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BEIRUT ART FAIR NEWSLETTER January, 2012 |
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EDITORIAL ME.NA.SA. shakes up contemporary art The ME.NA.SA. contemporary art market is alive, dynamic, and rooted in our times as witnessed by the establishment of confirmed values. However, at the same time, there has been a momentary withdrawal of certain artists. Arab and Iranian contemporary art are mounted on foundations which continue to grow in strength. The ME.NA., at first, experienced the effects of a premature speculative bubble. Deflation ensued allowing the true values to settle themselves, and the young to emerge on a sounder basis. Meanwhile the success of contemporary art in Asia continues to assert itself. The success, however, has been mixed. A part of the Chinese modern and contemporary art has had a disappointing year in 2011 in Asia. The collectors prudently retreated most likely due to the crisis. On the other hand, young Indonesian artists have created a promising enthusiasm, to the point that supply was not enough to satisfy demand. In these recent years, what we have been teaching is that ME.NA.SA. is an inevitable market for contemporary art. All the conditions are in place making this market essential; its true values are abundant carrying visions driven by the media of the future. The last sign and by no means the least important, BEIRUT ART FAIR has been a pioneer and visionary in the last two years putting together the concept of an artistic continent: ME.NA.SA. The important fairs of our continent now incorporate Asian artists in their own market. In this diversity, there is a coherent form: the territory is a new creation that challenges our understanding of contemporary art in the world. It is a characteristic of new continents. Laure d'Hauteville - Fair Manager - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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Situation of the art market in the ME.NA Considered as an emerging market for the last decade, Turkish, Arabic and Iranian modern and contemporary art never cease to amaze the art market. |
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1. The Market of ME.NA artists, watch out for speculation!
In 2006, contemporary Arab works did not exceed 7% of turnover from the auction houses. The modern artists were the most recognized of the ME.NA territories; the collectors were essentially betting on artists born before the Second World War. As a result, they obtained a little more than 70% of the sales tied to the specialized sales in this field. From 2008, the situation begins to reverse. The interest for the young Arab works develops among sales specialists from London, Paris, and especially from Dubai which alone generated a little more than 20% of the sales. Unfortunately, this surge does not last. In the second quarter of 2008, prices plummet; nearly 50% of the pieces presented during this period were left unsold. Back to square one The market continued to deteriorate in 2009 where it eventually stabilized to its 2004 level corresponding to the emergence of young Arab artists on the market. We’re back to square one. It will take 2 years to see its market value recognized and value restored. In 2011, the contemporary art of our region has repositioned itself favorably to establish its foundations. The adjustment has been painfully felt everywhere, but is it not the characteristic of an emerging market to find a base and lasting values? Among the excellent examples of stability include those of Mona Hatoum or Shirin Neshat, whose works have not climbed dramatically, but instead sensibly and consistently. Speculation! Extreme vigilance is necessary to stabilize the nascent market at best. There is a potential to grow strongly in coming years as long as we remain conscious of the direction of the path. Be careful of speculation that may cause severe damage in the future. We have enough “safe bets” in our territories among our young talent for sustained investment in this market! |
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2. The ranking of ME.NA.SA artists According to Artprice : here are the 20 ME.NA.SA artists rankings among the 500 prestigious best-selling artists for 2011.
© Artprice In view of this classification, including all the sales results of auctions in 2011, a net rise of artists from South Asia is clearly apparent: Indonesia, Indian, Thai, as well as, an increasing presence of Turkish artists. Collectors are currently interested in younger markets. Hopefully the sales results for 2012 will be higher than those achieved thus far and this year will be favorable to all artists of our vast territory. Pascal Odille - Artistic Director - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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Asia: Mixed results in 2011 With sales steadily increasing over the last several years in the Asian market, Christie’s and Sotheby’s are developing their implementation strategies for this market. Christie’s and Sotheby’s announced a 2011 total sale (all sectors merged) of respectively, $906 million USD and a little more than a billion. Though impressive numbers, understanding them will indicate that for the two auction houses their increased sales figures are primarily from areas such as old jewelry and ceramics. Even with profitability met, it was done at the expense of other lower figures such as, modern and contemporary art in 2011. In Asia, where the crisis has been evaded, the rate of returns of the last sale held by Christie’s and Sotheby’s have significantly increased. |
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1. Mixed results for Chinese artists - the ranking of the top 10 artists The sales of Chinese modern and contemporary art at the end of 2011 were disappointing. In an economic crisis, collectors are turning to safe value investments; speculation is no longer appropriate and provenance, rarity and quality of work have again become the essential criteria for works of modern and contemporary Chinese art.
© Artprice As indicated in the Artprice ranking of the 10 best-selling Chinese artists in 2011, star artists as Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Xiaogang, and Chen Yifei continually gain appreciation especially when their works can provide objective criteria for valorization such as the provenance and the work’s route of exposure. The most prominent auctioned sales were found among the first auction release of Guy Ullens‘ collection with works presented at the historical exhibition, "China / Avant-Garde", in 1989. |
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2. Sotheby's - A mixed year-end: The success of the first auction sale of Guy Ullens’ collection held on April 3, 2011 revealed record breaking sales, with a turnover of $55 million USD and 100% of the sold lots. The second auction of the collection was one of the first indicators of the market’s slowdown. Despite a number of record sales, 27% of the pieces were unsold. The turnover achieved reached $29 million USD. Chen Zhen’s grand installation displayed on the cover of the catalog was unsold at 515,000 USD, possibly explained by the public collectors differing from the collectors at auction. Disappointing results compared to the achievement of the first auction. |
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3. The last three sales of Christie's Hong Kong – A market craze for Indonesian artists. Last November 26, the auction “New Faces of China” ended as a downfall. It included 14 lots from an anonymous private collection with six lots unsold, estimated too high for works already seen in recent sales. During the two auctions for Chinese and Asian modern and contemporary art on Nov. 27, in order to drive sales and cope with the lack of prizes in different categories, Christie’s decided for the first time to combine the works of artists of Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan) and South Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore) in a single auction sale. This strategy allowed them to meet the growing demand of Asian collectors for these artists. The first session, devoted to modern art, recorded a 20% rate of unsold pieces with a sales turnover of $24,933,476.13 for 173 lots including 17 Indonesian artists. These artists have achieved very strong results; for example, the work of S. Sudjojono (1914-1986), “Ngaso” was sold for $497,556 USD. These are great results for Sudjojono, who is one of three major artists of Indonesian modernism along with Affandi and Hendra Gunawan favored by collectors from the archipelago. The second session received a total turnover of $29.2 million USD. The auction was devoted to contemporary artists with 273 lots of which 77 were unsold, representing 27% of total sales.
35 works of Indonesian artists were proposed of which only five were unsold and the others were sold way above their high estimates. The craze for young Indonesian artists was thus confirmed by this auction. For example, the sale obtained by Indieguerillas with the diptych “Rama and Shinta” sold for $98,480 USD (fees included). A beautiful showing of Eko Nugroho who continues his ascent with a 2007 oil, 150 x 100 cm which was sold for $ 32,225 USD more than its price in galleries in Jakarta (Ark Gallery), Berlin (Arndt) and New York (Lombard Fried), which clearly shows that the demand for this artist is higher than the supply. Note the appearance in auctions of new media, performance and video works by an artist with timid but honorable sales, the talented Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarno, a resident of Germany, was allocated $4,500 USD for the video accompanied by 3 pictures of her performance "My fingers are the triggers". Melati like Arahiamani, another female Indonesian artist presented last year in Beirut in the MENASART-FAIR Video Box of 2011, are regularly shown and collected by the Museum of Singapore.The Philippines also shined with a $76,825 sale for an oil work by Ronald Ventura in 2010. Jean Marc Decrop - Art Advisor South Asia - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
