One hears a lot about the coming of the Chinese, their big ambitions on the Art market and the new wealth of a large population of collectors, industrialists and businessmen.
But who are the beneficiaries of these sudden largesses ? Well some are very famous and have already been mentioned on this blog. Names like Zhang Xiaogang, He Duoliing, Luo Zhongli, Ye Yongqing, Zhang Qikai are now familiar to the readers of this blog.
At the Basel Miami Art fair that close its doors last Sunday, the emergence of the Chinese was more than an evidence : they are coming in stride and in masses, buyers, collectors, dealers and museums curators. They come to buy and to sell.
European and American gallerists 
offering Chinese artists were quite ebullient : the value of a good Chinese artist had more than quintupled in 5 years. It has to be seen if in the current market conditions this statement will remain true but for the last 5 years it is a fact that Chinese painters have made a fantastic inroad in the Art World.
Among the most famous names one can mention people like Zhang Dali, Zeng Fanzhi, Wang Guangyi, Zheng Guogu, Zhang Haiying, Zhang Hongtu, Zhang Huan, Qiu Jie, Xiang Jing (picture above), Shi Jinsong, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, Li Qing, Wu Shanzhuan, Shen Shaomin, Li Songsong (picture at right) , Zhan Wang, Liu Wei, Zhang Xiaotao, Cang Xin, Shi Xinning, Li Yan, Bai Yiluo, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Zhang Yuan, Yin Zhaohui, Feng Zhengjie.
The Saatchi Gallery on line has a full list of the promising and confirmed Chinese painters with nice photographs of some of their works. Maurice Saatchi has proved that he might be an awful speculator, capable to make and break artists but he has also showed to the world since the 80 that he has a terrific nose to spot innovators and trend setters. Having a look at some of the "protégés" of Mr Maurice won't hurt anybody and may give to new collectors some profitable ideas.
Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family, No. 2, was the session’s most expensive lot of Honk Kong's Christie's sale of this month of December 2008. The famous 1995 oil on canvas by one of the best known Chinese painters went for HK $ 26,4 million ($3,4 million) to an anonymous phone bidder.
Still, it was a disappointing result. The work had been expected to sell for about HK$ 30 million and boasted considerable star power: the piece has been exhibited prominently by U.S. museums and was from the collection of Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone who has been quietly buying and selling for years. What a difference a deepening global economic meltdown can make. During the first portion of the sale, billed as the highlight in the contemporary category, only 56 percent of the 32 works on offer sold, with many failing to meet the reserve price. The total sales amounted to HK$ 65,9 million. In 2007 the total sales of his work reached $US 57 million including 15 lots that passed the million-dollar mark. Of the 35 Contemporary artists who have achieved 7 digits sales (>$1 million)last year 15 were Chinese.
Zhang Xiaogang is one of the major Contemporary Chinese painters. This "Big Family" painted by him in 1995 was bought by collector Maurice Saatchi, founder of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, who launched in London the Saatchi Gallery in partnership with Phillips auction house. Xiaogang's work was awarded the Bronze Prize at the 22nd São Paulo Biennial Exhibition in Brazil in 1994.Born in 1958, influenced by the infamous Cultural Revolution of the 60s, Zhang Xiaogang has exhibited all over the worlds since the early 90s and is now one of the Chinese painters representative of the "new wave" or "Avant-Garde" who are taking in between $4 and $6 million a year. His work currently goes for more than 1 million dollar.
In 1980 he was a founding member, along with his contemporaries Zhang Qikai, Luo Zhongli, He Duoliing, and Ye Yongqing, of the ‘Weed Society’. It was a non-official painting group which held free uncensored art shows and had a great impact on society at the time.
Read this interview of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, colleague of Zhang, to learn more about the current conditions of artistic and political life in the China of the Olympic Games.
One hears a lot about the coming of the Chinese, their big ambitions on the Art market and the new wealth of a large population of collectors, industrialists and businessmen.
offering Chinese artists were quite ebullient : the value of a good Chinese artist had more than quintupled in 5 years. It has to be seen if in the current market conditions this statement will remain true but for the last 5 years it is a fact that Chinese painters have made a fantastic inroad in the Art World. 
