Art Price, an art market analyzing firm, released the 2007/2008 Annual Report based on the auction records of 2,900 auction houses in 72 countries surveyed along with Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain (FIAC) from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. All of Art Price's surveys considered the artworks of artists born after 1945 that were sold through auction houses. The 2007 report concentrated on analyzing the acclivity of price indexes in contemporary art market that had shown exponwestern ential growth from 1990 to 2007, the recent report is on the flow of art market until right before the second half of 2008 when prices began to fall due to the economic crisis. Art Price evaluated on the first page that "Despite the economic strike, the art markets in Asia and the Middle East showed the greatest success and the most remarkable auction records." However, it also emphasizes that "Many changes in the art market are clearly predictable for this year despite that the last 10 years of auction records proved that investments in artworks have been consistent."

Structural Changes for a New Era

Many people have predicted for a long time that the 21st century would be the Age of the Pacific due to the rapid economic growth of Asian countries since the mid-20th century. Many experts have constantly argued that the world? axis would shift from the Atlantic between Europe and America to the Pacific. The growth of Europe and Japan would be greatly blunted, but some analyzed that the gross domestic product(GDP) of China and India would surpass the GDP of every other countries on earth, except for the U.S. and Japan, by 2025 and shift the core of the world in 20 years. This issue has been widely discussed at the World Economic Forum(WEF), the gathering of global leaders and intellectuals, for a long time. The 2007 Davos Forum's discussion on the shift of power and the construction of a new international order was published as The Davos Report: Shirt of Power in Korea and was widely read. Likewise, the theme of this year's Davos Forum Annual Meeting, which will be held for five days from January 28 to February 1 as the largest Davos Forum in history, will be 'Shaping the Post-Crisis World.'
Art Price also analyzed that the world topography of the contemporary art market is changing. The art market has been led by the U.S. since the 1950s. In the early 21st century, the Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses in the U.S. and London continuously sold the artworks of the 20th century's leading artists-Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, etc-at prices exceeding USD $10million. The prices were higher than those of the most popular artworks by Van Gogh or Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Since then, the power of contemporary art market was equally pided by the U.S. and Western Europe, centered on Britain.
In 2007, however, the expansion of art markets in Asia, including Russia, China, and India, was clearly witnessed, forecasting that it would be no longer possible for the U.S. to dominate the market. From the mid-2007 to mid-2008, the total amount of contemporary artworks sold at auctions in each country indicated that the U.S. and London achieved the 1st and 2nd places with EUR 348 million and EUR 262 million, respectively, and China reached EUR 249 million to take the 3rd place. Considering that France only recorded EUR 15 million, Italy only EUR 10 million, and Germany only EUR 6 million, Taiwan's EUR 14 million and Singapore's EUR 13 million were remarkable growths. For the last 12 months, 10 artworks were sold in China's contemporary art market at over USD $1 million.

Faltering Contemporary Art Market

During the survey period, the total amount of contemporary art trades around the world reached EUR 980 million, which was 50% higher than that of the previous year. For 17 years from July 1, 1991 to July 1, 2008, the contemporary art market recorded 132% growth in price index, and this is about five times greater than other art markets in classical, 19th century, modern, and post-war arts. Among 13,900 artists, whose works were auctioned, 1,760 artists recorded the highest selling prices, but only 28 pieces were sold at over USD $1 million.
The following lists the artists that recorded the highest sales in each country. USA: Jeff Koons (EUR 81.3 million), England: Damien Hirst (EUR 53.4 million), China: Zhang Xiaogang (EUR 38.5 million), Japan: Takashi Murakami (EUR 18.5 million), India: Anish Kapoor (EUR 8 million), Italy: Rudolf Stingel (EUR 7.7 million), Germany: Andreas Gursky (EUR 5.8 million), Spain - Miquel Barcel?(EUR 4 million), Iran: Moshiri Farhad (EUR 1.6 million), Switzerland: Ugo Rondinone (EUR 1.5 million), France: Robert Combas (EUR 1.3 million), and Belgium: Luc Tuymans (EUR 1.1 million).
One of the characteristics of 2008 was the growth of sculpture. Only 14 sculptures were sold at over USD $1 million in 2007, but 18 sculptures were sold at over USD $1 million during the first half of 2008 alone. Maurizio Cattelan, Robert Gober, and Anish Kapoor are some of the rising sculptors following Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, and Takashi Murakami. Four of these artists are the leading artists of their countries.
Art Price forecasted that the contemporary art market would quickly stabilize the prices, being affected by the economic crisis. The aftermath of the subprime incident has increased the oil price, shattered the stock market, and caused the inflation to persist to incur the fall of GDP. However, the art market was stable for a short while and most art investors anticipated until July 2008 that the prices of artworks would continue to rise. For example, on September 15, when Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy, Damian Hirst's The Golden Calf was sold at USD $18,661,796 at London Sotheby's. The two-day special auction on Damian Hirst sold a total of USD $200,752,179 and four pieces were sold at over USD $5 million. Until then, it seemed that the art market would not be affected by the economic crisis. Since the second half of 2008, however, the prices of most artworks have clearly fallen compared to the previous year.
Sotheby's sales in fine art and decorative art in 2008 recorded USD $4,082 million, which was 11% lower than 2007, and Christie's also recorded approximately USD $4 billion after a 20% reduction. At the fall auction of Sotheby's Hong Kong, which ended on October 8, the selling rate of modern and contemporary art was 59.6% and that of the 20th century Chinese art recorded the lowest 35.4%. Christie's, the leading seller of Asian contemporary art, also had a hard time. At the fall auction in November, the selling rate of Asian contemporary art was 56% and of the 20th century Chinese art was 46%. The numbers were nearly halved from 94% and 73%, respectively, compared to the spring auction in May.

Asia and the Middle East are the New Centers

Despite the economic recession, the boom of Chinese contemporary art will not easily fade away. The scale of Chinese contemporary art's auction market in 2007 was approximately EUR 105 million, but it grew by 69.5% from July 2007 to July 2008 up to approximately EUR 178 million. During this time, London grew by 73.6%, but the U.S. only grew by 26% and France receded by 16%, indicating that the West European auction market, except for London, had also entered the recess. In 2003/4, 100 Chinese artists only sold approximately EUR 1 million worth of artworks, but the same 100 artists have sold approximately EUR 315 million for the last 12 months. Among them, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Xiaogang, and Yue Minjun sold over EUR 30 million each.
This is an example that the price index of Chinese Avant Garde art increased by 25.4% compared to last year and 1,050% compared to 10 years ago. The selling rate of Chinese Avant Garde art increased from 6.9% in 2005 to 30.5% in the first half of 2008. It is considered that this genre of art, which was only found in auction houses in 2003 and 2004, gained more popularity among art collectors and it was more widely exposed with the increase of art fairs in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore, and Hong Kong. It is not even surprising that six of the world's top 10 auction houses in the world for the past 12 months were Chinese auction houses. Art Price released an interesting analysis that the ?ost selling?Asian artists, especially Chinese artists, are clearly distinguished from Western artists. A majority of the most 'expensive' Western artists have much experience in 3D art, especially public sculptures or monuments, whereas most of the Chinese artists that have taken seven places among the world's top 10 most expensive artists of this year are focusing on 2D works.
The most remarkable growth was witnessed in Indian contemporary art. India's continuing economic growth since the 1990s has given birth to a new social class that actively invests in artworks. The growths of Anish Kapoor and Subodh Gupta are particularly prominent. The Indian contemporary art market, as of July 2008, was 3,230% greater than 10 years before. The Middle East is also considerable. The Arab Emirates's art market is constantly expanding from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Christie? opened the Dubai location in 2006, and an art fair called Art Dubai were held successfully in 2007. In 2008, the Bonhams was launched in the Middle East. Christie's, starting the first auction in 2006, successfully recorded the highest prices with 53 modern and contemporary Middle Eastern artists. Along with experienced artists, such as Farhad Moshiri, Parviz Tanavoli, and Shirin Neshat, young artists born after 1970, including Golnaz Fathi, Rokni Haerizadeh, Shirin Aliabadi, and Shadi Ghadirian, from Iran and Pakistan have been expected to form the new art market platform in Dubai.
The average age of the 100 artists of Asian, selected based on the auction records, is 46, the oldest artist, Ai Xuan, being 62 and the youngest artist, Takano Aya, being 33. As for the ratio between selling price and number of pieces sold, India's Shaw Raqib recorded the highest average price (EUR 936,148.50) and Indonesia's Pute Sutawijaya recorded the lowest average price (EUR 13,883.02). Also, Murakami Takashi's My Lonesome Cowboy (1998) was the priciest work by an Asian artist, and it was sold at EUR 8,706,150 in Sotheby's New York, in May 2008. Among the top 500 artists of the world, Masriadi I Nyoman showed the greatest increase in ranking by stepping up 418 places to be ranked 41st in the world and 23rd place in Asia. On the other hand, Chao Ge fell 80 places to be ranked 205th in the world and 100th in Asia. Among the top 100 Asian artists, 68 were Chinese, nine were Japanese, eight were from Iran, and five were from Indonesia. Also, Murakami Takashi was the only non-Chinese artist among Asia's top 10 artists.

The Masters of the Contemporary Art Market

Sales records, including quantities of sale, are important and interesting in that they make it possible to diagnose and forecast the art market. The top 500 artists that sold the most artworks at auctions between the second half of 2007 and the first half of 2008 were ranked among the world's artists born after 1945, and Jeff Koons was ranked 1st, replacing last year's 1st, Jean Michel Basquiat. Damien Hirst and Richard Prince were ranked 3rd and 4th.
In June 2008, Jeff Koons's Ballonn Flower (Magenta) was sold for USD $23 milliion at the Howard and Cindy Rachofsky Collection. The Collection purchased this piece at USD $1.1 million, in 2001. Compared to the beginning of the 2000s, the prices of his work have increased by an average of two to four times, up to 20 times at the most. The Balloon Dog, made of metalicized porcelain, was traded at between EUR 1,200 and 1,800 in 2002, but it values between EUR 2,000 and 4,000 these days. His Puppies, small white porcelain vases, 45cm high, produced in 3,000 examples, sell in the same price range. In the case of Damien Hirst, the price index for 12 months was about 270%. Considering that Sotherby's realized USD $127,256,306 or EUR 88,851,244 with Hirst alone, it is assumed that her prices have actually increased much more than what the price index shows. It is obvious that his work has reset the world's most expensive artwork record, but Hirst creates many low-priced artworks for average collectors who are willing to buy his work. In 2007, 2/3 of his works were sold at below EUR 10,000.
Among the top 500, there were 195 Asian artists last year, but there are 226 this year. The overall price range has been increased compared to last year, but it has become easier to enter the top 500 in terms of price. The hammer price of the lowest priced piece on the top 500 was EUR 80,536 last year, but only EUR 65,000 this year. It is probably because the number of transactions has decreased by 10%. On the other hand, the bought-in rate has increased from 30.2% to 35.5%. This means that collectors have become more careful as the overall price range has increased. Despite that the lowest price on the top 500 was even lower, it was more competitive to enter the top 10. Cai Guoqiang, ranked 10th this year, recorded a total of EUR 12,098,050, but Christopher Wool was ranked 10th with a total of EUR 8.4 million last year.

Hot Newcomers in the 2007 Auction Market

Every year, about new 3,000 artists sell their artworks at an auction for the first time. Their very first sale at an auction has to be important. The price and reputation of the first sale become the benchmark of their art. In particular, collectors in Russia, China, India, and the Middle East have emerged as the most powerful sponsors of their respective 'national' artists and therefore, it is necessary to focus on the new, rising young artists of Asia.
Fifty artists who recorded the highest hammer prices with the first work sold at auction in 2007 were rated, and 75% of them were Chinese artists. Also, 58% of them were sold in Asian auction market. With the growth of Chinese contemporary art auction market, many auctions are held not only in large cities but also in local areas. At the same time, many local artists have been given chances to make successful debuts. Chinese artists ranked in the top 10 include Sun Lixin (ranked 2nd, EUR 536,030), Shao Yachuan (ranked 3rd, EUR 445,418), Ma Baozhong (ranked 6th, EUR 352,450), and He Datian (ranked 10th, EUR 238,446). The first hammer prices of Korean artists were also high. Oh Chigyun (ranked 5th, EUR 364,098), Kang Hyung Koo (ranked 7th, EUR 329,422), and Do Ho Suh(ranked 8th, EUR 308,655) were in the top 10. Among the top 50, 15 artists from Iran, including Sedaghat Jabbari (ranked 9th, EUR 249,840), Parviz Tanavoli (ranked 12, EUR 194,320), and Gholamhossein Nami (ranked 31st, EUR 69,400), were found. Considering that Iran had the second most artists, after China, it was possible to see the growth of contemporary art in Iran since 2007.
The artist that recorded the highest first hammer price was Russia's Evgeny Shubarov, who sold a large painting at EUR 892,560 at Phillips & de Pury. The value of his artworks doubled in six months. It was a remarkable growth considering that a similar piece was sold for EUR 348,000 at Sotherby's London six months before. It is surprising that only one American artist made to the top 50. Justin Faunce, born in 1980 and the youngest on the list, sold his first piece for EUR 96,200 (USD $130,000) at Phillips & de Pury New York and is ranked 22nd.

Making Numerical Value of Artists's Activity

Artfacts.Net(TM) is the most authoritative global evaluator of artists's international 'activities,' regardless of auction records. Updated daily since 2003, its artist ranking considers exhibition experiences as the most important criterion. In particular, the authority and number of international exhibitions in which artists participated for the last five years become the biggest factor. The tabulation system of Artfacts.Net?basically follows Gregory Frank's logic of Attention Economy. Frank argued that attention in culture is closely related to economy and follows a structure similar to that of a capitalistic society. He believed that curators, such as museum directors and gallery owners, play the role of financial investors. Capitalists and wealthy people lend properties to gain people's attention and create profits. Frank insists that curators, the investors in the art field, lend exhibition spaces and reputation to artists to create 'profits of attention,' such as artists's reputation and popularity, and evokes other investors's desire to make investment. Therefore, the relationship between gallery owners and artists is similar to that of investors and entrepreneurs. In other words, the artist list of Artfacts.Net?is not the list of artists who have received the most investments in artworks, but the list of artists who have gained the most attention from experts. Artfacts.Ne(TM) announces that its list is not purported to analyze the direct relationship between reputation and capital, but considering the logic of its tabulation system, the artists on the list can be deemed the most attractive artists to make investments in, in a macro perspective.
The ranking considers artists that have contracts with museum collections or galleries in three different countries. The three backbones of the ranking are: first, the long-term connection between artists and gallery or museum (collections). It is the longevity of an artist's relationship with private galleries or public organizations. Second, it is the short-term connection between galleries or public organizations and artists. The score is not only affected by the type of exhibition, but the frequency of participation is also important. Last, it is the geographic location of facility. The reputation and influence of facilities are believed to represent the artists's international capacity. Facilities in New York and Paris bear the highest score. For 499 cities, the lowest score is 1 and the highest score is 225.17.
Also, facilities with better collections and exhibiting more famous artists gain higher scores and group exhibitions gain more value when artists of high activeness and reputation are participating. In detail, exhibitions at public organizations (average score: 261.92) gain higher scores than exhibitions at private galleries (average score: 118.31), and exhibitions at biennale or triennale (average score: 239.86) exceed all. As longer duration of exhibition is believed to attract attention longer, Documenta Kassel is considered more important than the Venice Biennale, for examine. Preview at auction houses is 0.

The Experts' List of the World's Best Artists

There is an artist who has not lost his place on the top since 1998 with Artfact.Net, Artist ranking, and it is Andy Warhol. Having participated in 212 solo shows and 815 exhibitions for the past 10 years, Andy Warhol takes place in an average of about 100 exhibitions per year. Thus, it is easily comprehensible why he has been the No. 1 for 10 consecutive years. Considering that Pablo Picasso has been the No. 2 throughout this period, we can understand how critical Andy Warhol is in the contemporary art sector.
Bruce Nauman, the No. 1 artist alive, participated in three biennale or triennale, seven private gallery exhibitions, and 68 public institution exhibitions in 2007. In 2008, he participated in two biennale or triennale, nine private gallery exhibitions, and 43 public institution exhibitions. For 10 years from 1998 to 2008, he was presented at 12 biennale or triennale, 90 private gallery exhibitions, and 390 public institution exhibitions. He has participated in 42 solo shows and 450 exhibitions for the past 10 years. In 2008 alone, he held three solo shows and 51 exhibitions. When considering all deceased artists, he has been in 3rd or 4th place since 1998. His solo show ?ruce Nauman: DEAD SHOT DAN?will be held at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis from January 23 to April 29, 2009.
Gerhard Richter, the 2nd most successful artist alive, has participated in eight biennales or triennales, 133 private gallery exhibitions, and 325 public institution exhibitions from 1998 to 2008. He has held 79 solo shows and 387 exhibitions for the past 10 years. During this time, his ranking has fluctuated from the 8th in 1999 up to the 3rd among all artists in the world, including the deceased, and has been either 3rd or 4th since 2000. He has been always higher than Joseph Beuys, who has been 5th, since 2005. In 2008, he held solo shows at the KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn, the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, the Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, the Sammlun- gen Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, and is already scheduled for five solo shows in 2009. It will be possible to see his solo shows at Foto- grafien Centre de la Photographie, Genf (29th Jan to 29th March), Albertina, Wien (30th Jan to 3rd May), the National Portrait Gallery, London (26th Feb to 31th May), Haus der Kunst, M웢chen (27th Feb to 17th May), and Sammlun- gen Museum K웤persm웘le, Duisburg (21st May to 23rd August) in 2009.
Cindy Sherman, ranking 3rd of the artists alive, stepped down by one place each year after she recorded the 4th in 1998. She was the 8th in 2007 and the 9th in 2008, probably because she participated in 37 exhibitions and no solo show in 2008. Ed Ruscha, on the other hand, participated in six solo shows and 46 exhibitions in 2008 and has gone up 12 places to be the 11th overall and the 4th among the artists alive. Ever since his ranking increased exponentially from the 164th in 1998 to the 44th the next year, he was around the 20th in 2002 and entered the top 10 in 2004. He has been either the 11th or 12th since 2006. His performances at auctions are also improving. In 2008, a total of 74 pieces were sold at USD $16,411,340, recording the average of USD $221,774.
Among the artists alive, the one who has gone up the most is Arnulf Rainer of Austria. He has gone up by 24 places to be placed the 98th in the world and the 63rd among the artists alive. Yoko Ono, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Jona- than Monk have gone up by 18 places each. One the other hand, those who has gone down the most are Chuck Close and Gary Hill, who have gone down by 20 and 22 places, respectively. The average age of the top 100 artists alive is 60 years, and the youngest artists are Anri Sala, Fischli & Weiss in their 30s.

'Sheer' Rise of Middle Eastern Artists

According to the tabulation results released on January 13, 2009, the average age of the top 100 Asian artists on the Artfacts.Net(TM) list was 46. Excluding deceased artists, the oldest artist is Yayoi Kusama, who is 80, and the youngest artists include Cao Fei, 31, and Xue Zhen, Hiraki Sawa, Terence Koh, and Andro Wekua, who are 32. The average age of the top 100 Asian artists based on auction records is equal to that of the top 100 Asian artists on the Artfacts.Net(TM) list, but the Artfacts.Net?list has more artists in their 30s, relatively fewer middle-aged and more aged. By country, there were 28 Chinese artists, followed by 23 Japanese artists, 11 Israeli artists, nine Korean artists, and eight Turkish artists. The top 10 included five Japanese artists, followed by two Korean artists.
Nam June Paik, who has been ranked No. 1 in Asia for two consecutive years, participated in 43 exhibitions in 2007, 24 exhibitions in 2008, and held two solo shows during these two years. He was ranked 14th in the world in 1999, but gradually fell to 70th in 2005. He advanced up to 52nd right after his death in 2006 and was ranked 55th in the world and 1st in Asia in 2008, as he continuously participated in various international exhibitions and the Nam June Paik Art Center opened in Korea. The 2nd place in Asia was taken by Japan's Yoko Ono, who was 69th in the world. She participated in four biennale/triennale, four gallery exhibitions, and 28 public exhibitions in 2008. Last year alone, she held four solo shows at Germany's Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Poland's Fly Centre for Contemporary Art Warschau, China's Ke Center Shanghai, and England's Baltic Center for Contemporary Art.
The most exponentially rising artist was Israel's Guy Ben-Ner, who ascended 793 places. Israel? Keren Cytter also stepped up by 586 places. Video artist Guy Ben-Ner finished school in New York in 2003 and began gaining international reputation since he represented Israel at the 2005 Venice Biennale. His bicycle project called I? give it to you if I could but I borrowed It at the 2007 Munster Sculpture Project made a big hit. This piece attached a video screen on a static bicycle often found at fitness centers and played a video film taken by the artist himself around the city. It was made for the audience to control the playback speed or rewind by manipulating the petal and was installed at various locations around the city. Keren Cytter studied Visual Arts at Israel? Tel Aviv and earned a degree at Amsterdam? De Ateliers. Initially, he translated his visual language onto text-based films through Video Art. This piece, known for specification of post-modern characteristics of self-recognition, attracted the critics at Frankfurter Allgemeine, de Volkskrant, and Artforum. Later in Amsterdam, she gained reputation as a writer. She has published a journal Alexia (2001), a novel Yester- day's Sunrise (2003), and recently a film catalogue.
Other artists that have gone up by more than 300 places include Korea's Ufan Lee by 482 places, China's Zhang Xiaogang by 447 places, China- born Terence Koh by 394 places, Israel's Tamy Ben-Tor by 374 places, Taiwan's Chen Chieh-Jan by 370 places, Korea's Haegue Yang by 338 places, Georgia's Andro Wekua by 336 places, and Israel's Omer Fast by 300 places. It is possible to see that many Israeli artists were active in 2008.

Galleries Introducing 'Promising' Asian Artists

Artfacts.Net(TM) database also contains a list of galleries that represent most of the top 100 Asian artists. Art & Public, Chambers Fine Art New York, Chambers Fine Art Beijing, Goedhuis Contemporary New York, and the Grace Li Gallery represent seven artists each, two galleries represent six each, 11 galleries represent five each, and 13 galleries represent four each. Art & Public in Geneva, Switzerland is a historical gallery that was established by Pierre Huber in 1984. Boasting a list of many renowned artists, including Sylvie Fleury, Mariko Mori, Nam June Paik, John Armleder, and also Olivier Mosset, they have increased investments in the Asian art market since the late 1990s and are currently introducing young Asian artists, including Subodh Gupta, Zhou Tiehai, Gu Dexin, Qiu Xiaofei, Chen Shaoxiong, Lin Tianmiao, Lu Hao, Rashid Rana, Nataraj Sharma, Yan Pei Ming, Feng Zhengjie, Lu Hao, Wang Du, and Wang Guangyi.
Mao Weiqing, the founder of Chambers Fine Art, moved to the U.S. in 1986 to graduate from Drexel University and work as an economic analyst until he opened a gallery in New York, in 2000. At first, he introduced Chinese classical furniture and contemporary art, but he began focusing exclusively on contemporary art in 2003. In 2005, he sponsored the Chinese section of the Venice Biennale, which was curated by Cai Guo-Qiang. He has been more active since he opened the Beijing location in the fall of 2007 and Chambers Fine Art has been particularly known for its invitation of curators who are actively critiquing and curating exhibitions, including the University of Chicago? Wu Hung, guest curator of He Xiangning Art Museum and critic Febg Boyi, Samyoungdang Art Museum? Director Zhang Li. Hong Hao, Hong Lei, Shi Jinsong, Song Dong, Wang Jianwei, and Yin Xiuzhen are some of the artists it has introduced.
Geodhuis Gallery was first opened in London by Michael Geodhuis, an art dealer from the Netherlands, in 1995, and has been concentrating on exhibiting Chinese contemporary art since it opened a branch in Manhattan, New York in 2002. Michael Geodhuis was an investment specialist, but he obtained a degree in Art History in London to work for an art investment firm. He began trading artworks in 1982. He exhibits Gu Wenda, Liu Qinghe, Miao Xiaochun, Xing Danwen, and many others. The Grace Li Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland, concentrates on Chinese artists that are active in Europe and in the U.S., such as Huang Yongping, Cao Fei, Yan Pei-Ming, Liu Wei, and Qiu Zhijie.

Asian Artists on Kunstkompass

Although Art Price and Artfacts.Net(TM) tabulated the scores of contemporary artists in two different categories - auction market and exhibitions - five artists were ranked in top 30 by both lists: Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Andrea Gursky, Anselm Kiefer, and Gilber&George. They are globally the most influential artists that are preferred by both the market and the art authority. Another place that ranks artists by a different evaluation system is the Capital, a German economic magazine that has been selecting 100 artists every year since 1970.
This year, the Capital tabulated the scores differently for the first collaborative Kunstkompass with Artfacts.Net(TM) It still excluded auction market trends and valued exposure at globally recognized art museums and media, but only the artists that are not sold at auction houses were considered for this year's list. The Capital agreed with Artfacts.Net(TM) that it is problematic to solely consider the records of auction houses, which is the tertiary market, to rate the trends of the art sector, when the primary and secondary markets between artists and buyers and between galleries and buyers are also taking a considerable portion of the market. The key factor of evaluation was the creation of an international sensation and new meaning. They explained it as the list of artists who have timeless meaning and that are pursuing artworks not suitable for hanging above a couch. In result, this list contained a relatively perse groups of artists in painting, sculpture, photography, performing art, multimedia art, and installation art.
The 1st place was taken by video artist Aernout Mik, from the Netherlands who will be holding a solo show at MoMA in upcoming May. He has connections with five galleries, and nine public collections include his works. He received a high score, because he is exhibited in seven different countries. The 2nd place was Nedko Solakov, a paintor and installation artist born in 1957 from Bulgaria. He has participated in the Sao Paolo Biennale, the Rotterdam Manifesta, and the Venice Biennale and held a solo show at Kunst Museum Bonn from September to November last year. Italian multimedia artist Monica Bonvicini, the 3rd place on the list, explores human social and sexual identity through drawing, installation, video, photography, and architecture. She won the Golden Lion Award at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999 and has participated in various international exhibitions, including the Taipei Biennale, the Sao Paolo Biennale, the Liverpool Biennale, and the Gwangju Biennale.
Asian artists on Kunstkompass are Fiona Tan (born in Indonesia, works in the Netherlands, photography) on the 15th place, Yael Bartana (from Israel, works in Israel and the Nether- lands, photography and video) on the 17th place, Lee Bul (from Korea, installation and sculpture) on the 25th place, Paul Chan (from Hong Kong, works in the U.S., photography, installation, and film) on the 26th place, Natasha Sadr Haghighia (from Iran, works in Germany, video and design) on the 38th place, Su-Mei Tse (half Chinese and half Australian, from Luxemburg, video, photography and installation) on the 59th place, and Haegue Yang (from Korea, active in Germany, installation, photography and video) on the 92nd place.
Fiona Tan, active in Poland, Germany, England, and the Netherlands, works with photographs of people as social documentaries to explore the historical relationship between time and people. Yael Bartana, who held the first solo show at P.S.1 in the U.S. last year, participated in the 12th Documenta Kassel in 2007 with a video piece contemplating the relationship between Israel's unique historical and cultural background and Western culture, and has held solo shows in Canada and in Poland. Lee Bul, selected as the most important Korean contemporary artist by several media in Korea, was ranked 25th, followed by Pual Chan, known as an artist who extends art into the realm of political act.
Natasha Sadr Haghighia is active in various genres, including video, film, Web art, photography, research, installation, music, events, and performances. Su-Mei Tse, who was globally spotlighted by winning the Golden Lion Award as the representation of Luxemburg at the 2003 Venice Biennale, comes from Chinese father, a violinist, and an Australian mother, a pianist and is also an active cellist. Thus, all of her artworks contain musical elements. In addition, Haegue Yang, who is more active in Europe than in Korea, gained global recognition and she was selected as the Korean representative of this year's Venice Biennale, ranked 92nd.