Adam Lindemann has a richly detailed report from ArtHK that deserves a close read. Basically, the collector is there shopping for great deals on Western works brought to the fair to attract new Chinese buyers but available at discount because they remained unsold. (If you’re a gallery, it is better to sell at a discount and let another New Yorker ship the work back than take it home yourself.)
While on the prowl, Lindemann did a little reporting on Chinese Contemporary artists like Zeng Fanzhi:
Edward Tang, an expert at Christie’s London who hails from Hong Kong, explained that Mr. Zeng paints every work himself in a style reminiscent of classic Chinese calligraphy, and that his latest series fits precisely the taste of the newly minted regional Chinese oligarch looking for big city savvy and status. Mr. Zeng’s prices reflect the strength of his brand; similar new paintings from his studio apparently sell for over $2 million today whereas, according to Mr. Tang’s father, China Club owner Sir David Tang, they were $500,000 just three years ago.
Are they a good investment at these levels? My Chinese friends spoke with pride of the value of this great painter, and I was reminded that, at auction, it takes only a single new buyer from the mainland of a country with a population of 1.3 billion to double yesterday’s value. The fact that Mr. Zeng recently left his sporadic representation at Acquavella Galleries and is rumored to be going to Gagosian serves only to confirm his blue-chip status.
Why Are All the Dealers Flocking to Hong Kong? A Visit to the Fortune Cookie Art Fair (Observer)
