).
Today, China's five major centers of contemporary art are Beijing and Shanghai, two of the most dynamic cities of China, east central Hangzhou and Chongqing, where the best art universities in China, and the thriving Hong Kong. The most famous artistic community is considered to be Beijing "Artist's Village 798" (Souccar).
"The Village" is similar to the depressed industrial area (which it was). Many galleries are located in the depots or former factory premises, some of which still have blackened pipes puffing out clouds of white smoke. Back in 1995, the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts rented premises as shops at a military plant (Souccar). In 2000, Xu Jango, Dean of the Faculty of Sculpture, placed there his own studio. In 2001, Robert Burnell Texan placed his bookstore and office in the canteen. He was the first foreigner who settled in the Village of Art 798. Soon, many artists attracted by the low cost of rent ($ 16) and the "post-industrial aesthetic" production facilities, began to develop the territory of the plant (Gladstone).
In 2002, the Art Gallery Beijing Tokyo Art Project, created by the Japanese Tabata Yukihito on the territory of one of the factories, held the first public exhibition entitled "Beijing in motion", which attracted more than 1,000 visitors. By 2008, the artistic life was already in full. Currently, Art Zone 798 covers an area of about 1 square kilometer and consists of dozens of studios, galleries and exhibition halls.
Five years before the crisis, the rent increased by 900%. This was due to the fact that people already started to spread rumors of the fantastic income galleries were making selling art. There is a legend when one investor bought the whole collection of a contemporary Chinese artist for $ 25 million. And a day later resold it for $35 million.
China became the third country (after the United States and the United Kingdom), where the major international auctions are held. Christie's and Sotheby's began conducting auctions of contemporary Asian art in Hong Kong, and this city managed to achieve the title of being "Contemporary". The auction houses and galleries can often be heard accused of collusion with artists inflating prices, and critics and curators are accused of inflating the artists’ names (Souccar). Artists have been accused that they "deliver" works made through a "team contract" directly to the auction without going through the traditional primary market of art galleries. The crisis has made some changes, and prices have fallen by an average of 60% (Tsao and Ames).
In 2009, the Christie's sold art worth a total of £2.1 billion pounds ($ 3.3 billion) – 24% less than the result of 2008 in pounds and 35% - in dollars. Most affected was contemporary art, whose sales fell by 59% (to £244.3 million). Buyers from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan provided 35% of all revenue, largely helped to keep Christie's sales figures (Gladstone).
In October 2009, in New York, a week of Asian art came to an end. The results can be called good: Christie's and Sotheby's sold 55.7 million dollars’ worth of art. This amount, of course, is not as impressive as last year's 157.2 million, but still far above the upper estimate ($41.3 million USD). During the Asian art boom in the top lots were listed mainly works of modern artists such as Zeng Fanzhi and Subodh Gupta. Works of contemporary artists were relatively few. Now customers prefer the traditional, "proven" work of art (Gladstone).
The first decade of the 21st century was marked by the process of the emergence of more active commercial galleries - they have appeared in all the major cities in China, with about 15% of them - the largest and most influential - owned by foreigners. We must though note that the galleries on the contemporary art market in China play a secondary role as compared to auction houses. This is why they tend to cooperate and work together to attract clientele. Major sales of works of art are made with the help of auction houses (Tsao and Ames).
At the same time, it should be understood that the galleries and auction houses in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing would never displace each other within the art market. This is due to the following features: mainland China are selling artists who follow the traditional style - Liu Chunxi, Chen Yifei, Leng Jun, Wu Bing, whereas Hong Kong is selling both examples of old masters and contemporary modernists - Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian, Zeng Fanchzhi, Cai Guoqiang, Liu Xiaodong, etc. (Gladstone).
Hong Kong has became an important center of contemporary art. This is the place many Chinese collectors come from the mainland, as well as professionals of the art world from around the Asia-Pacific region and even from Australia. The Hong Kong is economy booming, and with it grows the art community (Samuels). In addition, there exists a great interest in contemporary art. It is also worth considering that Hong Kong is a free economic zone, which encourages investors and gallery owners. In this city it is a lot easier to bring works of art, to buy or sell them. Shanghai and Beijing cannot yet become the export art centers, because mainland China has a lot of restrictions on imports and exports, and taxes there are significantly higher than in Hong Kong (Samuels). The very location of the city is very convenient - it is the center of Southeast Asia. Thus, Hong Kong is a great place for contemporary art and the multitude of galleries.. There is yet a small amount of well-known artists and designers, but the number of galleries is astounding (Samuels).
Hong Kong is already changing. Soon there will be a large area of Contemporary Art known as West Kowloon Cultural District, which will be complete in about 2018. There many museums and galleries will open. However, so far, there is no infrastructure, and people are not used to go to museums and look at contemporary art. That is why the gallery exhibitions and art fairs have become popular in Hong Kong. It's a good opportunity to see the works of contemporary artists (Samuels).
It is very difficult to sum everything up in a brief comment, but now a new generation is coming, the representatives of which can be called citizens of the world (Samuels). They study at Western Universities, get acquainted with the language of contemporary art, come back and try to share this new language and knowledge of everyday life, social and political issues (Tsao and Ames). Often the work of artists from Asia are not distinguished from the works of Western authors. The only difference is the theme. Some artists, on the contrary, do not want to lose the identity and use traditional techniques: calligraphy, embroidery, etc. These are two main trends present. A great influence on the art of today has the Asian pop culture, which is also part of everyday life (Gladstone).
Conclusion
China is a very big country, and the people here are just beginning to take an interest in contemporary art. Nonetheless, there are many who collect and buy art for investment. Unfortunately, China lacks experts in this field. Some galleries and even museums find and train the entire staff. Now China is in a very dynamic situation, but no one knows what will happen and what to expect. The level of artists is growing. Having mastered the western methodology, they have managed not to lose their identity. Asian artists and curators are looking for their discourse - and this process is not yet complete.
The recent development of art in China, with the help of foreigners is now seen as a source of income for many people and investors. Joining forces with the multitude of young artists, art galleries, auction houses and small art shops can expect a significant increase of their income. The massive increase in rent prices, almost by 900%, has somewhat correlated the income of the art gallery business which is still thriving. Despite the fact that auction houses sell more than art galleries, the two cooperate and work together to promote the art Chinese artists have to offer. Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other centers of contemporary art are flooded by artists who want to make their name known. Of course, promising artists are already noted by experienced gallery owners and auctionists in university. However, not only these businessmen have become experienced. Contemporary artists already try to differentiate between the enormous amount of places where they can exhibit their works. They tend to choose the galleries that will be optimal to their development and further growth.
Despite the evident drop in sales the world community is still highly interested in the contemporary Chinese art. The decrease of interest was provoked by the crisis, which some people have already started to come out of ad improve their financial position. Experts predict that investors will return to the Chinese art market and the trend will continue.
Contemporary Chinese art, no matter the attitude to its artistic value, can be considered an important witness to the key changes in China's recent history. If the 21st century will truly become a "Chinese century", as many economists suggest, then the art produced there will be appreciated more and more, with the cost increasing annually.
Experts predict that in a few years, the term "Asian art" will be used as widely and frequently as today as "Western art".
Bibliography
Gladston, Paul. Contemporary Chinese art: a critical history. London, UK: Reaction Books, 2014. Print.
Savadori, F. Art Business and Art Galleries. Park View Art. 2016. Web. Retrieved from http://www.parkviewarthk.com/about-us/
Samuels, A.J. East/West Encounters: Art Basel Debuts in Hong Kong. The Culture Trip. 2016. Web. Retrieved from http://theculturetrip.com/asia/hong-kong/articles/east-west-encounters-art-basel-debuts-in-hong-kong/
Souccar, M.K. Art-world power shifts to China. Crain’s New York Business. 2011. Web retrieved from http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110327/SMALLBIZ/303279971/art-world-power-shifts-to-china
Tsao, Hsingyuan, and Roger T. Ames. Xu Bing and contemporary Chinese art cultural and philosophical reflections. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011. Print.
Wallace, B. Contemporary Art in China. Red Gate Gallery. 2016. Web. Retrieved from http://redgategallery.com.
Appendix
Appendix information
Why you’re doing this dissertation?
In the early 80-ies of the 20th century with the implementation of the policy of reform and opening of China the modern market of art treasures and works of art began to emerge. It is, however, still in its initial stage of development. The scope of the Chinese art market is affected by issues such as the organization of art exhibitions and auctions, the activities of art galleries, circulation of works of arts and crafts, international exchange of artistic values, the examination of works of art, the legislation in the sphere of art and art exhibitions, art criticism, the various control mechanisms circulation of works of art, etc.
Works of art do not belong to the phenomena, which are designed to meet the daily needs of people. A demand for the system, as well as their properties and attributes are strongly differentiated. If we talk about the creators of artistic values, earlier they believed the reason for any motive of artistic creation and the final destination of the product is not related to the market relations; that true creativity is not intended to enter the market. The market pricing system also did not stimulate artists to enter the market, which in turn hindered the economic support of the arts and the development of criteria for its evaluation. The emergence of the art market allows the public to get immediate access to the works of art.
Works of art not only perform the task of accumulation and transfer from one generation to another of the cultural heritage, but also subtly influence the worldview of the people, absorb the world's best cultural achievements. However, it is important that their creation is an individual creative approach, so that they do not lose personal creative principle and the inherent cultural characteristics of each nation and the traditions.
The situation at present is that there are too many artists, but no full-fledged consumer demand in the country, both in terms of consciousness and thinking and from the standpoint of economic potential of the population, the interior art market in China has not yet formed.
Chinese art galleries, if you we can call them that are mostly in the form of art shops, while the real galleries of art in its true meaning are still in their earlier stages of development. The normal art market in most cases is formed by creating a system of art (art) galleries. Each gallery caters to collectors who are interested in a specific area of art and works of a particular style and genre, that is, has its own specifics and occupies a niche (market). The art market, being the sphere of circulation of expensive things (luxuries), does not need art shops, and they, in turn, as a segment of the market goods of daily demand, cannot exist in the market of expensive things. Currently on the market there are art shops and stores that cater to a wide variety of customers and sell products pertaining to art. However, the sold the goods cannot be regarded as works of art, as are industrial products of artistic direction.
Artists who create pieces of art intended for circulation in the art market may be professionals, and may be amateurs. Collectors may be as individuals, and art museums, fine arts museums, etc. The art market is a kind of bridge between the artists and collectors. Its function is to be a mediator and nothing else. Art galleries also play the role of such a mediator.
Currently in China, there is no shortage of artist who creates works of contemporary art, nor in such works themselves. However, there is no sufficient number of collectors of contemporary art, or well-known galleries that exhibit their pieces of art. In most cases the artists themselves organize their own exhibitions. This trend has started to change as of 2005 and now more galleries have been started up. Of course, among the Chinese buyers there are such who are considering the purchase of art treasures as a profitable investment. However, personal satisfaction is also considered by many. Therefore, these purchasers are not conducive to the formation of the country's normal market of works of art. There are many issues connected to the work and operation of art galleries, especially their role in mediating the process between the artists and the end buyer.
