Asian Contemporary Art Boom--Art Taipei 2007

In late May, 65 galleries from eight local and international cities provided works of art to grace Taipei's World Trade Center II. They included the grand steel sculptures of Yang Ying-feng, Li Chen's Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist sculptures, abstract paintings from Chu Te-chun, Zao Wou-ki and Liu Kuo-sung, and female nudes by Pan Yu-liang.

Taipei Art International Fair, now in its 14th year, is a notable event on the Taiwanese calendar. After hitting rock bottom in 2003 because of the SARS scare, spring has returned to the Asian art market. And because of increasing recent international interest in Asian contemporary art, this type of artwork has been most prominent in the 2007 exhibition.

Taiwanese painter Liao Chi-chun's work Street Scene in Venice sold for NT$16 million, the highest price paid for an individual work at the auction. For most collectors, sculptor Yang Ying-feng is a favorite. Fifteen of his works averaged prices of around NT$2 million, while average sales for each gallery reached NT$5 million, representing a 150% increase over last year's figures.

The impetus for the great interest being shown in Asian contemporary art seems to stem from the booming Chinese economy. Cheng Sheng-tien, an exhibition organizer, points out that sales of Asian contemporary art have increased markedly in recent times. In 2004, Sotheby's and Christie's sold works of this genre totaling US$22 million, but in 2006 sales from the three centers of New York, London and Hong Kong alone surged to US$190 million, representing a nearly tenfold expansion of this market.

As a result of China's booming economy, Chinese works figured prominently in this year's exposition. Zhang Xiaogang, one of the four most celebrated Chinese artists on the international art auction scene, sold every one of his 58 prints in only a few days, despite the NT$700,000 price tags.

In the eyes of some observers, however, prices for Chinese contemporary art have reached a peak with nowhere to go but down. Other regions of Asia such as Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines have also experienced increases in prices for contemporary art, but whether this trend will continue is the subject of much speculation. It has been pointed out that prices of works from Taiwan artists have been at a low point for the last ten years, so from an investor's point of view, now is a good time to buy.

The Taiwanese art market experienced its golden age in the period between 1989 and 1999. At that time, there was an exhibition opening almost every week. Investment in art was booming, mainly because of the involvement of seven major local and international auction houses. In this situation, Taipei had a great opportunity to replace Tokyo and Hong Kong as the major trading center for Chinese art.

However, the rise of the Chinese market put a damper on this trend. In 2000, Sotheby's and Christie's moved their focus to Hong Kong as the main center. Because paintings by the likes of Charng Yuh, Pan Yu-liang, Xu Beihong, Liao Chi-chun and Chen Cheng-po are selling for more than NT$100 million, and a new generation of Chinese painters have appeared on the international scene, Chinese art has come to dominate the market.

Considering that since 1995 the number of art galleries in Taiwan has declined from more than 200 to around 80 today, and a number of the major galleries have moved offshore to China, how can the Taiwanese art market regain its prominence?

Jeff Hsu, proprietor of Jeff Hsu's Art, believes that the influence of Taiwanese art management expertise is being felt across Asia. The reasons are many: Taiwan has widespread access to art education, the nation possesses numerous active art associations that run regular seminars and other functions, and its gallery managers have extensive experience in the field. Of six new auction companies established in China in recent years, four are run by Taiwanese interests. Says Hsu, "Taiwanese collectors have the ability and financial know-how. They know the market inside out; they know everything there is to know about collecting art. Each of their personal collections of Chinese ink paintings is probably enough to open a museum."

York Hsiao, chairman of the Art Galleries Association ROC, hopes that at a time when China's contemporary art market is booming and international buyers are crowding the Asian art market, more of Taiwan's artists can break into the international arena by being seen at major art expositions. It is an inevitable trend that the art market is going global. The value of art lies in the imagination of the artists and their creative work. If we want that work to be appreciated and recognized, it must go through the evaluation process inherent in exhibitions. Only then will our artists gain a solid foothold in the international art market.