China is a country with a future. China is booming. And the art market also reflects this rapid development. In recent years, China has undergone a meteoric rise to become one of the most important and powerful countries on the international art market. It is difficult to get an overview of the creative scene from a distance, not only because of the seemingly endless vastness of the country. It is thus necessary to counter once and for all the widespread notion that there is only one Chinese art.

Gérard, art fairs and art markets are booming. This has led to a genuine run on contemporary art. Is art becoming mainstream?

Unfortunately, only certain, highly selective segments of the art market are actually booming: e.g. contemporary “blue chips” with high price tags, including works by Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol – and, to be fair, recently also works by Asian and Indian artists such as Ai Weiwei, Yue Minjun, Anish Kapoor and Subodh Gupta, as well as by a select group of young, not yet truly established artists such as Oscar Murillo, Lucien Smith or David Ostrowski. But these ever-increasing record prices for works by such heavily demanded artists actually distort reality. The press is, of course, highly selective in its coverage of the market. Only that which achieves high prices is worthy of mention. The market is not really booming, only those segments that tend to be highly speculative; most galleries and artists do not profit at all from this. For them, it is and remains a struggle for survival. Nevertheless, or perhaps because of this, one sees more and more “market art” these days, since only those who are present on the market have a chance to be seen and are thus able to contribute to art history. In this sense, art is indeed becoming “mainstream” – a very dangerous development, since it is highly one-sided.

You stress that new records are constantly being set at auctions. Is this a symptom of a new bubble?

We are definitely experiencing a bubble. It used to be that, sooner or later, such bubbles would burst. The situation today is very different. We used to speak of millionaires, who luckily spent a lot of money on art, in some cases without thinking about making a profit. Today we have billionaires. The gap between the rich and the middle-classes – not to mention the poor – is getting larger and larger. The fact that works by living artists can achieve double-digit million dollar prices at auctions in London, New York or Hong Kong is more or less normal these days. This is absurd!

But where does it come from?

That’s easy. When a billionaire spends US$ 30 million for a painting by Richter, this is only a minimal portion of his total wealth. Everything’s out of proportion. Will the bubble burst? I’m afraid it won’t, because more and more superrich investors are entering the art market – and when such buyers lose even 50% of their wealth, they’re still superrich! Where is it all leading? I’m not sure I want to know…

Your new book, Crossing China, was recently published. How is the market for contemporary art in China developing these days?

The market for Chinese art in China – as well as in the West – is developing along the same lines as the market for Western art. There are winners, but also losers. But Chinese collectors have some catching up to do and are thus becoming more visible on the international market. It’s difficult to say how this will develop further. There have already been at least two “booms” for contemporary art from China – the first time in the early 1990s, after artists especially in Beijing and Shanghai fought for and achieved new artistic freedom. The events of 1989 on Tiananmen Square in Beijing drew a great deal of attention to contemporary Chinese art – similar in many ways to the collapse of the Soviet Union at about the same time, which also drew attention to the new Russian avant-garde art around Ilya Kabakov and Erik Bulatov. At around the turn of the millennium, there was another small but powerful boom for Chinese art. Are we experiencing yet another boom for Chinese art today – or is it in reality only a part of the greater boom for top artists in general? Probably the latter.

China is an enormous country with cities that are completely unknown here. Does China have the potential to become an important player on the international art market?

China is in fact already playing an important role on the global art market – as well as within the network of the international art scene beyond the market (as far as this actually exists at all). Chinese artists participate in all important biennials and large art events, such as the documenta in Kassel and art fairs in Europe and the USA.

And the great thing about this is that it’s becoming more and more normal. Chinese art is being seen less and less in terms of “ethnography”, but rather simply as good art that plays an important role in the international art world. This is especially true of the younger generation born after the Cultural Revolution. Whether an artist is Chinese, German or American is irrelevant for most people today – as long as the art has something relevant to say and says this in a language that can be understood universally.

Nevertheless, there’s still the problem we have with the pronunciation of names. It may sound simplistic, but the names of Asian artists are often difficult for us in the West to remember. Could it be that the one of the reasons behind Ai Weiwei’s success us the fact that he lived for some time in New York and that his name is easy to pronounce? I’m just saying…

You’ve already begun working on a new book about contemporary Indian art, Passages, together with Julia Ritterskamp. The market is still relatively small there, but important for the future?

As with artists in China, certain Indian artists play a very important role at home in India as well as abroad. Anish Kapoor quickly comes to mind, but also Subodh Gutpta, Jitish Kallat, Rashid Rana and Hema Upadhyay. They all enjoy international success and have already exhibited their works in the best museums across the globe. Their works are not only interesting for Indian art collectors, but rather for anyone concerned with the development of international contemporary art. Nevertheless, there are still very many excellent Indian artists, who are as good as unknown in the West. With our new book, Passages, Julia Ritterskamp and I hope to change this. We hope to draw attention to young contemporary art in India – and at the same time provide a context to help facilitate understanding of this art.

Where else do you see potential? What about Russia and Brazil?

There will always be a new “flavour of the week“. The international art scene gets bored quite easily and is always on the lookout for new faces. Brazil is “in” right now. Maybe Ukraine will be the next big thing. Who knows? I, for one, am extremely happy that no one is seriously talking about a boom for contemporary German art there days. It seems to be a matter of course that Gerhard Richter is the best-paid living painter and Andreas Gursky the most expensive photographer. They are not “stigmatized” as “German artists”, but rather seen as making an important contribution to global art. I hope that, one day, Chinese and Indian artists will experience a similar recognition. We don’t need any new nationality-based trends, but rather simply art of the highest quality with global validity beyond national borders.

Interview by Ralf Daab

Gérard A. Goodrow was born in 1964 in New Jersey, United States. His a freelance curator and author based in Cologne. He studied at Rutgers University, New Jersey, the City University of New York and the University of Cologne. Among the most important stations of his career are the Museum Ludwig in Cologne (1992–1996), the Ursula Blickle Foundation in Kraichtal (1994–2001), the auction house Christie’s in London (1996–2003), the art fairs Art Cologne and Cologne Fine Art (2003–2008) and CIAM – Centre for International Art Management in Cologne and Düsseldorf (since 2007). Over the last 25 years, he has curated over 50 exhibitions in museums, galleries and other institutions in Germany and abroad. He is author of numerous texts and publications and has lectured extensively on international contemporary art and the global art market. His most recent book, Crossing China, was published in January 2014 by Daab.

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