Creative Agents and Legends from China
Carol Lu
Text provided by the writer as part of the project presented at ARCO ’06 for the "Cityscapes" section–China.
Like Chinese contemporary art itself, galleries in China have literally gone from non-existence to experiencing something of a boom at the moment in recent years. More than a decade ago, there were primarily three contemporary art galleries operating in Beijing and one in Shanghai, all of which were set up by foreign expatriates living in China, who took sympathy with and interest in the emerging and largely unknown Chinese contemporary art. Red Gate Gallery, CourtYard Gallery, China Art Archives and Warehouse in Beijing as well as ShanghArt in Shanghai have played a major role in the promotion of Chinese contemporary art in the international art market and have become the more established members of the contemporary art scene in China.
Today, there are over a hundred galleries running in Beijing and Shanghai alone, all of which are privately owned and the majority are foreign invested. One still hears about openings of galleries on a daily basis. It’s only appropriate to describe the growth of galleries and the art market in China as explosive and extraordinary. In 2003, the inauguration of the first international gallery exposition in Beijing coupled with the phenomenal success of the 798 Factory, a factory compound converted into an art district, signaled the arrival of a new era, pushing this wave of development even further. Subsequently, more foreign galleries opened shops and local capital started to flow more willingly into the art world.
As the status quote of contemporary art in China is changing from being underground and censored by the government to being in the broad daylight and risking being popularized even, the makeup of its patrons is also shifting from purely foreign customers to a mixture of overseas and local buyers. The absolute majority, however, remain from overseas as the local community is still waking up slowly to the promise and value of Chinese contemporary art, both in scholarly and monetary terms. Domestic art buyers are dealing art as a means of investment and the brief history of Chinese contemporary art makes it hard for them to have a firm grasp of it as much as they do with more traditional and antique items. The rise of local galleries, the likes of Beijing Art Now, Top Space, Soka Contemporary Space and Aura Gallery, has contributed to the growing awareness and appreciation of contemporary art among the Chinese new-riches and bourgeoisies. Some of these spaces have been in the scene longer than others and some have just joined the party. Despite their marginal number, they set themselves apart by focusing on cultivating the domestic market for contemporary art and nurturing a grudgingly expanding league of native art buyers. This is a job whose worth is revealing more and more. As there is neither official funding supporting the development of contemporary art in China, nor is there any major national collection or museum of contemporary art, these galleries are also playing the part of educator for a domestic audience on one hand, and ensuring that our future generations of Chinese people wouldn’t have to go abroad just to view major contemporary artworks produced in different periods of time. Some of the historic pieces from the early history of Chinese contemporary art are already hard to come by within China and only exist in the hands of a few international collectors and museums.
Before local collectors are ready to embark on any shopping spree of contemporary art, they are determined to trust no one but the auction houses, who represent a certain degree of legal guarantee and purely psychological assurance for them, as the art market in China is still in its teething stage, unregulated, and full of uncertainties and potential flaws as a whole. Chinese auction houses are learning about contemporary art for the first time and recruiting former art magazine editors and museum workers to work as their consultants. As a result, prices and standards are sometimes set in these auctions, due to the absence of norms and references in the local operations.
With the incredible number of galleries and art spaces mushrooming in China in the present days, the type of artworks and artists represented by almost all of these galleries remains monotonous and conservative in comparison. Paintings are the mainstay, together with sculpture and a small portion of photography, while other media such as installations and videos are rarely in the picture. On one hand, these are harder to sell while on the other hand, galleries lack experience in handling more technological types of work. Content-wise, politically and ideologically related themes are the favorite subjects, providing both foreign buyers with a window into Chinese politics and society as well as a more established generation of Chinese customers with nostalgic associations and reflections.
It’s challenging and risky to be in a new territory such as this one. The positive side is that most of these domestic galleries are not only surviving but also flourishing, in spite of multifold problems and inexperience. Each has carved out a unique and steadily expanding niche in the immensity and complexity of the local art scene. Beijing Art Now Gallery calls urgently for the reservation of Chinese art being produced now in China in its mission statement, resorting to a nationalistic sentiment. Run by Huang Liaoyuan, former band manager and music critic, an ardent collector and writer of contemporary art himself, the gallery is a secluded building inside the centrally located Worker’s Stadium in Beijing. The gallery boasts off up to 80% Chinese clientele and has a substantial lineup of painters, both more established members and upcoming ones. Soka Contemporary Art Space is a relatively new comer to the scene. Following his sensational achievement dealing in some of the finest classical and Western-influenced Chinese oil paintings from the 20s and 30s of last century, Taiwanese gallerist Xiao Fuyuan went on to expand its gallery space with a second wing, the Soka Contemporary Art Space, which is exclusively dedicated to displaying and promoting contemporary art. Since its onset early this year, the contemporary art space has undergone a few critical and costly transformations and presents some of the best-produced exhibitions in town, indicating Xiao’s determination and ambition to work with contemporary art. Aura Gallery in Shanghai is one of the longest running locally funded galleries in China and also one of the most thriving establishments in Shanghai. Zhang Mingfang, a former textile trader turned gallerist started this gallery solely out of his personal interest and over the course of a decade has effectively found his way into specializing in photography by foremost artists of both Chinese and Japanese photography as well as paintings by artists from middle and south China.
Having labored fruitfully in the local market, these galleries are now ready to take a further step, to promote and present Chinese contemporary art on the international arena. This can be done through forming partnerships with galleries from other parts of the world, participating in international art fairs and symposiums. ARCO’06 has opened one of these doors for the most representative and outstanding local galleries from China. It will be the first time for so many local Chinese galleries to be featured together in an international art fair in Europe. This fact alone embodies the dynamism and promise of art galleries in China and the creative industry that backs them up.
