HONG KONG (AFP) — Staggering prices for art from China at recent auctions reflects the huge appetite for both the spectacular investment returns and a fascination with all-things Chinese, experts say.
Last Friday, a painting by avant-gardist Yue Minjun based on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests fetched more than 2.9 million pounds (5.96 million US) at a Sotheby's sale in London, a record for contemporary Chinese art at auction.
It came just days after another sale of contemporary art in Hong Kong saw a piece by Yue sell for 4.08 million dollars, as well as records for a host of Chinese painters, many of them fetching prices above the million dollar mark.
For Jonathan Crockett, a specialist in Chinese art at Sotheby's, the turnaround has been remarkable, in a market that barely existed 15 years ago.
"Only five years ago, you could could buy a painting by Yue for 10,000 dollars, and now they are selling for millions," he said.
"This has very much been a market led by Asian buyers. Over 80 percent of buyers at our recent sale were Asian.
"Obviously a lot of people are also sitting up and noticing the profits that are being made. You have a lot of speculative buyers around."
Joanne Hickton, who has worked at international art chain Opera Gallery both in London and Hong Kong, agrees the huge prices have attracted those looking to turn a profit.
"You now get people who just walk in and say 'What should I buy?'" she said.
Yue's "Execution" painting that fetched the record is a telling example of how the market has boomed.
The painting was initially bought by a young investment banker for 32,000 dollars from one of the pioneer galleries selling Chinese art, Hong Kong's Schoeni gallery.
He used two thirds of his salary to fund the purchase, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
He then sold half of the painting to fund an engagement ring for his fiancee in a relationship that later went sour. Ten years later, he will take home half of the enormous profit.
The banker's bounty was a result of the booming worldwide art market but the price was pumped up by China's growing economic might, a factor that has created interest from overseas while also funding a new generation of Chinese buyers.
"The art market is a market which follows the financial markets by at most at most a year or two. China is doing exceptionally well economically, so on the back of that we also see every auction in the past five years hitting a new record," said Crockett.
The interest in all things Chinese means there are huge prices being paid for all cultural items and antiquities under the hammer.
A recent New York auction by Christie's saw big money paid for items ranging from ceramics and jades to sculptures and Chinese erotica. A collection of 18th century Chinese snuff bottles fetched just short of four million dollars.
Big collectors and institutions are also moving in, with Britain's most high-profile art buyer Charles Saatchi set to exhibit Chinese art when he opens a new gallery early next year. He has already launched a Chinese language version of his online gallery.
Opera Gallery, which until a few years ago did not sell any Chinese paintings, has recruited specialists to source works from private collections attracted by the high prices.
They are exploring the opportunity of opening up a new gallery in Shanghai, and next week will see a new gallery in Seoul add to their worldwide presence.
As with any boom, however, talk circulates of a bubble about to burst -- "we have been hearing this for three years" said Hickton -- but as long as the prices keep rising, so the investors will flood in.
But until the crash comes, anything linked to China will signal dollar signs. According to Hickton, a piece by Andy Warhol that 12 months ago would have fetched 43,000 dollars was now attracting 200,000, on the back of a flood of interest in the pop art legend. The subject? Chairman Mao.
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