Chinese art and the credit crunch pt2.
More art market woes, another piece for the Art Newspaper
“Financial Tsunami” causes woes for China’s art market, Beijing creates art fund to support galleries
The economic difficulties being widely referred to as the “financial tsunami” in the Chinese press have led to numerous gallery closures in Beijing and Shanghai. According to Lynn Zhang, publisher of an art gallery guide and the quarterly ArtzineChina, 36 galleries have closed in Beijing recently.
“Some galleries are closing outright, or two to three or even four galleries are combining to make one new gallery. Many large galleries will not admit to problems, but if you visit these areas such as Beijing 798 or Shanghai Sculpture Space you see the big galleries have no operations. Some are considering cutting back the number of shows per year, maybe from 6 to 3 shows a year, or first seeing if the collectors will buy the work before holding a show. ” Zhang said.
The management office of Beijing’s 798 do not answer the phone.
In Beijing Red Gate gallery has closed its off shoot gallery in the 798 art district.
“We are looking positively at what is happening though we will cut our exhibition program down during the year,” gallery owner Brian Wallace said. Also Studio Rouge closed their location on the Bund, blaming partly the massive construction work there in preparation for the Shanghai World Expo, which will pedestrianize Shanghai’s waterfront.
Widely rumoured to be closing is the high profile Shanghai Gallery of Art, located in the prestigious 3 on the Bund development. A spokesperson who declined to be named at 3 on the Bund said “There are no current plans to close the gallery that we are aware of.” Another staff member indicated there will be a management meeting to “clarify matters” in the near future.
China Economic News reported that the auction houses Beijing Poly and Guardian Auction both have had very lackluster sales recently, with works by top selling names, such as Yue Mingjun, not selling, and the paper says that the auction houses are in “a very fragile state.”Not only contemporary art works are affected, traditional Chinese ink brush painting sales have also slumped.
Blaming the collapse of China’s art market bubble on a culture of gambling, collector Xu Shilin told the paper: “Counterfeiting, rampant fake auction transactions, market speculation, prices being artificially high, the real absence of art criticism, the lack of sophisticated market mechanisms, have all resulted in today’s huge collapse of the art market. The collapse is multiplied exponentially by these issues.”
To counter this crisis Beijing Cultural Development Foundation, an arts funding body under the auspices of the Propaganda Bureau, announced it has established a special “Art Beijing fund” which will be used to finance galleries under an “Art Beijing” brand. For 2009 a total of RMB 5 million (USD 730,000) will be available. According to the official announcement the fund has been created “in order to overcome the current difficulties being faced by the art market by providing practical ideas and approaches.” Galleries are encouraged to apply for funding, which will be assessed by an academic committee. Provisions will be made for the promotion of “Art Beijing,” the planning of academic exhibitions, the invitation of overseas collectors, media and similar initiatives, as well as financing primary market gallery exhibitions and related projects.
Lisa Zhou, a project manager for Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation, and General Manager of Shanghai E Arts Festival said: “This economic situation, it’s a huge shuffling of the cards, both high and low cards, so the names will change, but afterwards, we are confident the market and the arts will still remain.” Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation has an annual budget RMB 150 million budget (USD $25 million) Zhou said. It has yet to announce a similar initiative to Beijing.
Commenting at a recent seminar in Beijing Wang Huang Shen, director of Guangdong Art Museum, home of arguably China’s most important art event the Guangzhou Triennial, commented: “this issue of a hot or cold market as experienced by these galleries in Beijing 798 essentially for us in Guangdong is neglible.” Guangzhou, capital of Guandong Province, adjacent to Hong Kong only has two commercial galleries of note.
Also, despite the downturn, new galleries are also opening. In mid-January Elizabeth de Brabant will open a new gallery in Shanghai, and Guangzhou’s Vitamin C opened a new space in Beijing’s Jianwai Soho area. Shanghai Sculpture Space’s management company, Red House, has also just opened a large creative park in Shanghai’s Baoshan district.
Also counter to the market woes of China’s art scene, one of China’s top selling artists, Wu Guanzhong, who will have a seminal series of solo shows in art museums in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore beginning in mid-January, announced he will donate 160 works, with 85 works being gifted to Shanghai Art Museum.