Dicey Chinese Markets—Contemporary Art Division

With yesterday’s earthquake in the Chinese financial markets having created aftershocks around the world (including Wall Street, where my trading husband and son somehow managed to stay out of trouble), perhaps it’s a good time to steer you to an incisive article, “Money Talks Mandarin” (no link), in the March issue of Art in America magazine, which provides a detailed look at how the hot contemporary art market has been operating in China (at least until yesterday).
It takes the form of a conversation moderated by A.i.A.’s managing editor, Richard Vine, with Christopher Phillips, curator at the International Center of Photography, and Barbara Pollack, a freelance writer who covers Chinese contemporary art.
A few tasty outtakes:
Phillips: China has exploded onto the world scene as a new economic superpower, and even those who were initially skeptical about Chinese contemporary art have come to see it as a visual emblem of the country’s astonishing rise….I’d say that in the past two years, Chinese contemporary artists have created a fascinating market disruption by circumventing the galleries altogether and sending works directly from the studio to Sotheby’s or Christie’s
Pollack: The Chinese still seem far more comfortable with the practice of bidding publicly, even flamboyantly, than acquiring art behind closed doors. From their perspective, this is far more open and fair, plus they get the added benefit of flaunting their new wealth before an audience.
Phillips: I’ve observed that many people in China have a kind of ingrained skepticism about the current economic boom, an unshakable feeling that it will all crumble as rapidly as it has taken shape….There’s an instinctive urge to capitalize immediately on any fleeting opportunity before it disappears.
As the men in my family tell me, one down day does not a bear market make. We’ll have to wait and see how the next Chinese contemporary art auction, containing more than 300 lots, weathers the economic storm next month at Sotheby’s, New York.