The art of marketing

A gift from Russia's former leader Joseph Stalin to Chairman Mao Zedong in the late 1940s, the Shanghai Exhibition Hall, proves that a symbol of political friendship can also become an architectural classic. A combination of magnificent Russian style and exquisite Baroque details, it has become a landmark that still shines brightly among the forest of modern skyscrapers.

Over the past weekend, an influx of artists, art gallery owners, buyers and collectors have turned the building into a palace of art and fashion.

However the Shanghai Contemporary is not only about the fashionable, according to Pierre Huber, the show's artistic director. It can be hilarious, or shocking, or bewildering, he says.

In the eyes of this world famous art dealer and collector, contemporary art should provide multiple perspectives that betray the art phenomena people are familiar with and the aesthetic prejudices of society.

And so it is the art exhibition. The Shanghai Contemporary reflects his new idea of mixing art fair with marketing. He has jointly presented it with Lorenzo A. Rudolf, fair director, and BolognaFiere Spa, organizer of the Shanghai Contemporary.

Both Huber and Rudolf enjoy high reputations for their decade of contributions to Art Basel (Switzerland), the world's premier modern and contemporary art fair.

While BolognaFiere is one of Europe's leading fair organizing corporations in large-scale exclusive lifestyle fairs. Also, their artistic ties in Shanghai this time is a positive yet objective response to the emerging craze for Asian contemporary art around the globe, particularly the very active art scenes developed throughout China and India.

"It is time to have a new perception of Asian contemporary art," says Michele Porcelli, CEO of BolognaFiere.

"Our basic aim is to put the artists in the center of this event through the mediation of galleries," says Huber.

Huber insists on cooling down the current over-heated art market.

"We should shift our focus from those so-called art centers to gain a more comprehensive and objective scope," he says.

This may partly explain why they chose Shanghai instead of Beijing to implement their ideas.

"Shanghai is a combination of East and West. It has a long tradition of being a Chinese gate to the outside world," says Lorenzo Rudolf.

The show attracted 130 top quality art galleries from 23 countries, among them nearly 80 percent are from abroad.

They tend to build an international platform in Asia for the worldwide contemporary art scene with no emphasis on any specific culture.

It is the first time for most of the overseas galleries to participate in an art fair held in China.

They have brought overseas works in an effort to introduce Chinese people to Western contemporary art.

Many wish to build a connection with the local art market through the creations of Asian artists they represent.

The Brussels-based J.Bastien Art displays works of two Chinese artists, Chu Teh-Chun and Zhu Wei, and a South Korean artist, Bang Hai Ja.

According to its owner, Jeane Bastien, Chinese visitors showed great interest in Zhu Wei's paintings, which employ the essence of traditional Chinese painting and assume an antique fashion.

"Zhu was unknown to many back in Europe. We are surprised that he is so well received by those potential buyers and collectors here in China," Bastien says.

"They clearly know him and the value of his work. And so they are also familiar with other artists with Chinese origin," she says, adding that her gallery has sold a painting by Chu Teh-Chun to a local buyer.

Other overseas galleries have no plan to march into Chinese contemporary art market in the near future.

The main reason they came was because of the irresistible appeal of the two former forces of Art Basel.

"Pierre Huber and Lorenzo Rudolf are the guarantees of world class art fair, galleries and artists," says Dovan Ong, general manager of Bodhi Art.

The gallery, established in Singapore in 2004, endeavors to platform the best of Indian contemporary art.

The artist they represent on the fair is Atul Dodiya, a 70-year-old woman who has lived in New York for 30 years and has established her fame in the local art scene.

"We don't know much about Chinese art fairs. Likewise, we find that Chinese visitors also know little about Indian art, particularly its new development since 2000," says Ong.

"It is important to show them and other overseas visitors as well the modern and mature face of Indian contemporary art.

"A lot of local audiences are interested in Dodiya's paper installations and wall-hanging sculptures. I think it's a good start for more communications between us," he says.

Ong's feelings resonate with the fair's effort to offer contemporary Asian art a merited position in the international art market. And some Chinese galleries have achieved a good harvest.

Hsiao Fuyuan, art director of Beijing-based Soka Contemporary Space and Art Center, says about 60 percent of his buyers at the fair are Westerners who have come to China for the first time. A regular attendant of several domestic art fairs, he senses an obvious increase in overseas buyers and collectors of great importance this time.

"The Shanghai Contemporary offers a rare opportunity for Chinese art galleries, especially those who have never attended any international air fair, to take a big step forward," he says.

Many of his Chinese counterparts at the fair agree that it also stimulates the local art exhibition trade.

To find the talent, Huber and another colleague started with looking for good artists. They communicated with the galleries representing or cooperating with the artists they were interested in.

The team curated two featured exhibitions, Best of Artists and Best of Discovery, by putting together both established Asian artists and promising young talents.

"New artists, curators and collectors are born here at the fair," says Porcelli.

(China Daily 09/11/2007 page18)