Beijing: Made in China Part 6
The situation is very different today. At home and abroad, Chinese artists are being exhibited and fêted, and their work is being sold for record prices. An oil painting by Liu Xiaodong that went for $20,000 two years ago now goes for $200,000, and in 2004, Hong Hao became one of the first Chinese artists living on the mainland to have his work acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Although most of the buyers at this level are foreign, Christophe Mao, the director of Chambers Fine Art, a gallery representing Chinese artists in Manhattan, says it's only a matter of time before mainland Chinese collectors descend on the market: "Just wait," he predicted. "Once they start, you won't be able to get your hands on any of it."
While grateful for the attention, some Chinese artists are a bit suspicious about why they're suddenly so popular. "Any article you read from the West starts with one of two things: the Cultural Revolution or June 4," Ho said, referring to the demonstrations in June of 1989, when the government turned on the protesters in Tiananmen Square. Wang, who was 17 at that time, added that the youngest generation of Chinese artists is now making work that is completely apolitical. He feels that exhibitions in the West (Wang's work has been shown in London, Chicago, and New York) tend to focus too much on political themes. "It can't be helped," he told me. "If people don't understand your work, they'll look for something exotic in it. Their first impulse is to say, 'Their society is this way, so they make art this way.'" He looked up from his laptop, where he'd been showing me the design for a new installation. "It's important to get past our curiosities," he said.
Although most of the buyers at this level are foreign, Christophe Mao, the director of Chambers Fine Art, a gallery representing Chinese artists in Manhattan, says it's only a matter of time before mainland Chinese collectors descend on the market: "Just wait," he predicted. "Once they start, you won't be able to get your hands on any of it."
While grateful for the attention, some Chinese artists are a bit suspicious about why they're suddenly so popular. "Any article you read from the West starts with one of two things: the Cultural Revolution or June 4," Ho said, referring to the demonstrations in June of 1989, when the government turned on the protesters in Tiananmen Square. Wang, who was 17 at that time, added that the youngest generation of Chinese artists is now making work that is completely apolitical. He feels that exhibitions in the West (Wang's work has been shown in London, Chicago, and New York) tend to focus too much on political themes. "It can't be helped," he told me. "If people don't understand your work, they'll look for something exotic in it. Their first impulse is to say, 'Their society is this way, so they make art this way.'" He looked up from his laptop, where he'd been showing me the design for a new installation. "It's important to get past our curiosities," he said.
