Chinese Art Market (Jaxon Matan)

 Chinese Art Market

Jaxon Matan

The Special Administrative Region’s biggest boost hasn’t come from the  global marketplace, but from its economic growth across the borders of  mainland China. In the first decade, China had a GDP increase of 14.2  percent which peaked in 2007. During the financial crisis, its GDP had  grown to 10.6 percent in 2010, the same year that the Greater China  region became the world’s largest art market. Regardless of the  unknowable future of the virus, it is likely that Hong Kong and other  Asian cities are likely to recover more quickly than countries in Europe  or the United States.  

This June, a painted Chinese porcelain vase from the 18th century had  been delivered in a shoe-box, which had sparked a bidding war of 20  minutes before it had finally been sold at 16.2 million euros. These  objects had represented a category of the broad international market and  have received more attention since the financial crisis. Sales of Chinese  art and antiques outside of China had grown 8% in 2017.  According to Ning Lu, who is vice president of operations at art net and  author of CCA report, “If the top 0.5 percent of lots that sold above $1.4 1 

1 https://news.artnet.com/market/5-biggest-myths-chinese-art-market-1371619

million dollars are stripped out, the total revenue from oversea sales 

actually fell 12 percent”(Lu, Ning. October 16, 2018). It is important to  know the different types of Chinese art markets: the mainland’s is a vast  yet tricky one to navigate, while the others are more accessible overseas,  

including Hong Kong, which has attracted a broader amount of  spenders.  

Uncertainty surrounds the Chinese art markets today, because Chinese  consumers from the mainland had been confronted with two major  challenges, which are political unrest and the protests in Hong Kong  along with the spread of COVID-19.

Hong Kong is known to be the world’s largest art Market and is the  financial and business center, which connects China to the rest of the  world.  

As of March 2020, Chinese art has been under a great amount of stress,  with the growing impact of the virus. “Stock Markets have suffered 2 their worst losses since the U.S. financial crisis in 2008”(Lahey, Susan,  The Uncertain Chinese Art Market, Para.5). 

To further support the vast widespread of contemporary art in China,  “With the launch of the Asian Art Initiative in 2006, the Guggenheim 3 Museum has actively expanded its program beyond Europe and America  to Include the study, presentation, and acquisition of modern to  contemporary art from Asia. Our approach known as global art history,  seeks to integrate art from Asia within an International purview while  illuminating its specific meaning and context”  

(The Freeman Foundation, Teaching Modern and Contemporary Asian Art). 

2 https://www.isa-appraisers.org/about/blog/details/402/the-uncertain-chinese-art-market 3 https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/teaching-modern-and-contemporary-asian-art

To find out how Contemporary art in China became prevalent today, we  must ask ourselves what contemporary art is. Contemporary art was  made by artists we see today, It coincided with the rise of globalization,  which had been triggered by the end of the Cold War.  

Some examples of Chinese and Asian contemporary artists include Ai  Weiwei and CAI Guo-Qiang. 

AI Wei Wei  

https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/teaching-modern-and-contemporary asian-art/ai-weiwei-%E8%89%BE-%E6%9C%AA-%E6%9C%AA

Ai Weiwei was a Chinese artist activist who interested in Conceptual  practices such as the “Duchampian idea of the readymade”. He was also  drawn to the language of appropriation used by Pop artists like Andy  Warhol. Upon Ai’s return to Beijing in 1993, he had helped a community  of experimental artists. He then, later, immersed himself in social  activism, championing human rights and freedom of expression within  the China’s authoritarian regime. An example of his work was the China  Log from 2005, built from ironwood, a wood traditionally used as  Chinese furniture.

Cai Guo-Qiang is known for large-scale projects using materials such as  

gunpowder, presenting subtle allegories about modern history and  contemporary Chinese culture. He sketched landscapes around his house  in watercolor, later using oil paint. in 1984, he began using gunpowder  in his work in order to create allegorical, sociopolitical commentaries  associated with ancient medicine ritual fireworks, and violence. His  installation Cry Dragon/Cry Wolf: The Ark of Genghis Khan (1996)  descended from the ceiling, culminating with the floor, consisting of  three running Toyota car engines. This was an allegorical play on Asia’s  rising influence. The work had also featured contemporary news paper  clippings documenting the rise of China in the age of globalization. 

Cry Dragon/Cry Wolf: The Ark of Genghis Khan (1996) 

“The Chinese Art Market: A Return to Traditional art in China”  

According to DaxueConsulting, a blog site that researches markets and  mainly focuses on the Chinese market using traditional methods as well  as technology driven-tools, China has the second largest art market in  the world. ArtNet says that in 2017, the “Chinese art market had 4 

4 https://daxueconsulting.com/chinese-art-market-investors/

accounted for 20% of total sales in the $57 billion global  sectors” (Brunet, Ines. September 2019).  

 However, there have been speculations that Chinese art had influenced  influenced collectors and investors’ confidence, which had created new  trends of the Chinese art market. Although the population of Chinese art  had been growing, the market has slowed down in 2018. However,  auction houses should understand both risks and opportunities involving  the Chinese art market. 

Fang Lijun, Series 1 No.5, 1990-1991

According to Artnet, most narratives of Chinese Contemporary Art  started from the end of the Cultural Revolution. Chinese artists have  been exposed to western art history, leading to a rapid turnover of artistic  styles. There have been many theories about how Chinese Contemporary  art began. The differences among these theories were at the root of art  historians’ understandings in Modern Chinese Art. Judging by the frame  work in Western art history, Modern Chinese art may have existed for  five centuries. In an essay, John Hay said that “A modernity that does 5 not ultimately derive from Euro-America might have come into being in  as early as the 17th century in China” ( Jonathan Hay, 2008).  This means that not all work that is modern comes from Europe or  America and that they have most likely become prevalent in China  during the early 17th century. While under continuous military,  economic, and cultural pressures from the West, Chinese artists and  intellectuals started to seek help from the modern world in order to  revive their weakening tradition. Not only did the new cultural  enlightenment movement legitimize western modern art in China, it also  

5 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/how-chinese-art-became-contemporary-50469

established a mainstream of intellectual written or spoken language and  later became the foundation of Chinese modernity.  

Sources:  

Gerlis, Melanie. The 5 Biggest Myths About Chinese Art Market- and the  Inconvenient Realities That May Give Investors Pause. (October 2018) https://news.artnet.com/market/5-biggest-myths-chinese-art market-1371619 

Lahey, Susan. The Uncertain Chinese Art Market (March 2020)  https://www.isa-appraisers.org/about/blog/details/402/the-uncertain chinese-art-market 

The Freeman Foundation. Teaching Modern and Contemporary Asian  Art  

https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/teaching-modern-and contemporary-asian-art

Brunet, Ines. “What are Investors Speculating on the Chinese art  Market? | Daxue Consulting.” DaxueConsulting. September 11, 2019.  https://daxueconsulting.com/chinese-art-market-investors/ 

Lu, Ning. “How Chinese Art Became Contemporary” ArtnetNews. March 11, 2013.  

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/how-chinese-art-became contemporary-50469