Art attack

What's the connection between the world leading financial firm UBS and contemporary art?

It's UBS' diverse corporate collection of more than 1,000 works from all over the world covering the 1950s to the new century.

UBS is dedicated to sharing the art around the globe and exhibits have been presented in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo.

And now a select group is in China, the emerging market for the global financial giant. Currently 153 of the works on exhibit in Beijing's National Art Museum of China, as "Moving Horizons - The UBS Art Collection: 1960s to the present day".

"Moving Horizons" in Beijing, began September 28 and continues until November 4. It follows a successful exhibit in Shanghai in June and July and is expected to move to Guangzhou in November.

The "Moving Horizons" exhibition embodies four decades and is grouped into seven movements or periods, beginning with late 1950s proto-Pop and 1960s Pop featuring artists such as Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol; the Minimalism of people such as Ellsworth Kelly and Frank Stella and 1970s works with a quieter conceptual aesthetic, represented by Vija Celmins and Alighiero Boetti. Neo-expressionist and figurative painting and sculpture of the 1980s are also included.

The 1990s art scene in the West was dominated on the one hand by photography, especially from Germany, and on the other hand by the YBAs (Young British Artists) such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Gary Hume.

The 21st century is characterized by a diverse and global group of artists including large-scale photo-based installations by Chinese artist Xu Zhen as well as videos by Chinese artists Qiu Anxiong, Cao Fei, and Chen Chieh-jen from Taiwan province, Navin Rawanchaikul from Thailand, Adrian Paci from Albania and Oscar Muoz from Colombia.

The 153 works reflect the change in collecting from local to global, from a world in which most artists lived in the country where they were born and the art market was led by New York, to a world in which artists migrate or divide their time between continents, and the art market has multiple sources across the global, from Mexico City to Mumbai, from Berlin to Beijing.

They also reflect the change in visual arts from those that were prescribed by movements to one that is diverse and fluid.

"The horizons have shifted, are still moving," says Joanne Bernstein, curator with The UBS Art Collection under UBS AG.

According to David Li, country head and chairman of UBS China, the art exhibition reflects that the financial firm's commitment to social development, as well as business development.

"I firmly believe the exhibition provides Chinese audiences with a unique UBS art feast as well as an understanding of our corporation," he says.

Business and art

Collecting art was important for all the major banks that make up what is known today as UBS and its become a tradition for the financial group.

Petra Arends, project manager for the exhibit and The UBS Art Collection, classifies the purpose into four categories: deepening relations with clients, inspiring employees, expanding media coverage, and helping build the UBS brand.

The origin of corporate collection happened almost by chance in the West in the 1950s when some companies decorated their lobbies and offices with original art. About two to three decades later they also found the art works were becoming very valuable as well as aesthetically pleasing.

As such they began buying art to enrich their collections as well as for public exhibitions, which served also as corporate brand enhancement and public relations.

Art collecting also has, of course, become an investment tool for individuals and one sector of UBS is wealth management, which covers collecting.

The company's collection also helps build emotional relations between art lovers clients and attracts more clients interested in art investment.

Arends points out that The UBS Art Collection's exhibition is following the company's business around the world. "As China has become one of the most growing marketplaces for our company, we come here."

UBS China head Li says the team has collected some works from Chinese artists.

"Along with economic development and globalization, more Chinese contemporary artists are emerging on the international stage," says Fan Di'an, director of the National Art Museum of China and also a vice-president and professor of the Central Academy of Fine Art.

He notes that the exhibit offers Chinese audiences the opportunity to experience the diversity of the contemporary art from all over the world.

"What's more important is, through the introduction of the UBS manner and experiences with art collecting, we will discuss and exchange ideas on corporate art collection and its development in China," says Fan, adding that a related forum will held during the exhibition.

(China Daily 10/20/2008 page8)