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Sanlian Lifeweek Magazine 《三联生活周刊》

April 24 2006 二零零六年四月二十四日刊



 

Sanlian Lifeweek      Issue No.15, 4/24/2006 Page 66 

Pictures on page 1:

1. Oil painting by Zhang Xiaogang: <Bloodline Series: Comrade No.120> (sold at the highest price in the auctions, $979,200) (190´150cm)

2. Oil painting by Zhang Xiaogang: <Sailor (Girl)> (sold at the third highest price in the auctions, $486,400) (129.5´109.25cm)

3. Oil painting by Zhang Xiaogang: <Bloodline Series: Comrade No.4> (131´100cm)

4. Oil painting by Ye Minjun: <Lion> (sold at the second highest price in the auctions, $564,800) (219.7´280cm) 

Pictures on page 2:

Installation work by Xu Bing: <Birds That Can Fly>

Colored glass fibre reinforced plastic sculpture: <Virgin in Menarche> (165´45´40cm)

Pictures on page 3:

1. Color on paper by Zhu Wei: <Utopia No.57> (141´120cm)

2. Oil painting by Liu Xiaodong: <Private Room> (200´159cm)

3. Color on paper by Xu Lei: <Flower on Sea> (115´63.5cm)

International Auctions: the New 'Language of Power' for Chinese Contemporary Art 

According to the standard of international art market, the 'power platform' of judging art value is structured by three pillars: collection (museum and private), exhibition, and auction. Chinese contemporary art started to catch international collectors’ eyes since the end of 1980s, and were frequently accepted by international exhibitions since the mid and late 90s. Marked by Sotheby’s New York Special Auctions in 2006, Chinese contemporary art finally acquired the language of this 'power platform'. 

By Zeng Yan in New York 

At Sotheby’s’s 'Contemporary Art Asia' special auctions in New York on March 31, in which for the first time Chinese contemporary art works played a major role, Lifeweek reporter had eye witnessed the set of all price records, among them certainly the historical record $979,200 that repeatedly astonished both the Chinese and foreign media, set by Zhang Xiaogang’s <Bloodline Series: Comrade No.120>. This was the first time an international auction house auctioned Chinese contemporary art works outside of China. The atmosphere on the scene and records of numbers all announced the success of this experimental special auctions. The predicted between six to eight million dollar sales volume had eventually reached 13 million, the auction rate reached 89%, and most of the works that weren’t sold were Japanese and South Korean art. Sotheby’s interest is far from this. In the global art market, as the first one who has put Chinese contemporary art on the same value platform with the western contemporary art, Sotheby’s has actually preempted the 'language of power' in this market. No matter how people from the art circles criticize whether the price records set in the auctions match the artistic value of the works or not, it is going to be the original coordinate of Chinese contemporary art formally enters the international market system.

The form and release of consumption power

The special auctions of New York 'Asian Art Week' was arranged at the time when collectors and dealers of Asian art from around the globe came to New York for the spring auctions of Christie’s and Sotheby’s, plus the famous exhibition in the 'Armory' Building, these had all created a warm bed for the new special auctions. The audiences were about half oriental and half western, the atmosphere on the scene was persistently hot and tense. Sotheby’s had 25 employees serve 150 buyers who bid over telephone. The first climax appeared at bidding for No.10 work - Zhang Xiaogang’s <Bloodline Series: Comrade No.4> that was estimated at $50,000 to $60,000, bid price reached $419,200 only after few rounds. The auctioneer decided to raise the starting price for Zhang’s next work <Sailor (Girl)> from $110,000 to $150,000, the work was sold at $486,400. Bidding quickly moved on from warm up to fervency, new records were born one after another, until Zhang’s <Bloodline Series: Comrade No.120>, which everybody had expected to set the highest bid price, climbed the price ladder by $100,000 each bid, and finally fetched $979,200 by an undisclosed Singaporean collector.

Zhang Xiaoming, director of Sotheby’s Chinese Contemporary Art department and the major executer of the special auction, told the reporters that Sotheby’s had prepared for this special auction for several years, including market research and three successful auctions in HK. Chinese contemporary art had caught Sotheby’s attention since the late 80s and early 90s. Loong Meeseen, vice president of Sotheby’s New York, recalled that she had focused on Chinese ceramics and craftworks before she was made the executive supervisor of Sotheby’s HK in 1989. After she came to HK, introduced by friends, she had great interest in a bunch of Chinese contemporary artists just emerging. She had eye witnessed the shaping of the market for Chinese contemporary art. 'The foreign specialists worked in Beijing and businessmen in Shanghai were the first group supported Chinese contemporary art, who helped establish an awareness of earliest contemporary works abroad with private collections and exhibitions,' says Loong. The other international market promoter for Chinese contemporary art, who had been repeatedly mentioned by Loong, was director of HK Hanart TZ Gallery, Johnson Chang. The 'China’s New Art Post-1989' exhibition staged by Chang in 1993 is considered a historical landmark. The first batch of Chinese avant-guard artists who were recognized by the international market, such as Xu Bing, Gu Wenda, Fang Lijun, Zhang Xiaogang, and Wang Guangyi, were all hard cores of the show. At the time there were two other groups of artists that were followed with interest by international auction houses and galleries, and their prices were even higher, says Loong Meeseen. One was realistic oil painters Chen Yifei, Wang Yidong and Ai Xuan; the other was new ink and wash painters Li Huayi and Yu Peng from Taiwan, and Liu Dan and Zhu Wei from the Mainland. Loong remembers that between 1989 and 1996, Zhang Hong, who was the director of Sotheby’s Chinese Art Department, always tried to put a few contemporary ink and wash works in Chinese modern art auctions. But they were too few to form any influence. 'I always expected that some day the works of these contemporary artists could be auctioned together, and I always believed that this day would come. We all encouraged the company to do it. When our New York headquarters had this 10th floor exhibition hall, I thought, it would happen soon,' says Loong.

In Loong’s impression the year 2000 was another turning point after 1993. There were more and more exhibitions and activities related to Chinese contemporary art in 2000, and not only in the Mainland, HK, and Taiwan. In October 2004, during Sotheby’s HK Autumn Auctions, the first special auction for Chinese contemporary works was staged. And several special auctions in 2005 had brought Chinese contemporary art to its peak. The 72 works sold at Sotheby’s HK’s 'Chinese and South Korean contemporary art special auction' fetched HK$ 43.55 million, far exceeded estimation. Soon after, Christie’s HK held the '20th Century Chinese and Asian Contemporary Art' special auction, the total 168 pieces of works, which were mainly early oil paintings by Chinese artists and contemporary Chinese art, were estimated at HK$ 60 million. But the actual transaction value exceeded HK$144 million. At the same time the transaction value of the Mainland auction house Guardian’s Autumn Auctions 'Chinese Oil Painting and Sculpture' special auction also for the first time doubled to almost RMB 80 million. Sotheby’s headquarters thus was determined to start planning for the special auctions in New York. They invited Zhang Xiaoming from the Guggenheim Museum in New York to be in charge of selecting works, and this had taken six months.

According to the standard of international art market, the 'power platform' of judging art value is structured by three pillars: collection (museum and private), exhibition, and auction. Chinese contemporary art started to catch international collectors’ eyes since the end of 1980s, and were frequently accepted by international exhibitions since the mid and late 90s. Marked by Sotheby’s’ New York Special Auctions in 2006, Chinese contemporary art finally acquired the language of this 'power platform'.

Looking at the difference between domestic and international markets through selection of works

Zhang Xiaoming tells the reporter that before selection of works they had repeated discussions over how to define 'Chinese contemporary art'. This is critical to the orientation and structure of the auctions. Eventually they drew two time lines: for the Mainland artists the definition was post 1976; for overseas artists it was defined according to western art history: post the Second World War. Thus, the 'Red Age' that played a major role in Mainland market was totally peeled off. Zhang Xiaoming explained that after she and her colleagues conducted a whole set of business analysis, they decided that the international collection circles didn’t have enough understanding of the 'Red Age' art, it didn’t have a strong selling point. Besides, in the 21st century, both the political imprint and the ideological label of contemporary art were fading. The result of the auction and the outstanding performances of Zhang Xiaogang’s works had proved that the two major labels of 'political pop' and 'cynicism' had been put to an end. For overseas collectors, the background 'China' is much more symbolic than 'Chinese politics'.

The other significant change was, in selection of works, the special auctions in HK and the Mainland more focused on the older generation artists - those studied in Paris before the Cultural Revolution, such as Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, and Wu Guanzhong, and their works usually supported the sales volume of the auctions. Sotheby’s record price for Zao Wou-Ki’s work was $730,000, and Christie’s record was $2.3 million. Wu Guanzhong also had works sold at more than a million dollars. But this time, Sotheby’s selection of works didn’t focus on this group of artists. Only one small piece of etching by Zao Wou-Ki <Seaway> (14.6´24.5cm) was selected, and sold at $5,000. Chu Teh-Chun’s oil painting <Firth> was sold at $174,000, and wasn’t a major role of the auctions either. Lorenz, director of ShanghART gallery, made the comments when talking to media about his feelings of the special auction: 'Zao Wou-Ki may have a bigger rallying point than Zhang Xiaogang in HK, Taiwan and Asia. But when talking about internationalism, Sotheby’s New York special auction showed that Zhang Xiaogang and others were more influential. Their painting language and contents of their works were more appreciated by the international collectors.' Among the realistic oil paintings that are pursued by the Mainland auction market collectors, only one piece by Chen Yifei and one by Chen Danqing were selected. Ai Xuan and Wang Yidong were all absent. A director of oil painting of a domestic auction house said to the reporters after watching the special auctions that the domestic auction market and international auction market are two parallels, no competition, because their market functions are different. But in the long term, the value trend in the international market will never influence the domestic market? Too absolute.

The market plate yet to grow in China

Lifeweek reporter watched the preview with Sotheby’s vice president Ingrid Lam, who had successfully staged three special auctions of contemporary art in HK. When talking about the specialties of the New York special auction, she thought that the importance attached to installation art and conceptual photography works was never so high.

Installation art is considered started by French artist Duchamp and the most explosive in the avant-guard art creations: destroys and subverts art orders. All of the modern art sections of the world known museums would have installation art works shown. But the art form was introduced into China only at the end of 1980s. Since installation works need to interact with the show spaces intensively, some of the works would even terminate once they leave the show ground, so the requirement for exhibition space is rather high. The dual restrictions of time and space made installation, especially large-scale installation works not cognized and accepted in the domestic art market. This time Xu Bing’s large-scale installation work <Birds That Can Fly> was put at the most striking position in the preview hall, and eventually bought by the boss of the New York Goedhuls gallery, which is famous for collecting Chinese art, at $408,000. Zhang Huan’s installation <Peace> was sold at the same price range; Ai Weiwei’s <China Map>, which is made of ferrous mesua taken from a destroyed Qing Dynasty temple, was sold at $228,000, the buyers are all foreign collectors. Zhang Huan’s several conceptual photography works had set some surprising records in the auctions: <Family Tree>, a set of nine color photos fetched $168,000; <Bubble> fetched $78,000.

Zhang Xiaoming talked about the other new viewpoint of the special auction in the interview: Chinese contemporary ink and wash painting. Simply look from sales volume this section wasn’t so impressive, can’t compare with oil painting. But Sotheby’s has great anticipation in its potentials in the future international market. The new ink and wash artists are also divided into several groups: overseas older generation artists such as Chu Teh-Chun and Wu Guanzhong; middle age and young artists who immigrated to foreign countries in the 1980s, such as Liu Dan and Zeng Xiaojun; and youth artists who were born in the second half of the 60s, the so-called mainland’s new ink and wash artists represented by Xu Lei and Zhu Wei. Using traditional media to carry reality, and often attacked by both traditional and avant-guard, which makes them more lonely and independent individuals. They use the 'mother language' to express, but there is no 'family' back them up; their styles and characters have rare intersection. Liu Dan’s <Old Man Stone> and Zeng Xiaojun’s <Elegant and Quaint> both inherited traditional Yuan Dynasty meticulous landscape, but they only take a part and infinitely enlarge it into a self universal world. Xu Lei has found his own symbol: white horse and blue flower, the mood of his art is noble but passive. He 'has always tried to combine the three-dimension of oil painting, Brecht’s stage alienation effect and Magritte’s style of freely placing image in virtual space with the image aesthetics of literati paintings before the 19th century'. Zhu Wei is more favor of traditional meticulous figure painting, his pictures are pure but rich in visual tensility. The Renowned art critic Li Xiaoshan commented on his several series of ink and color on paper, including the auctioned <Utopia No.57>, that the techniques, such as line, color, and texture, etc. 'all have relations with the continuity of the traditional modes'. But on formation of figures Zhu has made unique contributions that transcend the ancients. The vision is often painful, alienated and personal, 'has become a symbol of time'. The transaction prices of the works stated here were only between $45,000 and $120,000, but they were one of the collection hotspots pursued by galleries in the international market.

 

 

国际拍卖:中国当代艺术的新“权力语言”

记者 曾焱(纽约报道) 

图片说明:

66

1.  张晓刚油画作品:《血缘:同志120号》(全场成交价第一,97.92万美元)(190 X 150cm

2.  张晓刚油画作品:《航海员(女孩)》(全场成交价第三,48.64万美元)(129.5 X 109.25cm

3.  张晓刚油画作品:《血缘:同志第四号》(131 X 100cm

4.  岳敏君油画作品:《狮子》(全场成交价第二,56.48万美元)(219.7 X 280cm

67

左: 徐冰装置作品:《会飞的鸟》

右: 向京着色玻璃钢雕塑:《初潮的处女》(165 X 45 X 40cm

68

1.  朱伟设色作品:《乌托邦57号》(141 X 120cm

2.  刘晓东油画:《私房》(200 X 159cm

3.  徐累设色作品:《海上花》(115 X 63.5cm 

以国际艺术品市场的成熟标准,评判艺术品价值的“权力平台”由三个支柱架构:收藏(博物馆和私人)、展览、拍卖。中国当代艺术从20世纪80年代末期开始被国际收藏界关注,在90年代中后期频繁被各大国际性展览接纳,到2006年以苏富比纽约专场为标志,终于完整具备了这个“权力平台”的国际语言能力。 

记者应邀赴纽约现场观看31日苏富比首次以中国当代艺术品为主打的“亚洲当代艺术”专题拍卖,眼见每一个成交纪录产生,当然也包括张晓刚那张全场最高价、后来被中外媒体反复惊叹的历史性的97.92万美元:《血缘:同志120号》。这是国际拍卖公司首次在中国境外拍卖中国当代艺术品,从现场的热烈气氛和数字记录来衡量,这个试探性的专场已经成功,预期不过600~800万美元的成交额最后繁升到1300万美元,成交率达89%,而且流拍的以日本和韩国作品为多。轰动过后回头看,苏富比的收益远不止于此。在全球艺术品拍卖市场,第一个为中国当代艺术提供了和西方当代艺术在同一价值平台量化比较的机会,等于抢先注册了这一市场板块的“权力语言”。不管艺术界人士怎么评价此次拍卖价格在美术判断上的相符或背离,它都将成为中国当代艺术品正面进入国际市场体系的原始坐标。

购买力的形成和释放

这场拍卖被安排在纽约“亚洲艺术周”期间,每年春季世界各地热衷亚洲艺术品的交易商和收藏家都会赶来参加克里斯蒂和苏富比的春拍,还有“军火库”大楼里著名的展览会,熟络的人气为这个新专场备下了底温。观众里亚洲面孔和西方面孔大约各半,拍卖现场基本全天都保持紧张胶着的状态。苏富比有25名工作人员坐在委托席上,同时替150名通过电话参拍的买家竞价。拍卖进行到第10号作品、张晓刚的《血缘:同志4号》时,第一个高潮出现了,估价5~6万美元,成交价几个回合就到了41.92万美元。接下来他的《航海员(女孩)》在拍卖师征询现场意见后,直接跳离最高估价11万美元,从15万美元开始竞价,最后以48.64万美元成交。现场于是迅速从热身进入高温,纪录一个个产生,直到全场都期待它冲击最高价的《血缘:同志第120号》,竞价以10万美元为梯度反复交替上升,最后由坐在最后排的亚洲男子得到,是一位来自新加坡的不愿透露身份的藏家。

专场的主要策划执行者、纽约苏富比中国当代艺术部负责人张晓明在拍卖结束后接受记者采访时说,苏富比为这次纽约拍卖已经作了几年铺垫,包括市场分析和在香港进行的三次成功试温。中国当代艺术最早引起苏富比关注是在20世纪80年代末期和90年代初。纽约苏富比副总裁龙美仙回忆,她在1989年被总部派驻香港任执行总监前一直关注中国陶瓷和工艺品,到任后因为朋友介绍,她对当时刚刚起来的一批当代艺术家发生兴趣,并在任上几年内亲眼目睹了中国当代艺术市场的形成。“北京的外国专家和上海的外国商人是当代中国艺术第一批支持群体,他们通过自己的个人收藏和展示,在一定范围内向世界介绍了一批早期作品。”香港汉雅轩画廊主人张颂仁是龙美仙反复提到的另一个国际市场推动者,他在1993年策展的《八九中国新艺术》被视为历史坐标,最早一批被国际市场认同的前卫艺术家徐冰、谷文达、方力钧、张晓刚、王广义等都曾是这次展览的中坚人物。龙美仙说,当时被国际拍卖行和画廊关注的还有同期一批写实油画家以及稍后出头的新水墨画家,前者有陈逸飞、王东、艾轩等人,画价更高;后者则包括台湾的李华一、于彭,内地的刘丹和朱伟等。她记得19891996年期间,担任苏富比中国艺术部主任的张鸿曾试着在每次中国近现代绘画拍卖中放入几件当代新水墨作品,可惜因为数量太少不能形成影响力。“我一直期待这么一天,能把这些人的作品放在一起拍卖,我也相信这天早晚回来。我们努力鼓动公司做这件事情,2001年纽约总部有了10楼这个展厅,我就想,快了。”

2000年在龙美仙的印象中是1993年之后的另一个界点,和中国当代艺术相关的各种展览活动越来越频繁,而且不局限于中国港台地区和内地了。200410月,香港苏富比秋拍期间首次推出中国当代作品专场,将中国当代艺术推至高点的是2005年的几次专场拍卖。香港苏富比的“中国及韩国当代艺术专场”72件拍品,总成交额达到4355万港元,远远超出预估。此后不久,香港克里斯蒂(佳士得)举办了“20世纪中国艺术及亚洲当代艺术”专场,168件作品以早期华人油画和中国当代艺术为主,整体估价约6000万港元,实际总成交却超过了1.44亿港元。与此同时,内地拍卖公司嘉德的秋拍“中国油画和雕塑”专场总成交额也首次成倍增长,接近8000万人民币。苏富比总部由此坚定信心,开始筹划纽约专场。他们从纽约古根海姆博物馆聘请张晓明专门负责征集作品,前后大约进行了6个月。

以国际艺术市场的成熟标准,能够彰显艺术品价值的“权力平台”由三个支柱架构:收藏(博物馆和私人)、展览、拍卖。中国当代艺术从20世纪80年代末期开始被国际收藏界关注,在90年代中后期频繁被各大国际性展览接纳,到2006年以苏富比纽约专场为标志,终于完整具备了这个“权力平台”的国际语言能力。

从拍品征集结构看国际和国内市场差异

张晓明和记者交谈期间透露,他们在征集作品之前曾反复讨论如何定义“中国当代艺术”,这关系到整场拍卖的定位和结构。最后他们以时间为界面,将它定义在两个层面:中国内地艺术家作品定义在1976年以后,而海外艺术家作品则按照西方艺术史的划分,以二战为界限。这样,在内地拍卖市场担着当代绘画主角的“红色时期”就被完全剥离了。张晓明解释说,她和同事们在进行了整套商业分析后认为,从以往的市场表现看,国际收藏界对“红色时期”作品认识力总体来说还是太浅,缺乏长远的市场着力点。另外他们觉得进入21世纪后,当代艺术的政治印记和意识标签正在淡化,从最后结果看,张晓刚作品的突出表现,从某种意义上也证明了“政治波普”和“玩世泼皮”两大标签的被终结。对于国外藏家来说,“中国”作为背景,比“中国政治”更加具备符号意义了。

另一个重要差异在于作品两大组成部分的比例完全颠倒了。中国内地及香港地区的当代艺术专场,老辈海外艺术家——主要指“文革”前在巴黎接受绘画教育的画家如赵无极、朱德群、吴冠中等,他们的作品是征集重点,也往往成为一个当代专场成交额的支撑。赵无极作品在苏富比的纪录为73万美元,在克里斯蒂的纪录为230万美元,吴冠中也有成交价格上百万美元的作品。而这次苏富比的征集重点却不在这些老画家身上,如赵无极作品只征集了一小幅蚀刻画(14.6 X 24.5cm)《海路》,最终成交价5000美元。朱德群的油画《河口湾》以17.4万美元成交,也不是该场主角。上海著名画廊香格纳的主持人劳伦斯在向中国媒体谈对这次拍卖的观感时这样评价这种差异:“在港台或亚洲地区,也许赵无极比张晓刚更有号召力。但就作品的国际性而言,苏富比纽约专场的拍卖告诉我们,张晓刚等人的作品更具国际性。他们的绘画语言、关注内容更能受国际收藏者推崇。”而内地拍卖市场收藏家追捧的写实主义油画,此次只有陈逸飞和陈丹青各有一幅作品上拍,艾轩、王东等人都缺席了。国内一家大型拍卖公司的油画部负责人看完这场拍卖结果后对媒体记者说,国内外拍卖市场是两条并行线,不需要竞争,因为它们的市场功能不同。但如果从长远看,国际市场的价值走向真的不影响国内市场吗?未免绝对。

国内尚未成长的市场板块

记者和苏富比副总裁Ingrid Lam一起参观预展,她曾成功策划香港三个当代专场的拍卖,说到纽约专场的特点,她认为装置艺术和观念摄影作品受到的重视是从未有过的。

装置艺术被认为从法国艺术家杜尚开始而成为前卫艺术创作中最有爆破性的部分:破坏和颠覆艺术秩序。世界知名的大博物馆现代作品区都会有相当比例的装置作品在展出,而它进入中国内地已经晚在20世纪80年代末。由于装置作品和展出空间需要强烈的互动,有些作品甚至一旦离开展览空间便告终结,所以对于场地的要求比较高。时间和空间的双重限制,使得内地艺术品市场在装置尤其是大型装置部分,认知度和接收度都基本缺失。此次徐冰的大型装置作品、丙烯数码刻字《会飞的鸟》在预展厅被安放在最醒目位置,最终以40.8万美元被纽约一家以收藏中国艺术品著称的画廊Goedhuls老板买下。张洹的装置《和平》以同等价位成交,艾未未用毁灭的清朝庙宇中的铁力木制作的《中国地图》价格为22.8万美元,买主都是国外藏家。张洹的几幅观念摄影作品在这次拍卖中创造的价格纪录令人惊讶,《家谱》一组9张彩色照片最后成交价高达16.8万美元,《泡沫》一组也达到7.8万美元。

张晓明在接受专访时则谈到专场的另一个新视点:中国当代新水墨画。光从成交额来看,这部分并未给人留下深刻印象,与油画部分暂时还无法相比,但苏富比看好它在未来国际市场的潜力。新水墨画家也被划分成几个群体:海外老辈画家,如朱德群、吴冠中;20世纪80年代移居海外的中青年画家,如刘丹、曾小俊;还有就是以60年代后期出生的青年画家徐累、朱伟为代表的内地新水墨。以传统艺术的媒材来承载现实,常常受到传统和前卫的夹攻,所以他们是更加僻静独立的个体,用“母语”表达,身后却没有“家族”,互相之间风格特征少有交集。刘丹的《老人石》、曾小俊的《清奇古怪》都是传承于元代传统工笔山水,却只取局部无限放大成自我宇宙世界。徐累找到了自己的符号:白马、青花,画境高贵又消极,“一直在尝试将油画的三维空间、布莱西特的舞台离间效果以及马格利特的物象在虚空间的自由放置,与19世纪以前的文人画图像美学结合在一起”。朱伟偏爱传统人物工笔,画面却单纯而富视觉张力,著名美术评论家李小山评他几个系列的设色纸本,如拍卖的这幅《乌托邦57号》,在技法上诸如线条、色彩、肌理等等“皆与传统方式的延续有关”,但是在他那里人物造型的处理却有超越古人的独特贡献,视觉经常是痛苦的、疏离的、个人的,“已成为一个时代的符号”。这几幅作品此次的成交价格只在4.5万到12万美元之间,却是国际市场上画廊看好的收藏热点之一。