Internet boosts art sales

An Di, a middle-aged painter in Beijing, wanted to reach the largest possible number of potential buyers for his recent work, "I collected Jiang Youxu's excrement".

Instead of hanging it in a gallery, where it might be seen by a few hundred patrons, An posted the controversial work on his website. He soon had a buyer, a Shanghai collector who paid tens of thousands of yuan for a painting of two feces.

"I don't know who he is. The buyer and I not only made a little contribution to stimulate domestic consumption amid the recession, but have also shared an artistic experience thanks to the Internet," An said.

An Di's work often spoofs celebrities like Jiang Youxu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who recently proposed an environmental fund to which ordinary citizens could contribute. Jiang's proposal was dubbed a "breath tax" and he was subjected to withering criticism on the Internet.

An not only shows his work on the Internet; he prices it according to its popularity: one yuan for each click per month.

"For me, my blog is my gallery," An said. "Although online sales do not give me the kind of stable income I get from a regular gallery, it is interesting. I get to know which of my works the public likes most."

So far, An Di has sold six paintings through his blog. He declined to reveal the prices.

"The income is not as good as my gallery sales," he said. "But the online sales are a revolution, targeting unconventional collectors. I believe they will be the mainstream in the future."

Online art galleries not only reach a huge audience; they are open 24 hours a day and offer buyers and sellers low overhead and high efficiency, according to Zhang Yiling, director of www.sh1122.com, China's leading online art company.

"Our website is a supermarket for artistic works. Online sales can help buyers and sellers save time and money on transport, as well as payment to intermediaries. Any person, no matter where he or she is, can reach a deal at any time as long as he or she has access to the Internet," Zhang said.

Zhang's company, located in Shandong province, is host to approximately 10,000 registered artists, who pay 2,400 yuan ($358) per year to show their catalogues online.

The number of artists has increased by 20 percent per year, Zhang said. The website is now presented in Chinese, Japanese, and English, and the number of foreign buyers is increasing, although most buyers are still from Beijing and Shanghai, she said.

Zhang would not reveal the number or value of sales, but said about one in three contacts between buyer and seller results in a sale.

The best sellers are traditional Chinese ink paintings, which typically go for 5,000 to 30,000 yuan ($736-$4,400) per sq chi. The square chi, a traditional measure by which artwork is sold, is equal to about 0.092 square meters.

"Such pieces make good business gifts, and they are a good investment," Zhang said.

Another advantage of online sales is that they are not taxed. Artworks in China are typically taxed at 30 percent, compared to 5.5 percent in France, but there is generallynot collected online.

(China Daily 04/13/2009 page7)