In July 2023, the first spring auction after the epidemic officially came to an end in the eyes of the public. This season's spring auction of modern and contemporary art has a market size of more than 4 billion yuan, with 2,200 auction items, of which The total turnover of Spring Auctions in the Mainland was 976 million yuan, and more than 1,000 pieces were auctioned. All auction houses forged ahead amid opportunities and challenges.

On July 11, 2023, ArtPro Talk specially invited six senior experts of modern and contemporary art from Beijing’s core auction houses to discuss the changes and trends of the Chinese art market in the spring of 2023, including China Guardian, Beijing Poly . discuss. Below, let us focus on the wonderful views of China Guardian 20th Century and Contemporary Art Department expert Zhu Lin. 
 

Q: What is the overall performance of Chinese modern and contemporary artworks in the 2023 Spring Auction? Please look back at the highlight moments in your mind.

A: Based on the solid collection work and full communication with collectors before the Spring Auction, our overall setting for this year’s Spring Auction is relatively stable. Twentieth Century Art, Chinese Contemporary Art The settings of the three sections of Zhongjian and New Painting are relatively balanced. The auction structure is dominated by medium-sized auctions at the price level, and the auction prices are relatively stable. Such a special setting is conducive to allowing more collectors to have the opportunity to enter the market, and will also have a better turnover rate. 
 

The turnover of each section was basically in line with expectations, and the most surprising thing was the new painting section. In terms of price, Since 2000, the transactions of new Chinese paintings have been active and strong, with new records for the prices of more than 20 artists, and the total turnover exceeded 100 million for the first time. Huang Yuxing's "Nine Dragons" was the TOP1 price in this sale, which greatly exceeded the pre-auction expectations and sold for 20.7 million yuan, making it the artist's second most expensive work. 
 

The biggest change in the collector group is the number of new buyers participating in the bidding Significantly increased, and the intention of the visitors is clear; the structure of collectors is more diversified, including not only young collectors, but also senior collectors of cross-category collections, who previously had rich experience in a relatively stable sector In the experience of purchasing and collecting, the aesthetic tendency is more traditional, but when entering the contemporary art sector, once the intended target is delineated, they will often join the bidding decisively and leave a large room for the bidding range.

Q: Each auction house has many works of a popular artist listed for auction. How does China Guardian consider the artist’s individual case settings? 
 

A: There was a The cases I intend to do are Wu Guanzhong and Fang Junbi. The original intention is to hope that the secondary market will have a deeper understanding of the individual artists represented by them. This also reflects the work policy and attitude that we have always adhered to at Guardian: to guide the market with academics, and at the same time contribute to the market to feed back academics. "Special Topic on Wu Guanzhong's Art" lineup of 7 lots was unveiled.The total turnover of this topic was 63.135 million yuan, and three lots were sold for more than 10 million yuan. The most eye-catching "Colorful Face" was sold for 28.75 million yuan;9 pieces of "Fang Junbi Art Special" were 100% sold, and successfully won the white gloves, with a total turnover of 7.7142 million yuan. Among them, the representative masterpiece "Oriental Venus" in the 1940s sold for 5.75 million yuan make a deal. 
 

Wu Guanzhong is a well-known twentieth century art master, but in fact many resources Fang, bidders, or guests holding coins waiting to enter the venue do not know enough about Mr. Wu’s academic positioning and art historical value; they also lack a certain amount of imagination in terms of market prospects. Although Wu Guanzhong has worked on the secondary market for nearly 20 years, it has been a long time since the auction house has followed up further. Now we just encountered a gap in the market, and we have the ability to collect 7 pieces of good quality. The works, Wu Lao’s 30-year golden creative career spanning from the early 1970s to the end of the 1990s, are very rare opportunities.

We have a relatively stable channel for the collection of Fang Junbi’s works, and because of the opportunity of China Guardian’s 30th anniversary celebration auction, it is possible for us to collect such a series of high-quality works from the entrusting party. This is also the natural advantage of Guardian as the first company to deeply cultivate the art sector in the early 20th century. 
 

Q: 5060 The backbone of Chinese contemporary art The sector’s performance in spring auctions this season was relatively flat. Has the price of artists in this sector stabilized? What space and possibility is there?

A: The plate rotation is normal, the result of an auction does not represent the overall situation of this group, everything may change in ten years, we have to relax Mentality to look at changes in the market.

To give an example, when I was in contact with overseas business around 2010, Japan was a place I often visited. Go to mainland China to participate in the auction, and the price has a great advantage. But at that time, the attention of mainland China was not on Impressionism at all. Even with the resources at hand for Impressionism, it was difficult to start this sector.

In the past two years, Impressionist master works have gradually become the direction of competition in the European, American and Hong Kong markets, and have repeatedly set sky-high prices. Christie's "Paul Allen Collection" auctioned 1.62 billion US dollars. It is undoubtedly the core part to support its market volume. What's more worth mentioning is that there are many Chinese collectors behind the bidding for these high-priced Impressionist works. 
 

Q: More and more collectors will What do you think about showing off your collection on social media?

A: Before seeing some collectors sharing their auctions on Xiaohongshu or social media, I would have some doubts. For many years, based on the behavior pattern of the Tibetan community in the past, it is normal for collections to be cautiously shown and limited to exchanges with Tibetan friends or research and study. Now, I gradually began to understand this kind of sharing behavior that is completely open to the public. Communicating on social platforms is one of the lifestyles of young collectors today, and it is also a channel for them to interact with the world. It has a strong social attribute. I can also learn about the new vitality and new changes in the art collection ecology, which is very interesting. . 
 

Q: The next market growth point of the Beijing modern and contemporary art market where? In the future, will the Beijing market continue to be more independent or will it be more linked with the global market?

A: If you start from a small perspective, the growth point can only be achieved by expanding the sector. For example, the sectors in the Hong Kong market are Western, Japanese and Korean, Impressionist, post-war, Southeast Asian, and Chinese modern and contemporary art. Whichever sector is on the rise, the proportion of this sector will be increased. However, it is impossible for the mainland market to fill in all sectors. The mainland should base itself on local culture, focus on the local market, persist in deep cultivation, keep its own core resources and competitiveness, and continuously sort out and enrich China's own contemporary art context and system. 
 

In 2022, the turnover of local modern and contemporary art will be nearly 1.9 billion The turnover of spring auctions in 2023 will be 970 million yuan, and if no surprises for autumn auctions, the total turnover of this year will be the same as last year. In 2021, the turnover of local modern and contemporary art will be nearly 2.7 billion yuan. Judging from the analysis of specific data in previous years, the enthusiasm and high turnover of the overall market is not due to the fact that local auction houses have added many new sectors outside of China, such as the West or Japan and South Korea, but rather the existing main sectors. Every section is well done, and every lot is sold at a good price.

In autumn, Guardian will present a wonderful and creative auction, and look forward to seeing you again.

For more updates on the global art market in 2023, please continue to pay attention to ArtPro.