'Now, it's all about money'

Art critic Zhu Qi has seen the good times and the bad times.

He prefers the bad times.

"In the 1980s, contemporary Chinese artists had something to say. They would do anything to show their work. Now, it's all about money," said Zhu, 43, who grew up with the "passionate generation" and later became an independent curator.

"In those days, artists, critics, and curators devoted their lives to art, without giving a thought to profit or loss," Zhu said. "Those days are totally gone."

In Zhu's opinion, the contemporary art world has entered a new stage, which he calls "art capitalism".

"Contemporary art is like an unstoppable train, fueled by more and more money. An increasing number of artists want to squeeze on board, afraid that they will miss the train," he said.

In many ways, the art market has come to resemble the stock market, with galleries placing orders and carrying out advertising campaigns and investors buying shares and attempting to manipulate prices, he said.

"The influx of money has corrupted the art scene. Seventy percent of all collectors have entered the art world in the past two years. They have the money, and they make the rules," said Zhu.

The rules are not always what they seem. In the past few years, it has become common for works by some renowned artists to sell for more than $1 million at auction. Zhu believes those values are inflated.

"If those prices were real, those artists would have incomes of $10 million a year or more. They would be making more than the heads of some big companies," he said.

"Actually, even those big businessmen don't have that much money, because their wealth is tied up in stocks they can't sell."

There are two explanations for such high prices, Zhu says. Either the auction house has duped a newcomer, or the artist has had a shill buy his work to drive up the market.

The current economic downturn has put the brakes on the contemporary art market, just as it did in France in the 1950s and in Japan and the United States in the 1980s. Zhu says he does not expect to see prices in China rise significantly within three to five years.

He is particularly critical of the idea of art as a short-term investment.

"People really should not think of contemporary art as a stock that they can sell in the short- or mid-term," he said.

But mostly, Zhu would prefer that people think of art as art.

"It's time for people in the art world to stop talking about money," he said.

(China Daily 04/13/2009 page6)