Asian Art Blowing in Like a Monsoon

21 novembre 2008

En mars 2008, le succès de l'art contemporain chinois est consacré...

By MARION MANEKER, Special to the Sun | March 12, 2008

Asia Week is bearing down on the auction market like a monsoon. The first big thunderclap will be Sotheby's auction of Contemporary Asian Art on Monday, March 17. Though the sale does include work by some Japanese and Korean painters, this is really a showcase for contemporary Chinese art.

Sotheby's

Zhang Xiaogang's 'Bloodline Series: Big Family No. 8' (1996), a detail of which is above, is part of Sotheby's sale of Contemporary Asian art, to be held Monday.

With a major museum show for Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim Museum, and a steady beat of multimillion-dollar sales for Yue Minjun and Zhang Xiaogang during the last year and more, the market for Chinese contemporary art has begun to feel almost familiar now. Wherever the art is sold (in New York, London, or Hong Kong), however it is sold (in a Chinese Contemporary Art sale or a Contemporary Art sale), and to whomever it is sold (Western collectors, overseas Chinese, Chinese nationals), this category has established itself as a major international force. As recently as last spring, many in the art world were dismissing these painters as a fad. But today, in the face of economic weakness in the West and continuing capital formation in the East, that seems unlikely. In fact, growth in the continually self-renewing art market may be heading rapidly in this direction. (Note to trend-watchers and speculators: Russian and Indian contemporary artists are also seeing breakout numbers.)

Sotheby's sale, which can be viewed beginning March 13, is striking for its size and breadth. It is impressive for the estimated value of many of the works. But it also delights in introducing � especially here in New York � a number of Chinese artists who have not yet been recognized by the market.

If recent glimpses of any of the Chinese painters have piqued your interest, this sale will broaden your understanding of contemporary Chinese painting and sculpture. Start with Chen Yifei, whose six works range from portraits of musicians � such as "Rehearsal" (1999), estimated at between $500,000 and $700,000, and "Folk Singer" (1989), estimated at between $300,000 and $500,000 � to a variety of cityscapes, such as "Suzhou Landscape No. 1" (1998), estimated at between $250,000 and $300,000, and "Child and Temple" (1999), estimated at between $300,000 and $500,000.

Chen was an interesting painter (he died in 2005), but his work belongs to a different category from the current star of the market, Zhang Xiaogang. This sale has a miniature retrospective of Mr. Zhang's work in the form of seven paintings from a span of two decades from 1985 to 2004. Mr. Zhang was one of the first artists to attract international attention after the 1989 killings in Tiananmen Square. In "New Moon" (1985), estimated at between $100,000 and $150,000, and "Untitled" (1989), estimated at between $250,000 and $350,000, we see a backward-looking style that is very different from the record-setting Zhang.

The sale moves on to three early works � "Bloodlines Series No. 8" (1997), estimated at between $250,000 and $350,000; "Bloodline Series: The Young Man" (1996), estimated at between $250,000 and $350,000, and "Bloodline Series: Big Family No. 8" (1996), estimated at between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000 � where Mr. Zhang's mature style begins to emerge. The Bloodlines series gets its name from patches of color and thin strands of red meandering across the paintings. But the first few started as individual portraits of family members painted from old photographs. Thus, the Bloodlines name brings to mind a deeper metaphor for the artist's own life and, even, the Chinese diaspora. The final group of paintings � "2001 No. 8" (2001), estimated at b e t w e e n $1,800,000 and $2,500,000, and "Green Army Uniform" (2002), estimated at between $1,500,000 and $2,500,000 � completes the transformation. Mr. Zhang's figures are by this point ethereal and anything but biographical, inhabiting large-scale works with striking colors.

Xiaoming Zhang, the Sotheby's expert who organized this sale, says that Chinese contemporary is "still an emerging market." Emerging works both ways. There are many new collectors in the field. "They made some money and started collecting," Ms. Zhang says. "After two years, they are beginning to look for new strategies for where they want to take their collections." Which, according to Ms. Zhang, has led them in search of important works from the 1980s, a time when the "masters of Chinese contemporary art were going through a radical transformation."

Gu Dexin's "Portrait" (1983), estimated at $40,000 to $60,000, is a strong example of an early work just coming to the market. Geng Jianyi's "The Second Condition" (1989), estimated at between $300,000 and $500,000, is "an iconic image from the Chinese avant garde," according to a catalog essay by Britta Erickson.

Further exploration of the roots of Chinese painting comes through the inclusion of three works by Zhao Wuji, an expatriate painter who lived in Paris, with estimates as high as $600,000. These abstract pictures, painted in the 1950s and '60s, give the sale a sense of history and reinforce the truly radical break that has come in recent years.

To appreciate that break, look at the beginning of the catalog, where Guo Jin gets a mini-retrospective of six paintings. Not one of these canvases has a high estimate exceeding $80,000, but this is exactly the kind of artist who represents the other side of Ms. Zhang's emerging market statement: painters who have yet to receive significant attention from curators and collectors.

Ms. Zhang feels particularly strongly about the work of Ren Rong, whom, she says, "curators and dealers should recognize." Mr. Ren has two works in the sale, including "I Love Beijing Tian'an Men (Nine Parts)" (2005), estimated at between $60,000 and $80,000.

Hou Junming is another artist on Ms. Zhang's radar. Here you can see "Standing Dragon and Flying Phoenix (A Pair)" (2007), estimated at between $80,000 and $120,000, and "Qiang Li Gang Jiao (Tormented Love)" (2003), estimated at between $20,000 and $30,000.

Finally, the work of Zhan Wang, who creates meticulously constructed stainless steel artificial rocks, rewards closer attention.

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