Bloomberg reports on Chinese contemporary artist, Zhang Xiaogang:
Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun and Zeng Fanzhi are the most-valuable living Chinese artists, based on the auction prices of their works, shows a ranking by China-based Hurun Report, which also lists the nation’s richest people.
Works by Zhang, known for his somber, gray-hued paintings of Chinese families, fetched a combined $44.1 million at art auctions last year, followed by Yue’s $30.5 million and Zeng’s $30.1 million, according to Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun’s Shanghai- based publisher. Works by the top 50 artists on Hurun’s list sold a combined $410 million at auction last year. Artists on the list averaged 57.5 years of age.
“Chinese collectors had begun to take an interest in contemporary art, which was until then mostly of interest to foreigners,” said Hoogewerf, in an e-mail.
