PRESS RELEASE

Modern and Contemporary Art market has come back to mainland China

2008-12-12 15:41:58

By impact from worldwide financial crisis, most of modern and contemporary Chinese art auctions have resulted unexpected turnovers. Under this circumstances, Beijing Poly 2008 autumn auction was gained significant attention, since many people thought this auction representing the trend of development of contemporary art market. Art collectors from mainland China, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe, U.S. and many famous artists, exhibition planners, art institutes came to the venue for auctions. Beijing Poly¡¯s modern and contemporary Chinese art auctions have achieved a total turnover of about RMB 135,000,000 yuan with close to 70% hammer rate. This successful result brought lots of confidence to the contemporary art market. Modern and contemporary Chinese art evening sale selected 42 pieces of artworks. These are representative works by worldwide famous Chinese contemporary artists. Beijing Poly duly changed the strategy for evening sale by selecting proper artworks for the current market demand that was positively reacted by the market. This evening sale achieved total turnover of RMB 64,000,000 yuan with 88% hammer rate. Wang Guangyi¡¯s ¡®The arctic Regions¡¯,Zhang Xiaogang¡¯s ¡®In and Out No.6¡¯, Zhou Chunya¡¯s ¡®Green Dog¡¯and so on attracted many buyers for bidding. The pieces that have attracted significant attentions before the auction have also achieved delectable results, such as Liu Ye¡¯s ¡®MIAOW¡¯ sold for RMB 5,376,000 yuan, Zeng Fanzhi¡¯s ¡®Mask Series¡¯ sold for RMB 6,160,000 yuan. Zeng Fanzhi¡¯s ¡®Mask Series¡¯ won the top price and applause in the evening sale. Some realism paintings were sold for great prices as well, such as Wang Yidong¡¯s ¡®Melting Snow¡¯ sold for RMB 3,416,000 yuan, Ai Xuan¡¯s ¡®Wasterland in deep autumn¡¯ sold for RMB 3,136,000 yuan, and Luo Zhongli¡¯s ¡®Red May¡¯ sold for RMB 2,016,000 yuan. New and vigorous Chinese art collected about 170 pieces of works, sold for RMB 21,190,000 yuan with 76% hammer rate that has settled good foundation for the future contemporary Chinese art market. Guan Yong was seems the most attractive artist in this auction. His ¡®The elegant gathering¡¯was sold for RMB 1,344,000 yuan that is more than three times of estimate price. His another piece ¡®Classics 32¡¯was sold for RMB 1,097,600 yuan. Works by Wei Jia, Gao Yu, Li Jikai, Xu Qingfeng, Li Qing, Jiang Heng, Chen Lianqing, Lu Hong, Qi Haifeng, Zhou Jinhua, Feng Zhongqi, Wang Fei, Tu Hongtao, Feng Zhengquan, Peng Si, and Jia Gang also had great performance. Modern and contemporary Chinese art day sale collected many works by famous artists that satisfied different demands from collectors. Zhou Chunya¡¯s ¡®Peach blossom with green dog¡¯was sold for RMB 1,344,000 yuan, Feng Zhengjie¡¯s ¡®Chinese lover¡¯was sold for RMB 957,600 yuan. Works by Ling Jian, Liu Yi and Zhong Biao were also sold for great prices. This auction achieved a turnover of about RMB 41,000,000 yuan. This autumn, Beijing Poly tried to auction Asian contemporary artworks and received positive reactions, such as works by famous artists Yayoi Kusama, Ikki Miyake, Agus Suwage, Budi Kustarto, Li Chen, Kang Hyungkoo Bali and so on. Analysis by Beijing Poly¡¯s contemporary art department: along with the development of Chinese economy, collectors from mainland China has strong investment strength. Many enterprisers have newly bidden for contemporary art in this auction. Under such economic downturn, price of contemporary Chinese artwork has turn to reasonable level that provide great opportunities for potential clients. In this auction, we found that two third of buyers were from mainland China.