Thousands of paintings and sculptures are now on display at the 17th Shanghai Art Fair in the city’s Changning District. The four-day fair at Shanghai Mart features collections from a record-high 143 galleries from all over the world.
It’s the fourth year that the Austrian art gallery Steiner has taken part in the Shanghai Art Fair. But this is the first time it has put works by Vincent Van Gogh and Egon Schiele on display. That became one of the highlights of the show, and attracted a large number of visitors.
One gallery dealer says she’s happy to see repeat visitors coming in, not only for investment purposes, but also because they appreciate the artworks and the stories behind them.
"Our Chinese translators tell the story about the long story about Egon Schiele... Chinese people are very interested, and we’re very happy we can bring in information from Europe. Maybe some Chinese people have never been to Europe, and then can see here," said Corinna Steiner of Gallery Steiner.
Buying art for pleasure or investment is still relatively new in China. Last year, people here bought and sold more than 100 billion yuan worth of art - mostly paintings. The fair organizers say they want to nurture more middle class people to collect art, and say many have the wrong impression about it.
"Many people think that a collector must be very rich, or the the value of artwork they buy must rise in the future. But I think that once you have a passion for art, you can also decorate your home with your favorite art. That's also the key to a healthier art trading market," said Chen Yuren, director of SMG Art Channel.
To achieve that goal, the fair is promoting sculptures that sell for 24,000 yuan each. An art gallery from Taiwan is promoting limited edition woodblock paintings for around 100,000 yuan each, and says it has sold more than ten.
Some exhibitors at the fair say they’re interested in taking advantage of Shanghai's new pilot Free Trade Zone, where Christie's auction house stored all 149 items for its first independent art auction on the mainland last month. But some smaller foreign exhibitors aren’t ready to jump in yet.
"For the very high end of the market, wonderful. For the middle level of the market, like I would position myself, how can I create traffic in the Free Trade Zone? That’s the question," exhibitor Philippe Staib said.
"If I have to do everything myself, I have to consider the cost of renting the space, the difficulty to bring the customer, and the difficulty to do sales."
Foreign galleries may bring art into the Free Trade Zone's bonded storage area without paying tax, but they still have to pay up to 20 percent tax on any business they do outside the zone.
Source: CCTV
