Cao Hui, The Skin with Temperature, 2008, resin, fibre, 106x100x90cm
Han Lei, Hat Girl, 2009, C print, 150x120cm, Ed.6; bottom: exhibition view of 798 Art Wall Gallery.

New Air of Spring in Beijing  

Hyun Kim 

Last April, the 6th CIGE and the 4th Art Beijing, the two leading art fairs of Beijing, ended. art in ASIA visited these two art fairs in the spring, a period when the global market was hit the hardest during the ongoing financial meltdown and economic slowdown.
Among the major art fairs of China that took place during the first half of the year such as CIGE (China International Gallery Exposition), Art Beijing, and Hong Kong Art Fair, CIGE and Art Beijing ended last April in Beijing. art in ASIA visited Beijing, the heart of Chinese art, to see where it stands in the global financial crisis and economic recess.
Celebrating its 4th anniversary, Art Beijing was held at the Beijing National Agricultural Art Exhibition Hall from April 26th to 30th. Art Beijing and Photo Beijing, which were initially planned to take place respectively in April and in September, were held together. As the two events were put together in a single space, the 1,600㎡ seemed more crowded than last year, but there were much more to see with Art Beijing, Photo Beijing, Fashion Beijing, which was co-managed by BAZAAR China, and other special exhibitions all being held together at the same place. 
A total of 61 galleries participated in Art Beijing in this year. It was about 30% fewer than the 92 galleries that participated in last year’s Art Beijing, but many visitors were more satisfied by the quality of this year’s artworks.
Fresh, popular artists who stood out above the rest at Art Beijing 2009 were Estation Gallery’s Xiao Yu, Mu Baoyan’s sculpture and Gao Lei’s C-print, Korean Em Art Gallery’s Korean artist Yoo Jung Min’s refined oil painting, Finnish gallery Galerie Forsblom’s Tony Oursler’s installation and Stephan Balkenhol’s wood sculpture, Main Trend Gallery’s Taiwanese artist Wu Tien Chang, Lee Ming Chung and Triumph Art Agency’s Cai Zhisong’s sculpture and so on.
As for the artworks, there were more sculptures and installations than paintings. Beijing’s PIFO New Art Gallery presented a dreary sculpture called The Skin with Temperature by Cao Hui, a professor of sculpture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, as their main piece. The realistic depiction of internal organs draped across a sofa that appears to be made of human flesh was very eye-catching. C5 Art in Sanlitun, Beijing presented various works of art including oil paintings, mixed media, and C prints by Liang Shuo, Nashunbatu, Han Lei, and Xu Liang. Among these works, Hat Girl, a photographic piece by Han Lei (1967~), was widely spotlighted. C5 Art’s staffs, who have participated in Art Beijing for four consecutive years since 2006, were positive about the results of this year’s Art Beijing.
At Photo Beijing, a total of 15 photography galleries, including China’s Black 100 Space, Cetus Gallery, Eastation Gallery, Inter gallery, Korea’s Now Gallery, Australia’s Mori Gallery, and Paris Beijing Photo Gallery directed by Romain Degoul and Flore Sassigneux participated. Sales results were also satisfying. One of the reasons given for these agreeable sales was that photographic pieces are less pricy than other media. China doesn’t have any art fairs for photography like Paris Photo of France or SIPA (Seoul International Printmaking Art Fair) of Korea. In this respect, Photo Beijing is expected to broaden China’s photographic art in the future.
In addition to Photo Beijing, Art Beijing planned “Poetic, Daily,” a special exhibition of 24 young Chinese artists who were born after the 1980s and consequently, often referred to as “80hou.” These artists include Chen Ke, Chen, Gao Yu, Li Chao, Li Mu, Lu Zhengyuan, Tang Yuhan, and Zhang Lehua. Even the co-curators of this exhibition, Li Bin and Qian Jing, were both born after the 1980s. Unlike the older generations who were focused mainly on politics and social issues, the 80hou artists grew up in a completely modernized and open atmosphere after the confusion of reformation and revolution ended. Therefore, their works of art are liberated from epic narratives and compulsion. They are interested in their introversions, not in their surrounding environments.
For the past several years, Chinese art, especially the art of Beijing, was bounded by a few limited styles that are attractive to collectors. However, it was different this year. Conventional artworks, which may have been expected by Beijing Art Fair, failed to be attractive. The visitors had had enough of the kitsch expressions based on political and social criticism. Instead, various new media, such as photography, installation, and video, attracted them. Galleries also seemed to focus not on what was shown, but on how they were shown. This perspective plays an important role in improving the quality of galleries. It is unquestionably true that art fairs are important domains where artworks are traded. However, since art fairs are becoming biennales and biennales are becoming art fairs, it is more important to improve the quality of artworks and help galleries gain recognition than to sell as many artworks as possible. 
In this respect, the fact that Arario Gallery from Korea hung up Gilbert & George’s photographic piece on its center wall would be because they were dedicated to their principles rather than selling the piece. Arario Gallery was the luckiest participant as the position of their booth was the best within the fairgrounds. Their booth was located right by the path that connected the entrance to the exit with the largest volume of traffic. Nevertheless, their major piece was a photographic piece by Gilbert & George. They established their position as an international gallery with branches in Seoul, Cheonan, Beijing, and New York through their selection and position of art. Arario’s Director Joo Hyun Lee said that their participation in Art Beijing was not solely to sell artworks. Their major goal was to show everyone that they have a broad network across Asia, North America, and Europe.
Beijing’s Tang Contemporary Art only exhibited one piece. It was Liu Xiaodong’s painting called Eat First, a parody of Michelangelo’s The Last Supper. It was a massive piece of art that is longer than 10m in width; it filled up an entire wall in the booth. Next to it was a video, showing how it was created. It was a very sophisticated display, not often found at many art fairs. Eat First was traded at a price higher than $2,930,000 with great popularity among collectors. 
The UCCA art shop in the Dashanzi Art District of Beijing was another participant. They exhibited about 60~70 small items, whose prices were rather affordable from several hundred thousand to several millions in RMB, and were highly popular among young art enthusiasts and collectors.
CIGE, which ended a week ahead of Art Beijing, celebrated its 6th anniversary since its first opening in 2004. CIGE was held at the Chinese International Trade Center from April 15th to 19th and invited 84 galleries from 23 countries. The 1st and 2nd floors were divided and dedicated to participating galleries and CIGE’s young artists’ exhibitions, respectively. CIGE is two years older than Art Beijing and is much greater in scale of size and participating galleries, but most gallerists agreed that the quality of its artworks was inferior to that of Art Beijing.
Beijing was the heart of the bubble in China’s art market. The art people of Beijing thought of the economic crisis not as an end, but as a turning point into a new world of art. Thus, they remained relatively calm. Now, Beijing’s art market is left to reflect on its opening within the rapid economic development, sudden rise in prices, and the immature attitude of the art sector that was easily stirred up by the market. Through these two recent art fairs in Beijing, a city where the heart of Chinese art lies, I was able to examine China’s reflective and critical attitude toward the current economic crisis.

Zhang Lehua, Like a Rainbow, 2008, photography.

Yoo JungMin, Illusion&Reality 26, 2008, oil on canvas, 120x170cm.