From The Hindu (link):
“THE first time I sold my contemporary art collection was around three years ago and I tripled my investment. If I had waited till today the same works would have gone for 10 times what I sold them for!” rues Robert Bernell, a Beijing-based art publisher and collector.
Indeed, as China’s booming economy continues to sound loud, contemporary Chinese art is the latest “next big thing” in the international art market, sending galleries, collectors and investors alike into a rapturous tizzy.
At Sotheby‘s first New York auction of contemporary Asian art held in late March, Chinese figurative painter, Zhang Xiaogang’s “Bloodline Series: Comrade No. 120” sold for $9,79,200, more than twice the auction house’s estimate of $3,50,000.
“I wasn’t surprised at all. In fact I had bet money that this auction would see a contemporary Chinese painting go for $1 million. I narrowly lost the bet but there is no question in my mind that it will happen at the very next auction,” says Ludovic Bois, founder of Chinese Contemporary, a leading gallery of Chinese art in London and Beijing.
