2011 INDUSTRY NEWS
Europe: The European Union Is Launching the €1.8bn “Creative Europe” Project
Source: Theartnewspaper | 24 Dec 2011
As the economic crisis deepens across Europe, the European Commission plans to launch the world’s largest ever cultural funding programme, with €1.8bn allocated for visual and performing arts, film, music, literature and architecture. The commission’s Creative Europe project plans to release the money between 2014 and 2020. If the scheme is approved late 2012, an estimated 300,000 artists are due to receive funding.
China: Beijing Auction House China Guardian Set To Launch New York Office
Source: Jingdaily | 17 Dec 2011
This month, China Guardian will open its first New York office on Park Avenue near 59th Street, a hub for sourcing rather than sales, and a means for the massive auction house to funnel important works back to buyers in China. As the Wall Street Journal writes today, though China Guardian’s new office may be new to the city, its employees have been in New York for quite some time:
China Guardian is sourcing in New York, but it won’t be selling here. All of its auctions are held in Beijing, where there is much higher demand for traditional Chinese art and a stronger market, said Kou Qin, a director and vice president. About 40% of the pieces in China Guardian auction lots are sourced from the U.S., Europe and Australia.
USA: Art Basel Miami: 10th anniversary of Art Basel Miami Beach
Source: Artprice | 6 Dec 2011
Created in 2002, Art Basel Miami Beach (Florida, USA) has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. From 1 to 4 December, the American version of Art Basel (Switzerland) hosted more than 260 galleries from around the world, exhibiting work by 2,000 artists with a total value of almost 2.5 billion dollars.
This year, the fair attracted 50,000 visitors (versus 46,000 last year). We do not yet have the fair’s revenue figures, but we hope they match expectations and were as good as last year! The organizers were targeting a 4% revenue increase versus 2010 (+ 11 million dollars).
Hong Kong: Hong Kong Museum of Art presents: “Revitalizing the Glorious Tradition: The Retrospective Exhibition of Pan Tianshou’s Art”
Source: Hong Kong Museum of Art | 25 Nov 2011
Acclaimed by critics and art historians as one of the four giants of traditional painting, Pan Tianshou (1897 – 1971) was a leading exponent of modern Chinese art history. By assimilating the eccentric styles of the ancient masters, introducing the seal as well as clerical scripts into painting, and also combining the components of landscape painting with flower and bird painting, Pan developed a unique style which is characterized by expressive brushwork, vigorous form, forceful composition and monumental scale. It reflects and symbolizes an uprising spirit of modern China. Selected from the Pan Tianshou Memorial Museum in Hangzhou, the exhibition features 36 works including landscape as well as flower and bird paintings, and also calligraphy, accompanied by a number of valuable documents. Visitors can explore Pan’s artistic career from his early works including Bamboo, and also his landscape paintings based on Wu Changshuo’s style, adopted during his teaching years in Shanghai and Hangzhou in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition, the exhibition also includes his well-known finger-paintings of vultures and lotus plants, and several extra large-scale masterpieces such as Transporting Iron Ore by Sailboat, Buffalo in a Summer Pond and The Almighty Gaze.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong Heritage Museum presents “Imprint of the Heart: Artistic Journey of Huang Xinbo”
Source: Hong Kong Heritage Museum | 3 Nov 2011
Huang Xinbo (1916-1980) was a pioneer of the modern Chinese woodcut who, heavily influenced by Lu Xun, devoted himself to the development and promotion of this important art form. Like many of Hong Kong’s older generation, Huang was born and educated in mainland China, struggled through the long years of war and then moved from place to place before finally ending up in Hong Kong. After returning to his homeland in 1949, Huang committed himself to a life in the service of art, but he was unable to escape the torment of the Cultural Revolution. Thanks to his passionate dedication to society, however, Huang Xinbo has provided us with an everlasting legacy.
To pay homage to this renowned artist 31 years after his death, this exhibition showcases Huang’s works from 1930 to 1980, including block prints, oil paintings, artifacts from the Renjian Art Society and other invaluable items, all of which illustrate Huang’s dedicated concern for the people and his heartfelt devotion to modern China and Hong Kong society.
Hong Kong: HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity presents “Mindfulness v Enlightenment—The Debut Solo Exhibition by Forbes Francis Chung” | 25 September 2011
HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity (HKSC) presents the debut solo exhibition of Forbes Francis Chungwho a currently a form five student at HKSC. Though much influenced by the Western culture, Forbes keeps well his love in traditional Chinese ink painting & calligraphy. He has started painting since form one. With hard work and talent, he has won the National Chinese Painting Competition (Youth Category) organized by the China Youth & Children Research Association (Beijing , China) in 2011. As an avid lover for Western painting and photography, Forbes likes to experiment the aesthetics and techniques of the two Western art forms with painting. He works on traditional Chinese ink painting & calligraphy with minimal natural landscapes, viewers are invited to see over 20 pieces of “Cityscapes” which touch on themes about Hong Kong, cities and social issues.
Taiwan: Genting Hong Kong Proudly Presents “Yu Peng Exhibition 2011, Taiwan” | 25 September 2011
Genting Hong Kong, the leading global leisure, entertainment and hospitality corporation, is proud to announce its sponsorship of “Yu Peng Exhibition 2011, Taiwan: Loyalist Migrant Hermit”. From 29 September to 10 October, 2011, a number of ink, oil and pastel paintings from Taiwan’’s celebrated artist Yu Peng will be showcased at the Eslite Store in Taipei’s Xinyi District and SuperStar Aquarius cruise liner. Yu Peng is of particular importance in Taiwan’s art community. This exhibition is an extension of his spiritual and cultural identities as a loyalist, spiritual migrant and hermit. It carries the painter’s high hopes to inspire Chinese traditional ethics, extend spiritual freedom and cultivate moral and aesthetic spirits.
Hong Kong: Sotheby’s HK to hold 20th century Chinese art autumn sale with two thematic sessions | 25 September 2011
Sotheby’s Hong Kong 20th Century Chinese Art Autumn Sale 2011 will be held on 3 October, offering a meticulous selection of over 140 lots estimated at HK$190 million/US$24.4 million. Curated along thematic lines, the auction will present two special sessions—Female Artists of 20th Century China and The Art of Paper. Important works by Zao Wou-ki, Wu Guanzhong, Chu Teh-Chun and Wang Yidong will also be on offer.
Hong Kong: Sotheby’s HK to hold “MY Life with Father—the Chang Sing Shen Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai Chien Exhibition” | 25 September 2011
Sotheby’s Hong Kong will present its largest Fine Chinese Paintings Sale on 4 October, presenting over 360 lots expected to fetch in excess of HK200 million. Alongside the auction, Sotheby’s Hong Kong is honored to present the My Life with Father—The Chang Sing Shen Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien exhibition during the Autumn Sale 2011. The exhibition will feature around 30 precious works by Zhang Daqian, all of which were gifts for the artist’s fourth daughter—the present owner—Chang Sing Shen. Apart from the paintings, an array of family letters, postcards and photographs will also be on view—all reflecting Zhang’s affection for his beloved daughter and the intimacy between them.
5 Reasons to Bid Up Sotheby’s
What would you bid for shares of Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID)?
Tim Mullaney | September 9, 2011
Shares of the world’s biggest art auction house tumbled more than 25% in the first three weeks of August (12x this year’s earnings), fueled partly by comments that one-time corporate-raider-turned-art-dealer Asher Edelman said about cash-pressed clients who wanted to dump some art cheap. In a nutshell, worries about Europe and the market have some convinced that sellers of toys for rich folks can’t be in good shape. The evidence—both macro and micro—suggests that such fears are overblown.
First, the history of the art market says that it doesn’t move in tandem with the stock market or even the economy. Second, the art market seems to be holding up well with the Mei Moses All Art Index up 5.4% in July this year. Third, while the fall auction season is still shaping up, early signs are good. Fourth, Sotheby’s client base is more insulated than almost anyone from a double-dip recession. The company simply doesn’t rely on the general U.S. consumer the way most retailers do—it’s more analogous to a Tiffany (NYSE: TIF), which has gone from $43 to $70 in the past year.
It’s not exactly news that income inequality is accelerating in the U.S., with rich consumers continuing to spend on luxury goods and Sotheby’s and Christie’s agreeing that Asia is generating a new class of serious collectors.
How Qatar Quietly Became The World’s Biggest Modern Art Buyer
Julie Zeveloff | Jul. 7, 2011
The biggest modern art buyer in the world is not an eccentric billionaire or wealthy gallery owner, but the country of Qatar, which has been on an incredible contemporary art buying spree for the past several years. It’s also investing heavily in several major projects, including exhibitions by Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami. The Arab emirate also poached Christie’s chairman Edward Dolman to oversee art acquisitions for the Qatar Museums Authority. He will report directly to the emir’s daughter, and work alongside Roger Mandle, who was formerly the head of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Qatar’s royal family bought the “Rockefeller” Rothko for $72.8 million in 2007. The emirate also offered $71.7 million in February for the collection of works of late filmmaker Claude Berri’s, or nearly twice the estimate. Qatar was also a major purchaser of art from the $900 million collection of New York art dealer Ileana Sonnabend, which included pieces by Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, among other artists. Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed bin Ali Al-Thani, a second cousin of the ruling emir, was named one of the world’s top 10 art collectors for 2011 by Artnews. He has reportedly spent more money on art than any other collector in the past 12 months.
The Social Revolution
By Barbara Pollack Posted 06/01/11
Today’s Facebook comments, tweets and blogs are tomorrow’s artworks as artists harness social technology to comment on how our new connectivity is changing our culture. Today, there are artists who are fully engaged with the world of Web 2.0, the term for an interconnective Internet with sites that encourage user participation. With more and more people becoming familiar with social-networking sites, artists are tapping into these online communities and making works that harness new capabilities.
Social-media art is becoming an umbrella that covers a mind-boggling array of projects: performances accompanied by Twitter feeds, paintings inspired by Facebook profiles, online works that evolve as people participate, videos compiled from postings on YouTube, start-up companies created as art.
“Artists who have been working with the Internet and with new media since that genre began are interested in participatory systems and social networking,” says Lauren Cornell, the curator of “Free.” “What is new is more advanced technologies and new applications connecting masses and masses of people. It’s really just a progression.” However, An Xiao, an early adapter to Web 2.0 and the founder of @Platea, a collective of online art makers, would disagree. “I think social-media art is a new genre of art,” she says. “It blends many different things. It blends performance art because it is people interacting socially with each other. It blends visual art because Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and the rest all rely on very visual elements. It blends net art, but it is in more of a public space than traditional net art.”
“Social media has become so prevalent in our day-to-day lives lately, both for personal and professional reasons, and it is just so integrated into our relationships today. I think people really have an interest in seeing how it is being used creatively by artists,” says Julia Kaganskiy, organizer of the “Art, Culture, and Technology” group on Meetup.com. “When artists use social media they are working in a medium of our time. They pose really interesting questions about the nature of communication, how that it evolving, how those interactions are evolving,”
