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Chinese Contemporary Art feature, Manhattan magazine, Dec 2009

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MarinaKCashdan

The document summarizes the rise of Chinese contemporary art in the international art market over the past decade. It describes how Chinese artists like Zhang Huan went from being relatively unknown to among the most sought-after artists in the world. Key events like exhibitions in the late 1990s and 2000s increased Western awareness of Chinese art. By 2006, Chinese artists dominated auction prices, and major Western galleries and collectors started representing and collecting Chinese artists. Major museums also beefed up their Asian art collections. Chinese contemporary art has now been fully accepted as part of the international art scene.

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the city | art WRITING ON THE WALL Then-up-and-coming artist Zhang Huan, photographed for his own three-part series, 1/2, 1998. Made in China A decade after its initial splash, Eastern art has become big business in NYC | By Marina Cashdan | photo courtesy of zhang huan studio In a performance-art work premiered in 1998, Zhang Huan traversed the gravel-covered courtyard of P.S.1, throwing himself on the ground in postures of pain and perseverance, smacking wooden clappers with each step. When he reached the central prop, a traditional Chinese bed frame, he undressed and lie face down upon a four-inch-thick ice mattress for 10 minutes, clenching every muscle in his freezing, mostly naked body. I wanted to change the ice to water, but the ice changed me, Zhang says. My body went from warm to cooler. And so, that is a lesson: My life cannot change. The work, accompanied by 2 | | december 2009
Buddhist chanting, was both a contemporary depiction of the Tibetan diaspora but also the artists struggle with his own assimilation into the Western world. Now, more than a decade later, Zhang is among the most sought-after contemporary artists in the world, and his second show, Neither Coming nor Going, opens at PaceWildenstein in Chelsea this month. His endurance during PilgrimageWind and Water at P.S.1 was just a taste of Chinas art scenerelatively unknown territory for the West at the time. To many, the Chinese takeover of the contemporary- art market seems like a tsunami that swept over the West in the last five years, but Dr. Alexandra Munroe, senior curator of Asian art at the Guggenheim Museum, says its been a longer process. If you look at activities in the auction houses among galleries and among select museums, she says, there has been a steady increase in activities dedicated to contemporary Chinese art since the early 80s. Then came exhibitions in the late 90s and early noughtsincluding Inside Out: New Chinese Art at the Asia Society in New York in 1999, and Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, presented jointly at the International Center of Photography and the Asia Society and Museum in massive 22,000-square-foot former arms factory in the 798 District, a thriving WILD THINGS 2004that led to a sea change in the Wests perception Chinese and expat artist community. Arthur Solway launched a branch of Cai Guo-Qiangs 2008 show at of Eastern contemporary art, putting Chinese work on James Cohan in Shanghai. Both followed in the footsteps of the worlds the Guggenheim par with American and European artists. This interest biggest collectors of Chinese contemporary art, Belgian philanthropists Guy included Head On, culminated in a Sothebys auction in March 2006, and Myriam Ullens. They opened the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art an installation of 99 stuffed wolves which marked a turning point in the Chinese art market. in the 798 District in 2007, showcasing their collection of 1,500 paintings, running up the The international fury and speculationcritical fury sculptures, installations and video works from Chinese artists including Zhang rotundra. and financial speculationin Chinese contemporary Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi, Wang Guangyi, Wang Du and the late Chen Yifei. art really became world news, says Munroe. This year the momentum has even accelerated despite the economic downturn. The Olympics threw enormous focus onto UPTOWN CHINESE China once again as an emerging superpower, Munroe From left: Portrait says. There was a lot of attention paid to artists, 09-7-7, 2008, by Zeng Fanzhi (of including Cai Guo-Qiang, who was the artist in charge phtots; portrait 09-7-7 courtesy of acquavella galleries; woodblock courtesy of pacewildenstein gallery Acquavella Galleries); of the visual effects and a firework spectacle around the woodblock print, Beijing Olympics. by Zhang Huan (of PaceWildenstein Munroe has an affinity for Cai, for whom she curated Gallery). a critically acclaimed exhibition at the Guggenheim last year, the museums first major exhibition by a Chinese- born artist. Nine cars hung from the ceiling of the rotunda, firework-like lights emanating from their insides, while a massive herd of stuffed wolves raced up the rotunda, crashing into a glass barrier. That show proved to be a catalyst of sorts, spurring many major American According to the Art Price Index, Chinese artists institutions to beef up their permanent collections, filling in the once took 35 of the top 100 prices for living contemporary lackluster Asian departments. artists at auction that year, rivaling Jeff Koons, Damien On the fair front, China has not skipped a beat. ShContemporary, Hirst and other major Western artists. Shanghai Art Fair, Art Beijing Contemporary Art Fair and ART HK are Gallery owners jumped on the bandwagon quickly, emerging as some of the most important global art fairs and, this month, pursuing artists who, just a few years earlier, were SCOPE teams up with ART ASIA in Miami for the second consecutive unknown. Zeng Fanzhi signed a million-dollar deal with year; the partnership has been extended through 2010. Acquavella Galleries; Zhang Xiaogang and Zhang Huan I think there has been a tendency to view Chinese contemporary art joined PaceWildenstein; and Ai Weiwei and Liu Xiaodong as a fashion, says Dr. Melissa Chiu, director of the Asia Society Museum were picked up by Mary Boone. Since 2006, practically and the author of Chinese Contemporary Art: 7 Things You Should Know. every major New York gallery has signed a Chinese artist. But I think the real change occurred when collectors of international art Collectors, gallerists and dealers even ventured into started to include Chinese contemporary artists in their collections. That has the East. In summer 2008 (just in time for the Olympics) had an enormously positive effect on the level of recognition that Chinese Arne Glimcher, founder and president of PaceWildenstein, contemporary artists have todaythey are accepted internationally. In other opened a branch of his gallery in Beijing, located in a words, Chinese contemporary art is no longer just fashionable, its classic. M december 2009 | | 3

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Chinese Contemporary Art feature, Manhattan magazine, Dec 2009

  • 1. the city | art WRITING ON THE WALL Then-up-and-coming artist Zhang Huan, photographed for his own three-part series, 1/2, 1998. Made in China A decade after its initial splash, Eastern art has become big business in NYC | By Marina Cashdan | photo courtesy of zhang huan studio In a performance-art work premiered in 1998, Zhang Huan traversed the gravel-covered courtyard of P.S.1, throwing himself on the ground in postures of pain and perseverance, smacking wooden clappers with each step. When he reached the central prop, a traditional Chinese bed frame, he undressed and lie face down upon a four-inch-thick ice mattress for 10 minutes, clenching every muscle in his freezing, mostly naked body. I wanted to change the ice to water, but the ice changed me, Zhang says. My body went from warm to cooler. And so, that is a lesson: My life cannot change. The work, accompanied by 2 | | december 2009
  • 2. Buddhist chanting, was both a contemporary depiction of the Tibetan diaspora but also the artists struggle with his own assimilation into the Western world. Now, more than a decade later, Zhang is among the most sought-after contemporary artists in the world, and his second show, Neither Coming nor Going, opens at PaceWildenstein in Chelsea this month. His endurance during PilgrimageWind and Water at P.S.1 was just a taste of Chinas art scenerelatively unknown territory for the West at the time. To many, the Chinese takeover of the contemporary- art market seems like a tsunami that swept over the West in the last five years, but Dr. Alexandra Munroe, senior curator of Asian art at the Guggenheim Museum, says its been a longer process. If you look at activities in the auction houses among galleries and among select museums, she says, there has been a steady increase in activities dedicated to contemporary Chinese art since the early 80s. Then came exhibitions in the late 90s and early noughtsincluding Inside Out: New Chinese Art at the Asia Society in New York in 1999, and Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, presented jointly at the International Center of Photography and the Asia Society and Museum in massive 22,000-square-foot former arms factory in the 798 District, a thriving WILD THINGS 2004that led to a sea change in the Wests perception Chinese and expat artist community. Arthur Solway launched a branch of Cai Guo-Qiangs 2008 show at of Eastern contemporary art, putting Chinese work on James Cohan in Shanghai. Both followed in the footsteps of the worlds the Guggenheim par with American and European artists. This interest biggest collectors of Chinese contemporary art, Belgian philanthropists Guy included Head On, culminated in a Sothebys auction in March 2006, and Myriam Ullens. They opened the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art an installation of 99 stuffed wolves which marked a turning point in the Chinese art market. in the 798 District in 2007, showcasing their collection of 1,500 paintings, running up the The international fury and speculationcritical fury sculptures, installations and video works from Chinese artists including Zhang rotundra. and financial speculationin Chinese contemporary Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi, Wang Guangyi, Wang Du and the late Chen Yifei. art really became world news, says Munroe. This year the momentum has even accelerated despite the economic downturn. The Olympics threw enormous focus onto UPTOWN CHINESE China once again as an emerging superpower, Munroe From left: Portrait says. There was a lot of attention paid to artists, 09-7-7, 2008, by Zeng Fanzhi (of including Cai Guo-Qiang, who was the artist in charge phtots; portrait 09-7-7 courtesy of acquavella galleries; woodblock courtesy of pacewildenstein gallery Acquavella Galleries); of the visual effects and a firework spectacle around the woodblock print, Beijing Olympics. by Zhang Huan (of PaceWildenstein Munroe has an affinity for Cai, for whom she curated Gallery). a critically acclaimed exhibition at the Guggenheim last year, the museums first major exhibition by a Chinese- born artist. Nine cars hung from the ceiling of the rotunda, firework-like lights emanating from their insides, while a massive herd of stuffed wolves raced up the rotunda, crashing into a glass barrier. That show proved to be a catalyst of sorts, spurring many major American According to the Art Price Index, Chinese artists institutions to beef up their permanent collections, filling in the once took 35 of the top 100 prices for living contemporary lackluster Asian departments. artists at auction that year, rivaling Jeff Koons, Damien On the fair front, China has not skipped a beat. ShContemporary, Hirst and other major Western artists. Shanghai Art Fair, Art Beijing Contemporary Art Fair and ART HK are Gallery owners jumped on the bandwagon quickly, emerging as some of the most important global art fairs and, this month, pursuing artists who, just a few years earlier, were SCOPE teams up with ART ASIA in Miami for the second consecutive unknown. Zeng Fanzhi signed a million-dollar deal with year; the partnership has been extended through 2010. Acquavella Galleries; Zhang Xiaogang and Zhang Huan I think there has been a tendency to view Chinese contemporary art joined PaceWildenstein; and Ai Weiwei and Liu Xiaodong as a fashion, says Dr. Melissa Chiu, director of the Asia Society Museum were picked up by Mary Boone. Since 2006, practically and the author of Chinese Contemporary Art: 7 Things You Should Know. every major New York gallery has signed a Chinese artist. But I think the real change occurred when collectors of international art Collectors, gallerists and dealers even ventured into started to include Chinese contemporary artists in their collections. That has the East. In summer 2008 (just in time for the Olympics) had an enormously positive effect on the level of recognition that Chinese Arne Glimcher, founder and president of PaceWildenstein, contemporary artists have todaythey are accepted internationally. In other opened a branch of his gallery in Beijing, located in a words, Chinese contemporary art is no longer just fashionable, its classic. M december 2009 | | 3