Port Potential

Port Potential

Courtesy Thomas Erben Gallery

Chitra Ganesh, "Godzilla" from "Tales of Amnesia" (2007)

Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso Lucian Freud Bill Viola Keith Haring Chitra Ganesh and Mariam Ghani Space. The Final (Art) Frontier / Florida A Master in Context

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Well, yes and no.

The big news here is that practically overnight the fair organizers, who include Geneva dealer and Art Basel veteran Pierre Huber, fair director Lorenzo Rudolf, and Italian trade show giant BolognaFiere Spa, have launched the biggest and most prestigious international contemporary art fair in Asia.

The invitation-only fair opened Wednesday evening and is packed with 130 galleries that represent a potent mix of East and West. In this regard, it is not unlike its site,  a Cold War–style complex built in 1955 formerly known as the Sino-Soviet Friendship Mission. This glitzy, gigantic, reinforced-concrete landmark sports several heterocultural architectural features, including a glowing red star atop its spindly tower.

ShContemporary 07 is a kind of wedding cake of proven art-fair elements, with Basel-esque “Best of Artists” installations and blatant attractions such as highlights of upcoming contemporary Chinese art to be sold in auction houses like Phillips de Pury & Company, Poly, and ArtCuriel.

“I’m not happy about Phillips and Chinese auction houses being here,” says New York exhibitor Max Protetch, who recognized several artworks he had previously sold and that were now heading to the auction block.

But still, Protetch admits he doesn’t mind being part of the action, since “people in China really like to buy art at auction. It’s a gambling culture and we wanted to catch a little bit of that.”

Protetch’s booth contained all Chinese art, including work by some of the biggest stars of the current boom, among them, Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Li Jun, and Yue Minjun. The gallerist’s display, which reflects his decade-long commitment to showcasing Chinese art, drew crowds of Chinese fairgoers when pop star Lin Yi Lun showed up on opening day, followed by a posse of paparazzi.

As of this writing, the gallery had sold several photographic works by Hai Bo in the $20,000 range, including Blue Bridge from 2004 and The Northern No. 14 (Dense Fog) from the same year. Both sold to Europeans based in Hong Kong who were previously unknown to the dealer.

Protetch said that he also had more expensive pieces are in play. “I’ve met a huge amount of people. Like at most art fairs, the real results come afterward.”

Prices Big and Small
For other gallerists, the real results have already begun. Several reported transactions at both low and high levels.

Chelsea’s Thomas Erben Gallery sold a set of 32-year-old Chitra Ganesh’s Tales of America, a series of 21 slightly lurid, comic-book-style images from 2007, to an otherwise unidentified “major American collector from Miami” for $30,000. The gallery also sold two lively figurative paintings by Haeri Yoo at $5,500 apiece.

“It’s a very promising fair,” says Erben. “It has the potential to be the major fair in Asia.”

It wasn’t hard finding other pleased exhibitors who seemed genuinely game to praise the new venue.

“I’m happy because of the reception of what we’re doing here,” says Arthur Solway of Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery. “Shanghai has always been a great international port, and it’s still bringing people here.”

Solway, who speaks decent Chinese, says selling in China is all about guanxi, or relationship building. “It’s no mystery that it takes time, just like in the West. It’s the issue that people have to think about.”

The dealer was delighted to sell a major Nam June Paik sculpture, Neander Valley to Silicon Valley (1994), for $450,000 and Becoming Light, a Bill Viola color video on plasma display from 2005, for $260,000 to a Taiwanese collector he had never before done business with. “I made a new friend here and I’m thrilled.”

Building Bridges
Despite such reports of scattered successes, it was a tad early to tell how sales were overall. Some Western exhibitors were unaware that China imposes a punishing 34 percent luxury tax on imported goods for its nationals, virtually killing most chances for local sales. However, with plenty of Koreans, Singaporeans, Indonesians, and Japanese also in attendance, the fair has had no shortage of potential Asian customers.