The Emerging Chinese Art Market

The Chinese art market developed faster than the art markets elsewhere in the past five years. In 2004 Sotheby’s and Christie’s together sold $22 million prices of Asian contemporary art. 2 years later, the two auction houses sold $190 million pieces of Asian contemporary art, the majority of which was by Chinese artists. While in 2004 there were only 2 Chinese artist in the global TOP 100 (ranked by auction revenue), in 2008 the number of artists increased to 10 (www.artprice.com 2005:11); (www.artprice.com 2009b:25-26) and the majority of which were contemporary artists. China is gaining importance among the emerging art markets and has replaced France for the third place in 2007, following the Unites States and Unites Kingdom, in terms of the total auction turnover. Three major auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams opened offices in Hong Kong and held several contemporary art sales both in Hong Kong and in mainland China. In response to the booming Chinese art market, auction houses from mainland China, such as China Guardian, Poly International, and many others, are gaining international recognition. Next to Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips De Pury, Artprice reports that in 2007 Chinese auction houses Poly International and China Guardian each accounted for 1.8% and 1% of the global auction sales turnover (www.artprice.com 2008:12) . In a global context, these figures represent a considerable power. The Chinese auction market consists of three major segments: Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy, Ceramics and Antiques, and Contemporary Art. Artprice and other sources indicate that the price surge of Chinese art was particularly significant in the price of Chinese contemporary art, in the thesis I intend to conduct a qualitative study on factors which contributed to the price surge of Chinese contemporary art between 2004 and 2008. The results of the study suggest that the Chinese art market is mostly led by the ‘market’, both internationally and domestically. The quality of art as a financial investment is emphasized in the Chinese art market. Unlike in the Western world where there are many different investment vehicles, investment vehicles in China are limited to stock, funds, and real estate. Therefore, as the results of the interviews suggest, art has been treated as an alternative investment after the Chinese government began to impose strong controls on stock and real estate speculations since 2004. Besides, an important aspect of the price surge appears to be regarding buyers’ perception: that Chinese contemporary art was perceived to be a ‘sure thing’ financially without taking into account all the additional costs. The rapid increase in the price of contemporary art was likely to be an overvaluation bubble based on speculative trading.