Zhang Chengliang / China Daily

After years of solid sales, the art market has gone off boil, but it is more than money that is missing

The decline of Chinese contemporary art this year is still playing on the minds of many. There have been no jaw-dropping deals in the Chinese art market, which has fallen sharply since its boom days of 2011, when it had the highest number of transactions in the world.

The market drew to a standstill last year. This year, insiders believe that the market for Chinese contemporary art is dormant and is at the crossroads.

In March, the European Fine Art Fair released The TEFAF Art Market Report 2013 - The Global Art Market with a Focus on China and Brazil. The volume of transactions in the Chinese art market in 2012 reached 10.6 billion euros ($13.9 billion), down 24 percent from 2011. It marked the first decline since 2008.

There was a greater decline in deals for contemporary art last year. Only six traditional paintings and calligraphies, three porcelain items and one contemporary oil painting were sold.

The only contemporary work is La Foret Blanche II finished by Chu Teh-Chun in 1987. In November, this huge oil painting nearly four meters wide sold for HK$53 million ($7.1 million; 5.4 million euros) at Christie's, not even half the price of Wu Guanzhong's 1988 work The Lion Forest, which achieved a record high deal at the Beijing Poly International Auction of 115 million yuan ($18.6 million; 14.2 million euros).

On Oct 7, total transactions amounted to HK$ 117 million at Sotheby's Contemporary Asian Art Auction, much lower than expected.

But there is also exciting news. Last month, the French art market information company Artprice released a ranking of the top 100 living artists of 2012.

German Gerhard Richter topped the chart, but seven of the top 10 artists are Chinese. It is a common but strange phenomenon that in the art world, the price of an artist's work often is not high when he or she is still alive.

For auction houses, antiques no doubt will take the lead in this year's spring auctions, whereas contemporary art sales will most likely stall. I predict that another period will be chosen for these exceptional art works to make their debuts.

So how do we explain this sudden about-face in the art market? What does it mean? What are the problems?

We cannot rule out the impact of the global economic slump and also cannot deny the possibility that financial groups are dabbling in risky art speculation.

But realistically, this is a period in which the Chinese contemporary art market will need to make adjustments.

Auction houses hold absolute dominance in the Chinese contemporary art market. They prefer high-priced artworks and they pursue transaction records. Behind this drive are contemporary art speculators. They are not interested in art and they only treat the art market as a venue for high investment returns.

The result is ironic: A few contemporary artists with artworks on the market gain mightily in reputation and wealth. Young latecomers, some of whom are full of talent, are passed over. Even in boom years, talent has been corroded by fame and money, eventually becoming mere market tools.

As a supporter of art, I do not think the frenzy of the past few years has helped further Chinese contemporary art. After all, talent and inspiration in an artist are rarely driven by a need for a paycheck.

Another disturbing fact is that money has poured into the pockets of auction houses during the recent boom, while galleries and private contemporary art museums have suffered.

The 798 Art Zone in Beijing, for instance, is regarded as a landmark of contemporary art. The district was originally the site of a factory constructed by East Germany during the Cold War.

This Bauhaus-style building is a 20th century industry model, full of factory pipelines and rail lines. In the 1990s, poor artists and small galleries began to gather at the factory site and eventually gave birth to Chinese contemporary art. These artists, like many young art communities around the world, were unable to pay the soaring costs of rent and moved to the old factory site on the outskirts of Beijing. They created cheap but spacious studios. They painted but struggled to find buyers who appreciated their artworks.

As the Chinese contemporary art market prospered over the years before 2012, the 798 Art Zone's reputation soared, but so did rents there. When you stroll there today, unappreciated artists and small galleries full of the ideals from its heyday are nowhere to be found. Instead, there are exotic restaurants, bookstores selling art reproductions and souvenir shops.

If you have ever been to other tourist sites in Beijing, you will find the same cheap Chinese craftwork. I think the current state of the 798 Art Zone is already far from what true art stands for. Perhaps we should rename it the 798 Art Business Zone.

In fact, the number of galleries at the art district was cut from 207 to 173 last year. If you are looking for an artist, perhaps you should go to Songzhuang village, where rent is still relatively affordable, but I do not know how long that will last because the air there looks more and more like it does now at the 798 district.

Galleries are the end market for contemporary art. Through galleries, many unknown artists can sell their works to the masses, to not-so-wealthy art lovers. The performance of a gallery can truly reflect whether the art market is good or bad. Young and idealistic artists also have to rely on selling some of their beloved works to survive. And those who are willing to buy artwork with their monthly salaries are the real foundation of contemporary art.

I do not think a small number of elite artists can help to create a new era in Chinese art. The foundation of art is always life and beauty, rather than the market.

The future of Chinese contemporary art belongs to those who truly love art. The momentary glitter brought by the market will eventually vanish into thin air. A hundred years later, good artists will be remembered, respected and appreciated, while the market puppets will be forgotten.

Let us remember an alarming phenomenon in 2012: Despite an overall weakness, the market for contemporary ink and wash paintings was hot. Critics regard 2012 as the first year that Chinese wash paintings came to fruition. Exhibitions and auctions of wash paintings are still in full swing.

Ink and wash is a variant of traditional Chinese art, a form of Chinese aesthetic expression that has long been recognized. In my opinion, however, this new thirst for contemporary ink and wash is not progress.

It is not innovative in ideas. This is inspiration for the lazy and an exploitation of our national identity. In the vast majority of contemporary ink paintings, I see no artistic soul.

Perhaps we can treat this ink and wash buzz as a collective "bailout". If this style helps to strengthen the contemporary art market, so be it. Only in difficult times, what is true will always stay true.

The author is a researcher at the CCTV Development Research Center. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily 04/19/2013 page11)