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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Arts Chimerica Today: China's Massive Art Market

Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 9:17 AM

A few years ago, China passed Japan to become the second-largest economy in the world. Now it has passed the UK to become the second-largest art market in the world. The Economist reports:

For salvation, the art world is looking east. According to the European Fine Art Foundation, China has overtaken Britain to become the second-largest art market after America. Auction and gallery sales in China were $8.3 billion last year, accounting for 23% of the global market, compared with America’s 34%.

"I'll give you television, I'll give you eyes of blue, I'll give you men who want to rule the world."

Comments (5) RSS

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Charles,
That quote is from Iggy Pop's song "China Girl" most famously covered by David Bowie. Thanks for the memory.

Posted by lark on October 27, 2011 at 9:37 AM

2 Comment Pulled (Spam) Comment Policy

@2, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are not an expert on African art. Yeah?

All this stuff about China is quite normal, as China takes its place in the world economy (or retakes it; China was as recently as 1800 one of the biggest economic powers). They're a huge country, and quite oligarchical; it's quite normal that they would be among the leaders in new car sales, art sales, fine wine sales, new home construction, etc.

You should see the suburbs they're building:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/bu…

http://www.888beijing.com/real-estate/va…

Posted by Fnarf

on October 27, 2011 at 9:51 AM

#1 - Pop and Bowie co-wrote it, so it might be more accurate to say it's "their" song, though Pop recorded it first.

Posted by catsnbanjos on October 27, 2011 at 10:11 AM

On the flip side, China's economy (and their art market) is going to take a nose dive in a few more years. It's a monster right now largely because of demographics. With a reduction in childbirth following a surge in population they've created an economic powerhouse, as working adults outnumber the elderly and those too young to work. It's similar to what happened in the US when the Baby Boomers were in their prime, except greatly exaggerated.

But that workforce will age. The greatly reduced generation to follow them will take over and be unable to support their massive, aging population. With too few young people supporting too many elderly, the economy will wilt and there will be far fewer people putting their diminishing wealth into art.

Posted by Zuulabelle