Scores of galleries attract buyers at key events in Shanghai

Pale Lime by Damien Hirst.  (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Young collectors are emerging rapidly in China's booming art market, bringing a new perspective to the industry－evidenced by a series of art fairs and events in Shanghai early this month.

For the past three years, November has been named Shanghai's Month of International Art, with dozens of exhibitions, art fairs and other events taking place throughout the city.

The municipal authorities recently took the strategic decision to prioritize the development of art-trading industries, as an important gauge of cultural soft power in the metropolis.

In Shanghai's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for cultural development, released in September, one of the objectives announced by local authorities is to build Shanghai into a global center for art trading

In the city's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for cultural development, released in September, one of the objectives announced by local authorities is to build Shanghai into a global center for art trading.

Such efforts have paid off, and two major events held in Shanghai from Nov 11 to 14 showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected the city's flourishing art market.

West Bund Art & Design, an annual fair that has attracted art galleries worldwide since it was first held in 2014, expanded its exhibition to the West Bund Dome, a space converted from the former Shanghai Cement Factory, making this year's event the largest yet.

Jin Yi, a spokesman for the fair, said more than 70 percent of exhibitors comprised overseas galleries and institutions, with half of them also showing at renowned international events such as Art Basel.

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This year, West Bund Art & Design, welcomed some 130 galleries, with about 4,000 artworks on display.

Meanwhile, ART021 took place at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, attracting 134 galleries from 14 countries. Some of these galleries chose to take part in both Shanghai events, presenting different displays.

Traditionally, West Bund Art & Design places more emphasis on presenting institutions' academic aims, while ART021 focuses more on the market and sales.

The two events declined to disclose their sales volume, although Artron, a leading art industry portal, found that more than 80 percent of the institutions taking part in the West Bund fair clinched successful deals, and "a majority of them reached or exceeded their expectations," according to a summary of the event.

Oranges in front of the San Gabriels by Hilary Pecis. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Visitors tested

Strict COVID-19 protocols failed to deter enthusiastic art lovers from lining up patiently for admission to Shanghai's two biggest art fairs of the year. Visitors had to take a nucleic acid test and present their medical record for the past 48 hours, together with green QR codes and travel documents before being allowed to enter.

Strict COVID-19 protocols failed to deter enthusiastic art lovers from lining up patiently for admission to Shanghai's two biggest art fairs of the year

Young and wealthy art lovers sporting designer clothing and accessories flocked to both events, undeterred by the pandemic.

Zhang Zikang, director of the Central Academy of Fine Art Museum, said, "New art buyers in China will now run to see an exhibition, and fight for their favorite artwork."

At ART021, a gallery representative said the numerous red dot stickers attached to tags on the artworks signified that more than one client had expressed a strong intention to buy the item.

"There is a waiting list for some popular paintings," said the representative, who declined to reveal his name or the institution he works for. "We usually promise to reserve a piece by the end of the day. If a potential buyer has not made up his or her mind by then, we contact the second and third names on the list."

Another art industry insider, who also asked to remain anonymous, said that 400 names were on the waiting list for the most popular artwork.

Zhang said the emergence of a new group of young art collectors in China is "an inevitable phenomenon".

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He added that as society and the economy have developed in China, many young people－often the wealthy offspring of Chinese entrepreneurs－are studying overseas. Visiting museums has become a habit for them.

These young people have international vision and a deep understanding of contemporary art and culture, while their parents, even if they are interested in art, do not have such an incisive view of this market, Zhang said. This has given the younger generation great confidence in assessing the value of art, and they are "able to close a deal with rapid decision-making."

Bao Yifeng, co-founder of ART021 and a series of other fairs, such as JINGART in Beijing and DnA SHENZHEN in Guangdong province, said gallery operators are also starting at a younger age.

"I've met with such owners born after 1990, and they represent young artists who have just graduated from universities. Some of them also have other family members working in the art trade," Bao said.

Some young buyers visit art fairs with their father, whose job is to pay the bill, Bao added.

Waiting for Something Good by Abdul Abdullah. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Recognition gained

The fast pace set in the art market has also brought new opportunities for young artists, said Xu Zhen, a Shanghai-based contemporary artist and founder of the MadeIn Gallery.

"It used to take fresh graduates about three years to progress in the industry," Xu said. "First, they had to attend some group shows, then give a solo exhibition, and after that, maybe in five or six years, they could see one of their works sold at an art fair. Now, they gain recognition in the first group show they take part in, with many people wanting to buy their creations, as young collectors seeking emerging artists are eager to buy when prices are still low."

However, the art industry has always been fiercely competitive.

"An artist who enjoys immediate popularity could be out of the limelight in a few years. So much depends on talent, diligence and often pure luck. Maybe one in a hundred survive in the long run," he said.

Xu Ying, a culture critic based in Shanghai, said, "I've seen young buyers come to a gallery booth well prepared, with a good knowledge of the background, style, market value and other information about the artists they are looking for."

Shibuya by Huang Yuxin. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Emerging new buyers are making an impact on the art scene in China. Contemporary works influenced by urban pop culture, including anime and electronic gaming, are now more widely represented at art fairs. Globally popular artists such as Damien Hirst and David Hockney from the United Kingdom, and Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami and Yoshimoto Nara from Japan, are seeing more and bigger versions of their works exhibited in China.

Rebecca Yang, chairwoman of Christie's China, said young people are frequent users of social media networks such as Xiaohongshu and WeChat, and are increasingly willing to share details about their lives

Rebecca Yang, chairwoman of Christie's China, said young people are frequent users of social media networks such as Xiaohongshu and WeChat, and are increasingly willing to share details about their lives. As a result, their public influence is growing.The vibrant art scene in Shanghai, where public and private museums are staging high-quality exhibitions of works from around the world, has also introduced more distinguished Western artists to Chinese audiences, such as Alex Katz and George Condo from the United States. Both were well represented at West Bund Art & Design and ART021.

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On Nov 10, she spoke about the trend of buying art at a younger age when she attended the auction house's Shanghai preview for its autumn sale in Hong Kong. 

That day, an exhibition of 11 paintings by US artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88), arguably the largest display of work by the cultural icon and street artist held on the Chinese mainland, opened alongside the preview at the Peninsula Hotel in Shanghai.

Radiance: the Basquiat Show featured 11 pieces by the artist, covering the turning points in his career, in an effort to engage young collectors. Basquiat, who died when he was 28, has been well received in the art market over the past decade.

His paintings have set records several times at auctions worldwide. In March, one of his works, Warrior, sold for $41.9 million at a livestreamed sale in Hong Kong, making it the most expensive artwork sold in Asia. In 2017, his work Untitled sold for $110.5 million.

Yang said that Basquiat, with his bold and unconventional approach, heavy street art influence and close ties with pop culture, was a youth icon, "forever young and avant-garde".

Flower Series－Spontaneous Thoughts by Michael Lau. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Purchasing power

People used to start an art collection after they turned 40 or 50, Yang added, but now, some fresh college graduates are doing so on a professional basis. She added that young buyers have so much purchasing power that "some often buy their first item from an auction house, and they also have a diverse range of interests."

This trend led to the auction house, which dates back more than 200 years, extending its reach to young collectors in China. It studies their preferences, "learns their vocabulary, recognizes their desire to share and understands their need for community interaction," Yang said.

Since entering the mainland in 2013, Christie's has set its sights firmly on the domestic market, making great efforts to support young artists and engage young collectors.

Yang said: "We are excited to witness the surging number of young collectors closely following international art market trends, and the rapid growth of this generation of collectors. This further underpins Christie's vision and curatorial strategy in bringing the most sought-after masterpieces to the art community in China.

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"This groundbreaking (Basquiat) exhibition coincides with the Hong Kong Autumn Auctions preview in Shanghai, which we are sure will contribute a refreshing creative input and buzz to the city's art scene."

With the millennial generation in China such a strong force in the country's art market, on Nov 11, Swiss banking group UBS released the key findings from a survey of high net worth collectors on the mainland.

The results were announced at the opening of Reimaging: New Directions, an exhibition featuring six creations from Chinese artists recently acquired by the UBS Art Collection. As a major sponsor of West Bund Art &Design, UBS opened the exhibition at the company's pavilion at the fair.

Zhang Qiong, president and head of wealth management at UBS (China), disclosed statistics from 2021 Art Basel and the UBS Global Art Market Report, showing that Greater China is now the world's second-largest art market－on a par with the UK－with a 20 percent share of global sales of art and antiques reaching about US$10 billion.

Mixed Public-Private Boundary by Cometabolism Studio. ((PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

UBS surveyed 329 high net worth collectors on the mainland, recognizing that it is home to "a high share of young, wealthy collectors".

The number of female buyers is growing fast. In 2019 and last year, women topped men in terms of the number of works purchased and their value

"In the ultra-HNW (high net worth) segment, with over US450 million in personal assets, millennial collectors accounted for 62 percent of the total," Zhang said.

In Shanghai, the proportion was especially high, with young millennial collectors－those born from 1977 to 1994－representing 74 percent of the HNW collectors, while in Beijing they comprised some 42 percent.

Zhang said the rise of "women's power" in China's art market is also worth noting.

The number of female buyers is growing fast. In 2019 and last year, women topped men in terms of the number of works purchased and their value. Among older age groups, male collectors dominated, but the majority of young collectors were female. On the mainland, 65 percent of millennial collectors are women, while globally the proportion is 53 percent, Zhang said.

The survey also found that despite the pandemic, the proportion of Chinese high net worth collectors spending more than $1 million on art rose from 19 percent to 26 percent year-on-year, while the proportion of those spending more than $10 million doubled to 8 percent last year.