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As China's nascent art market is taking off, the country's
emerging crop of young talent has the golden opportunity to make a
breakthrough in an international art scene that some say largely
overlooked locally-inspired art.
With such stimulating views, the month-long second Beijing
International Art Biennale, which closed yesterday, has become a
stage for the world's artists to display and discuss their latest
ideas.
Artists and scholars touched upon a wide range of subjects
centering on the theme "Contemporary Art with Humanistic
Concerns."
The discussions covered everything from contemporary art in
different countries and feminism in contemporary art, to the future
of traditional Chinese art forms such as the ink painting in the
face of globalization and the emergence of new media.
"Compared with my findings at the first Beijing Biennale, I
found more Chinese artists, especially the younger generations, are
showing their strengths," said Roger Gustafsson, a curator from
Finland, adding that it takes time for a fledgling market to mature
and to be well-regulated to secure sustainable growth. "I believe
they will attract collectors from China and foreign countries."
Unique diversity
Variety in contemporary art and cultural identity, another hot
topic at the seminar, can be a factor in the market's
development.
Variety and uniqueness make the international art scene so
colorful and vigorous, said Lin Mu, a professor with Sichuan
Academy of Fine Arts.
"When speaking of contemporary art, in most cases, people are
just referring to art in certain Western countries with a highly
developed economy and predominant influence on the world art
market," Lin said. "But art with local flavors, such as traditional
Chinese art and art in Africa and Latin America, are largely
overlooked by the mainstream market, international critics and
curators."
Artists create according to their life experiences and their
native cultures, and thus have their individual characteristics and
unique value, he said.
Criticized by some as a "conservative and old-fashioned
biennale" which focuses only on paintings and sculptures, Lin would
beg to differ. In Lin's opinion, the Beijing Biennale is the first
one that provides artists from all parts of the world an equal
platform to show off their art and to learn from each other.
Sami Ben Ameur, an artist and critic from Tunisia, said: "In an
age of globalization, the governments should make a clear statement
of respect of cultural variety and its development through policies
and market strategies.
"Training of artists involved in the economic field about law
and rules on protecting cultural and artistic variety is
necessary."
Art market
One of the most eye-opening issues during the biennale has been
about the art market.
The art market worldwide is divided into a professional world
with its own terms of quality assignment and the world of the
average art consumer, who is often left feeling confused, according
to Marek Claassen, a German art dealer. The way in which the
professional world evaluates the quality of a work of art remains a
mystery to potential consumers.
The lack of conviction and knowledge of a large section of
society in its own tastes explain why the art market continues to
have such a unique character, he said.
"This basically means that the professionals designed a kind of
private code that art consumers cannot decrypt," he said. "That
makes the consumer feel uncertain. The other thing is that often,
people do not trust their own taste. Instead, they look at what
others do and copy that."
The lack of certainty makes the art market a playground only for
the super rich or for every well-funded institution, he warned.
"China's art market is taking off in recent years along with
economic booms," said Xu Liang, editor-in-chief of Beijing-based
World Art magazine. "But the fledgling market has also encountered
some irregularities and practices of dishonesty."
Many Chinese art collectors, due to lack of knowledge and
expertise, have reportedly bought lower quality or even fake
artwork.
Bjorn Li, a veteran art dealer from Norway, said that artwork of
"conservative and figurative nature," as some advocates of vanguard
art such as performance and installation described, still dominate
the art markets worldwide.
"The craftsmanship and emotional involvement of an artist are
still highly valued by critics and art collectors alike," he said.
"It is the work itself that arrests the attention of viewers and
wins their hearts."
In his view, the strict training in classic art and basic skills
and the techniques of Chinese artists put them in an advantageous
position. But many artists have a weakness.
"In contrast, too many of today's contemporary artists, either
in China or in Western countries, talk too much about their work
(to explain the meaning) rather than letting others directly
understand and interpret their 'conceptual art' works."
Despite the need for improvement, Anders Liden, a veteran
Swedish artist and president of the Swedish National Committee of
International Association of Art, saw the promise of the country's
artists.
He marveled at the centuries-old masterpieces of the Xin'an
Painting School founded in today's Anhui
Province by ancient monks such as Jian Jiang (1610-64) and Shi
Tao (1630-1742), shown at the Special Exhibition of the Beijing
Biennale in Anmei Art Center, Hefei. The exhibition ended on
October 8.
He was also impressed by the works of Chinese artists displayed
during the second Beijing Biennale. "They are doing very well," he
said. "But my suggestion is that Chinese artists today should never
sever their cultural roots when embracing new trends in the
contemporary art.
"Only deeply rooted in the time-honored, highly developed
Chinese culture can Chinese artists gain a firm foothold in the
world art market. It is unwise for young Chinese artists to give up
their cultural identity and copy their Western counterparts."
(China Daily October 21, 2005)
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