Luxury Watch Brand Richard Mille Opens Flagship Store In Beijing

Watchmaking Iconoclast’s New Location At Jin Bao Street’s Legendale Hotel Features Decor And Accents Shipped From Paris

Richard Mille's flagship store in Beijing brings an air of bygone Europe to Beijing's Jin Bao Street

Richard Mille, the French luxury watch brand,has just opened a flagship store in Beijing’s five-star Legendale Hotel, according to a company press release. Mille’s fixation with high-tech materials and unique alloys inspired by F-1 motorsport and the aerospace industry, has made him one of the most unusual — and fastest-rising — luxury watch forces in the world, and with the flood of spending we’ve seen in China on luxury goods like watches, cars, wine, jewelry and contemporary art, Beijing’s flagship Mille store should attract the city’s free-spending elite in no time.

[T]he flagship occupies 260 square meters of space at this platinum 5-star hotel that represents European elegance and luxury in the heart of this capital of the People’s Republic of China. With such a prime address and grand interiors, Sparkle Roll Group Limited, the exclusive dealer of Richard Mille in PRC, invested HK$45 million in building this flagship in Beijing.

The Global Yuan: What It Means For Chinese Assets

China’s Monetary Policies Look To Favor Yuan, Gold At Dollar’s Expense: What Will This Mean For Art Collectors & Investors In “Portable China”?

Art Collectors and other holders of "Portable China" can benefit from the globalization of the yuan if they're in it for the medium- to long term

Today, Business Intelligence looks into China’s monetary policies, and how they are increasingly favoring alternate investment vehicles like gold while putting a dent in the US dollar. For investors looking to diversify their holdings into a number of areas to lower risk and exposure to market fluctuations, what will the simultaneous increase in asset diversification, global economic jitters, the ascendance of China and internationalization of its currency have on those who put their money into Chinese assets? The article does a fairly good job of illustrating the long-term effects these market forces will have on these investors as well as China itself:

In a series of recent policy moves and announcements through official channels, or increasingly through indirect ‘economic ambassador’ addressing conferences or talking to western reporters, China’s intentions and ambitions are becoming clearer.

Sotheby’s Autumn Auction 2009: Top 10 Lots To Watch

Strong interest from Asian buyers expected to spark October sale in HK

As we reported recently, the Sotheby’s autumn auction of Asian art – which highlights important contemporary Chinese pieces – will take place in Hong Kong on October 6. With combined estimates at over $12 Million US (HK $98 Million), this sale is expected to be one of the year’s biggest and most-watched auctions. As we have noticed in recent sales — both in Hong Kong and elsewhere — one thing we can expect in this auction is a high proportion of domestic Chinese buyers in the room, and we can expect them to be motivated to buy. Today, in preparation for the upcoming auction season, Forbes published an article on the market for Chinese art, noting that it is becoming gradually more difficult for western collectors to buy a range of Chinese art because of the growing collector base within the country. Describing the increasing numbers of Chinese bidders at antiquities auctions, Sallie Brady writes, “there’s a new dynamic afoot that promises to drive up prices: Mainland Chinese are entering the market in ever greater numbers.”

So for collectors who are interested in making bids on lots in the upcoming Sotheby’s auction, what should they know before they go head-to-head with Chinese buyers? Aside from doing their research to stay up-to-date on recent developments and informed about the past work and possible future longevity of the historical artworks that are up for grabs, it pays to know which lots are the “all stars.” I have looked through the catalog, and here is my list of the “Top 10″ lots up for auction on October 6:

1.) Cai Guo-Qiang: Money Net No. 2 (2002)
Lot: 645
Estimate: US$ 605,000-705,000 (HK$ 4,700,000-5,500,000)

Cai Guo-Qiang (born 1957, Quanzhou, Fujian Province) was educated in stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute from 1981 to 1985. Gunpowder is his trademark medium, from drawings and paintings made by igniting carefully monitored explosions on paper and canvas to massive explosion events like Projects for Extraterrestrials. He is also known for sculptural installation works such as Borrowing Your Enemy’s Arrows (1998), a massive wooden boat riddled with arrows that recalls a legendary tactic of an ancient Chinese general. Cai has had many solo exhibitions, including Cai Guo-Qiang on the Roof: Transparent Monument at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2006) and Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (2008). He was awarded the International Golden Lion prize at the 48th Venice Biennale (1999), and curated the first China Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005). He was the Chief Special Effects Designer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics’ creative team. Cai lives in Brooklyn.

Chinese Graduates Increasingly Drawn To The Arts

More Young Chinese College Students Studying Arts Administration Careers, Following The Ascendance Of Chinese Art

Chinese art administrator Wang Yihan says young Chinese graduates are increasingly drawn to the arts (Image: Global Times)

An interesting development in Chinese contemporary art has accompanied its growth in the global market over the last 20 years, as people in China increasingly see the arts as a valid and attractive career option. Yesterday, my eye was caught by an article on China.org.cn about the growing popularity of Art Administration as a major at China’s universities. As the art market in that country matures and more young people in China see a future in the arts:

China’s growing contemporary art market is finding success at all levels with artists, curators and investors all benefiting from the recent boom. The burgeoning industry is also opening doors for young art graduates who are choosing administration as an alternative career path.

This article illustrates a trend that we’ve seen going on for a while — not so much any sort of art “explosion” in China, or anything so dramatic. More than anything, it’s the steady growth of credibilityin the arts in China. Where once contemporary artists were marginalized in China, particularly in the early stages of the “reform and opening” movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as decadent or lazy outcasts, and contemporary art was seen as a diversion from what was “important,” the growing interest in arts administration shows that the younger generation in China is interested in plugging in to their country’s artistic culture and its growing connection to the global art world. As the China.org.cn article goes on to illustrate, arts administration professionals in China have a keen insight into the current state of China’s contemporary art market. According to the curator profiled in the article, Wang Yihan, collectors should be knowledgeable about the Chinese art market and do their research — whether the global art market is up or down, the key to successful art collection is, as always, knowing and recognizing quality and looking for historical artists whose work will endure:

University of Melbourne Looks At The Rise Of Contemporary Chinese Art

Three-Part Lecture Series Gives Excellent Introduction To The Fast-Moving World Of Chinese Art

 

The Monthly (Australia)’s SlowTV video channel is currently hosting a three-part lecture series from the University of Melbourne’s recent “Festival of Ideas” session, featuring insight from China experts Geremie Barme and Claire Roberts. This video series is a must-see for anyone interested in the emergence of contemporary Chinese art as a global force.

See the videos at:
http://www.themonthly.com.au/rise-contemporary-chinese-art-chaired-chris-mcauliffe-1792

New Contemporary Chinese Art Museum Opens Doors In Sydney

White Rabbit Contemporary Chinese Art Collection Is One Of Australia’s Largest, Eagerly Anticipated Privately Funded Art Museums

Graphic © White Rabbit Contemporary Chinese Art Collection

We have written recently on privately-funded contemporary Chinese art museums, which have sprung up everywhere from Beijing to Singapore and elsewhere. Recently, Australia’s White Rabbit Contemporary Chinese art collection has opened to the public, giving art fans the opportunity to view more than 400 works by 160 artists, and significantly bolstering Sydney’s Chinese art infrastructure. The collection, which focuses specifically on works created since 2000, and as The Australian points out, takes up “2000sqm of space, reportedly developed at a cost of about $10 million, on four levels. The publicity material describes it, with some justification, as one of the most significant collections of contemporary Chinese art anywhere in the world.”

Ashleigh Wilson, writing for The Australian, notes that the White Rabbit collection — one of several privately-funded art museums to have opened in Australia in the last few years — gives Australians interested in Chinese art an excellent venue to learn more about the country’s artists and evolving artistic trends. With the growing contingent of large-scale domestic Chinese collectors in China growing year-by-year, I would forecast that it is only a matter of time before privately-funded museums like White Rabbit begin to pop up in mainland China as well.

Yue Minjun Sails Past Estimates At Phillips Contemporary Auction

Contemporary Chinese Artist Assures Place Among Top Contemporary Artists, Selling For $685,694

Yue Minjun's "Untitled" (2005) brought in nearly $200,000 more than its top estimate. Image © Phillips de Pury & Company

Tentative signs of optimism are starting to show in the contemporary art world, which has not been spared by the economic downturn. Although recent auctions of Chinese and other Asian art have indicated that this region’s contemporary art remains popular among local collectors — who snapped up artwork at recent Ravenel auctions and festivals like HK09 — many predominantly Western art auctions have recently been met by restrained bidding. At last week’s Phillips de Pury & Company Contemporary Art auction in London, however, sometimes frenzied bidding has allowed major auction houses to breathe a slight sigh of relief. 30 of the auction’s 39 pieces sold, bringing in $8,451,540, just shy of the target of 8,692,240. Compared to some other recent sales, this is a huge success, and indicates that buyers are finally getting back into the game as prices have adjusted somewhat and created excellent buying opportunities.

Among the pieces by Koons, Warhol, Ruscha and others, one piece in particular surprised some observers — “Untitled” (2005) by contemporary Chinese artist Yue Minjun. The painting by Yue, who has become one of the world’s top 10-selling contemporary artists over the course of the last 10 years, brought in $196,959 more than its highest estimate, proving that even in tough economic times, historical artists and good quality art will always attract bidders. As Artinfo writes on the sale:

Chinese Antiques Collectors Rapidly Becoming Global Force

Unlikely Collectors In Far-Flung Rural Areas Gaining Notoriety For Massive Antiques Spending Sprees

More than 1,000 collectors took part in the Taiyuan antiques fair, held in north China's Shanxi Province. Image © CCTV

We have written several times before about the growing role of Chinese art collectors in a number of art classes, from Chinese antiquities to contemporary Chinese art, and as the global downturn affects the buying and collecting habits of more established collectors, antiques dealers from Hong Kong, the UK and the US have flocked to new “fairs” in mainland China, where “coal tycoons” — often unassuming (but sometimes ostentatious) individuals who have built vast fortunes on the rural provinces’ coal deposits — are quickly becoming a major collector base. As Le-Min Lim writes for Bloomberg, this new collector base has rapidly becoming one of the most motivated (and willing to spend top dollar) of all global antiques buyers.

While Westerners still dominate the most-expensive segment of this market at auction, they are increasingly being challenged by buyers from mainland China, according to John Berwald, of New York-based dealership Berwald Oriental Art.

Christie’s says Americans are its biggest clients in this category of art, followed by mainland Chinese and Hong Kongers. While Shanxi buyers are new to the international art-trading scene compared with their Beijing and Shanghai peers, they are gaining a name as some of China’s fiercest bidders.

“They are a force to reckon with, no doubt about it,” said Kevin Ching, chief executive of Sotheby’s Asia, who attended the Taiyuan fair. On paper, Shanxi buyers formally accounted for just $4 million of Sotheby’s Chinese antiques at its Hong Kong auctions, though the actual figure is much larger because many bid through agents in the city, he said, declining to give specifics.

There are about 51,000 people in China who have 100 million yuan or more, according to Hurun’s latest China rich list, released in April. Of these, 1,050 are in Shanxi. The actual number of rich individuals in the province is probably more than twice the number on the list, said Rupert Hoogewerf, publisher of Hurun Report, which compiles China’s rich list.

Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibitions Open In South Africa, Canada

“Overbrim the East” Exhibition Hits Knysna As O Zhang’s Installation Is Featured In Vancouver

Contemporary Chinese artist Zhang Zhengmin will be among the artists featured in the "Overbrim the East" exhibition in South Africa

Two new Chinese art exhibitions are set to open in two very different parts of the globe, reflecting the growing internationalization of contemporary Chinese art. Knysna, South Africa is preparing for a unique traveling exhibition of Chinese contemporary art cooperatively organized by the South African National Association of Visual Arts, The South African National Lottery and the Chinese Embassy in South Africa. This exhibition features works by Chinese contemporary artists Zhang Zhengmin, Cai Guangbin, Lu Yunhua and Liu Guufu and will continue in Knysna through July 11.

On the other side of the globe, another interesting exhibition of contemporary Chinese art has just opened at the Vancouver Art Museum. This site-specific installation by Chinese artist O Zhang will remain open from July 20 to November 29, 2009, and signals the beginning of the museum’s new initiative of 6-month exhibitions, which will be held on a rotating base in the new “Offsite” art space. As Canadian Architect writes, this exhibition by young Chinese artist O Zhang is a great way to christen Offsite:

China Merchants Bank Launches Innovative Chinese Contemporary “Art Banking” Fund

Bank Follows Lead of Art Investment Funds Like Castlestone Management, Helping Break Down Barriers of Investment In China’s Cultural Assets

Helping Chinese investors break in to the contemporary Chinese art market -- CMB's Art Banking Fund. Sculpture: Yue Minjun's "Contemporary Terracotta Warrior Series No. 6" (2005)

China Merchants Bank (招商银行) has launched a new “Art Banking Fund,” an add-on feature for the bank’s private banking division focused on high-net-worth individuals who want to invest in long-term domestic assets as well as contemporary Chinese art. This innovative program is the latest in CMB’s string of unique initiatives for China’s growing investor base, and attempts to reach this traditionally skittish demographic by allowing them to get involved with assets that are both Chinese in origin and a good investment over the long term, destroying one of the barriers for these investors to “Buy [into] China.”

Programs like this, which allow Chinese investors the ability to invest in a basket of hard assets rather than simply putting their money into stocks or other securities, should be quite successful in the mainland, where most investors feel that a diversified portfolio — more weighted towards hard assets like gold, jewelry, or real estate — is crucial. After all, Chinese investors are still a new demographic, despite their country’s age, as investment of this kind took a roughly 60-year break. Now, however, we can see that Chinese banks and investment firms are developing interesting investment strategies and products meant to offer “investment with Chinese characteristics.”