Zhang Xiaogang's Big Family Series No 15, a highlight of Sotheby's Hong Kong sales last month, may have gone for HK$8.74 million (lower than the HK$8.8 million to HK$12 million estimate), but the fact that it's still a record suggests that Chinese contemporary art is still hot. And it doesn't look as if it will cool down any time soon, with domestic investors now getting in on the act. New auction houses are being set up in Beijing and elsewhere. And houses better known for calligraphy, ink and wash or ceramics are increasing their lots in contemporary art and, in some cases, introducing sections devoted to the genre. At the autumn sales of Beijing Poly Auctions on November 21, for instance, more than 200 lots will go under the hammer in the special contemporary Chinese Art section, including paintings by Zhang, Wang Guangyi, Yue Minjun and Zeng Fanzhi. Yue's 1999 Chimney is expected to fetch more than three million yuan. A day later at China Guardian Auctions, the new 20 Years of Contemporary Art section will present 188 lots, including works by Zhang and Yue that are expected to fetch between two million and three million yuan. There have been several new arrivals on the contemporary arts scene this year, particularly in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. Beijing Council Auctions, set up this year, began the spring auctions on the mainland with its inaugural sale in April. Its Modern and Contemporary Paintings section was packed with bidders, resulting in a turnover of 29 million yuan and a sales rate of 97 per cent. One of the highlights was Zeng's Bei Dai River, which went to a private French collector for 1.65 million yuan. More than half of the successful bidders were from the west, says You Yong, head of the oil painting department at Beijing Council Auctions. 'They were just opening the bid for that painting when he walked in,' You says of the French collector who bought Zeng's piece. 'He paid a deposit of US$6,000, grabbed his auction paddle and started raising it even as he walked into the room. After the auction, he said, 'Great work, cheap price'.' In an attempt to remain a step ahead, Council Auctions last month introduced the section Chinese Artists Born in the 70s, featuring more than 100 lots by young, emerging artists earmarked as potential stars. In Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, newcomer Nanjing Classic Auctions held its inaugural sale in September. Sailing on the Ocean - the Autumn Auction of Contemporary Art sold close to 90 per cent of 132 lots for a toal of 22 million yuan. Claiming the promotion of contemporary Chinese art as its mission, the auction house says it hopes to attract more local buyers and collectors, catering especially for a new breed of buyers from Jiangsu and neighbouring Zhejiang province. 'There appears to be a startling increase of new local faces in the contemporary art sales here,' says Grace Zhuang, manager of Longren Art in Beijing. Although the majority of buyers have for the past decade been westerners and overseas Chinese from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, the number of buyers from the mainland is growing, with the newly rich fast becoming an important clientele of this category - especially when the market is becoming as hot as real estate. Zhuang says many of these collectors are brokers in real estate and stock markets who seem to regard contemporary art as their new sport. 'These hedge-fund collectors purchase paintings at one auction house and sell them at another literally one or two months down the line,' Zhuang says. 'It's true art is a form of investment, but I doubt they know anything about the art itself.' One of the most popular and comprehensive auction websites on the mainland, artron.net, not only monitors auction results but also presents and speculates on the value of specific works or artists using elaborate charts and graphs - much the same as share indexes. Although some say these local collectors are buying and selling for the wrong reasons, most are happy to ride the wave. The local auction houses are making the most of their market dominance for as long as government regulations continue to exclude foreign auctioneers (the likes of Sotheby's and Christie's are confined to Hong Kong). 'Without rivalry from the international auction houses, the local houses - some of which still lack experience and professionalism - still possess the advantages of direct marketing to clients as well as immediate access to artworks by contemporary artists,' says Zhuang.
