Chinese Contemporary Art A Steadily Rising Market

Huang Huang Yan Hai Bo Wang Guangyi Yang Shaobin Zhang Dali Zhang Xiaogang MoMA Acquires 23 Chinese Photographs Contemporary Market Bruised but Resilient After London Sales

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Works by Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang, Yang Shaobin, Huang Yan, Zhang Dali, Hai Bo, Zhang Huan and others sold for far more than their high estimates.

Established Chinese Contemporary artists like Zhang Huan and Wang Guangyi did extremely well. Wang Guangyi has become known for the works in his "Great Criticism" series, which juxtaposes Chinese with Western imagery. His piece entitled "Great Criticism-Andy Warhol," which features the Pop artist's name written in stark block letters, sold for a whopping $130,835 against a high estimate of $83,396. A signature work by Zhang Huan went sold for $26,127 against a high estimate of $15,396.

Christie's Hong Kong sale of 20th-Century Chinese Art and Asian Comtemporary Art on May 29 also includes, a signature work by Zhang Huan, Family Tree a set of nine photos that show the artist with inked Chinese characters progressivly covering his face. It is estimated at $60,300-79,500. The series belongs to such major collectors as Miami-based Martin Margulies.

A major boost was given to Chinese Contemporary art last year with the exhibition "Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video From China" at the International Center of Photography and the Asia Society Museum in New York. Zhang Dali's work was included in the exhibition; in this auction, one of his signature photographs, which shows a silhouette cut out in the wall of a half-demolished building, soared past its high estimate of $6,415 to sell for $10,467.

Howard Farber, an avid American collector of Chinese contemporary art who has also founded the art advisory service China Avant-Garde, tells Artinfo.com, "When I started collecting these works eight years ago I was dreaming the prices would hit something like this but I thought it would take 20 or 30 years because it was a new avenue for me to collect in. I was buying works at low prices; there was no market. The rest of the world is starting to catch up." He adds, "What I like about this market is it's not a skyrocketing market. I believe it's on a slow boil."

As for buying on the part of the Chinese, Farber comments, "These are top works by top artists of a major superpower. The superpower has barely started to collect its own works. They are starting." The top ten lots at Sotheby's Hong Kong sale were all sold to private Asian buyers.