CHINA: China's booming art market spawns a domestic art index, similar to share indices used to track world stock markets

In Shanghai, even the art market is in a bull run. More than a thousand people crowded the latest summer art auction at the central Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel to make a bid to join in the rally. As the auctioneer set his gavel for the start of the auction, bidding was competitive amongst art collectors and investors flush with cash and ready to splash out on the latest art pieces by China's established as well as up-and-coming painters. And if you needed more proof, you could turn to the "Chinese Painting 400" or the "Oil Painting 100", and chart the rising prices of paintings from a favourite artist or genre. A Shanghai printing company, tapping its connections with auction houses and eyeing the growing ranks of wealthy Chinese, developed the indices with the knowledge that nothing gets attention in China's financial hub like an index in an uptrend. "The main factor was that there was a need for such an index in the art market. In 2001, the Chinese art market became very active, there were many people in the art industry and many who collect art for investment. And they needed something that could give them a good reference for their art investment. And coincidentally, our company already had a unit collating the most number of and the most comprehensive statistics of the art pieces sold throughout the country," said Yu Feng, manager of Artron.net in Shanghai. The "AAMI" (Artron Art Market Index), a brainchild of Artron.net, was launched in 2001 and steadily gained influence among those who trade and collect art. According to Artron's latest data, the overall turnover of auction events for paintings in 2006 was 162.9 billion yuan (21.5 billion U.S. dollars), seven times the level five years ago. The index is compiled monthly to reflect both the size and prices of paintings at auctions run by more than 100 houses in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities. The results are posted on Artron's Web site, http://index.artron.net While auctioneers were happy about the growth of the index, which helped to publicise their events and gave them a reference for valuing paintings, some artists perhaps naturally felt sceptical of market speculation around their creations. "I feel all these things are for the use of people who collect art. It has nothing to do with us, the artists. If you, as an artist, are so keen to see whether your art piece has risen or fallen on the Artron index, then your art piece would be worth nothing. The Artron index is basically just used to cultivate this commercial art market," said Huang Azhong (pron: hwang-ah-zhong), a Shanghai painter known for his works in the "Haipai" style, which combines simplicity and certain foreign influences to depict Chinese scenery. But this is not dampening the spirits of those involved in the art market. Daniel Zhao, manager of Shanghai Hosane Auction Co. Ltd, is one who is brimming with confidence after a good sell-out auction organised by his company. "The collection of art pieces and its development might be slower than music by half a beat, but it would be developing at a much faster rate in the future. And soon enough, it would be in line with the international art market. Think about it, we have such a huge population, and our gross national product will soon be among the top in the world, so why not the value of our art work?" he said, comparing art to Chinese music, which has recently gained international recognition. New galleries and auction fairs have been opening regularly in Shanghai, Beijing and other major Chinese cities in recent years, giving a steady boost to the index and, of course, its compilers.

ITN Source | August 29, 2007

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