During the past decade or so, China has drawn snowballing art-world attention, with prices for top contemporary artists growing exponentially, the major auction houses establishing presences in Beijing and Hong Kong, and Beijing’s 798 Factory district starting to rival New York’s Chelsea in terms of the number of commercial galleries. So it comes as no surprise that this summer the Chinese art world reaches a new milestone, with PaceWildenstein becoming the first U.S. gallery to open a space in Beijing, just in time for the upcoming Olympic games.

But step back from the hype, says 43-year-old curator and critic Leng Lin, just named president of Pace Beijing, and you'll see that the Chinese contemporary art market still has a long way to go. He describes a place with little infrastructure, few available role models, and no established criteria for how to differentiate between good work and “rubbish.”

And he would know. Widely considered one of the best-connected and most influential players on the Chinese contemporary scene, Leng has been instrumental in making the market what it is today. He organized some of the first auctions of Chinese contemporary art, helped bring top Chinese artists such as Yue Minjun to Western attention (and Zhang Xiaogang to Pace), and curated several landmark exhibitions of Chinese art in the West. Since 2004 he has run Beijing Commune, a progressive but commercially minded art space in 798 where, according to Leng, “artistic creativity and economic power promote each other.”

At Pace Beijing, Eastern and Western art will promote each other. To inaugurate the new gallery, a 22,000-square-foot space in a former munitions factory in 798, Leng will present “Encounters,” a group exhibition in which Chinese superstars including Pace newcomers Zhang Xiaogang and Zhang Huan will be presented alongside such Western favorites as Chuck Close, Alex Katz, and Lucas Samaras.

ARTINFO sat down last week with Leng, who was in New York for the opening of “Zhang Huan: Blessings,” on view at Pace Wildenstein’s 25th and 22nd Street locations through July 25, to talk about the Chinese market, his vision for Pace Beijing, and what the American mainstay can bring to China.

Pace Beijing will be the gallery’s first international branch. Why Beijing?

Beijing is getting more important not only in terms of economics but also in terms of culture. It’s been the cultural center of China since the golden age, and it’s a bridge to Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore.

I understand there are some 200 galleries in Beijing already. How will Pace stand out?

Pace has its own history and, as a very powerful gallery, its own system, which I think will do well in China. The contemporary art market in China is still very young; everything has happened very, very quickly, and it’s promoted in a not very professional way.

Right now it’s hard to distinguish good art from rubbish in Beijing; you can feel a lot of energy, but it’s hard to find good quality work. A professional gallery like Pace Beijing can bring a new level to the art market there.

Is there a difference between how Chinese galleries and Western galleries are run?

That’s a hard question, because there are different kinds of galleries in China.

A lot of people don’t know what a professional gallery is, or what a professional museum is, and they’re trying to find a balance between the two. Some galleries do good things and find new directions. But some don’t: They show work of poor quality, or have no direction, or don’t know how to develop.

The question is, How do you make art function in a Chinese context? You have to consider the knowledge and experience level of the audience, then you can choose what kind of art to display first, and determine how to introduce new things. That’s the question for galleries from the West.

Tell me about Pace Beijing’s first show, “Encounters,” which will present Asian artists and Pace’s Western artists together.

There are two goals here. One is to build the market for the potential clients from the region. The other thing is to promote Beijing’s role as a center of Asian art.

What sort of Western art do you think can do well in Beijing?

I want to start with figurative art — which can speak to Chinese art, because Chinese artists are good at it — and is easy to access or understand. Then you can go to abstract, multimedia work.

Christie’s is bringing a giant Andy Warhol “Mao” painting to Hong Kong, where it’s expected to sell for up to $120 million. Who in China is buying that kind of work?

I don’t know. In Hong Kong there are some rich people, though not many.

But Andy Warhol is very popular all over the world, not only in the West. I think Asian people normally get into the big names first, then, when they get more knowledge or learn some art history, they go deeper and form their own identity as a collector.

What’s happening with Beijing Commune? Are you leaving it?

No, I’ll still keep it.

Max Protetch describes Beijing Commune on its Web site as an “associated gallery.” What’s the relationship?

At Beijing Commune, I cooperated with Max Protetch, a pioneer in Chinese contemporary art, for a very long time, starting about nine years ago. I introduced a lot of the big artists, and I curated a fabulous show there called “Great Performance: Chinese Contemporary Photography” in 2006. We're still good friends. I cooperated with Max for a long time, but Beijing Commune is just me. 

Now the established, big artists will go to places like Pace Beijing, and Beijing Commune will shift its focus to the younger generation, the more experimental or more noncommercial artists.

I understand you’re also an artist. What do you make?

I cooperate with the other Commune artists; we started three years ago. We wanted to make things that are different from the very commercialized development in China. These projects are just for the ideas. The work is sponsored by the Swiss collector Uli Sigg.

There’s been some speculation in the media lately that the rapid boom in the Chinese art market has strained the relationship between artists and dealers, with some artists concerned that buyers are just looking to flip their works for profit. What do you think of that dynamic in general?

If things feel complicated, it’s not because anyone wants it to be complicated, it’s because people don’t know how to cooperate.

In the West, there are many different art markets, from Renaissance work all the way through to Picasso, Braque, Andy Warhol, Beuys, Jeff Koons. But in China, our fathers and grandfathers have no market. The generation from the 1990s is the first to promote their art in an international way, and all the money that should go to different generations goes to just one. That’s fine for good artists, but that work is hard to get, so a lot of money goes to a second tier of artists, which is why some prices don’t seem reasonable.

When we start running the galleries in a more professional way, we’ll be able to distinguish different quality levels better, and the money will be spent more rationally.

Beijing is building a lot for the Olympics — both in the arts district and elsewhere. What will happen to the city afterward? Will it be just as strong?

I think it will be strong. Maybe things have been made too fast, but it’s still a starting period. You can feel the potential, the energy, for creation.

What will Pace Beijing mount after “Encounters”?

I have a lot of projects in mind, but I haven’t decided. I’ll see what direction we should take after the first show.

I want to redo “Great Performance,” which local clients haven’t seen, though I’ll re-edit it. And I also want to re-realize another exhibition I did ten years ago, called “It’s Me.”

For me, the challenge is how to make Western art function in China. “Encounters” brings Chinese and Western art face to face, presenting them together instead of separating out the Western. But how do you make that sort of show do something new, and not just present different examples together? That is my work.

Will you bring a lot of new artists to Pace?

To Pace New York, few, but to Pace Beijing, yes, many. And not only Chinese artists: also artists from Taiwan, Korea, Japan...

What’s the next big market?

China’s market is so big! How can we wish for the next big market?

I think the first condition for building a new market is letting people form their own culture, their own identity. Then they can get interested in collecting culture.

How long does that take?

Well, I’ve talked about that with [Pace chairman and owner Arne Glimcher]. In China, three to five years, I think. It takes time.