$1m for a Chinese painting?
..
Global competition driving boom in Asian artworks
Ashley Ford, The Province
Published: Sunday, April 15, 2007
Asian art is becoming a major force in the Canadian market, says Robert Heffel,
co-owner of the Vancouver-based Heffel Fine Art Auction House.
He said a large canvas by Chinese-born artist Zao Wou-ki could break the
$1-million barrier when it comes up for online auction later this month in
Toronto, further underlining the rapid upsurge of interest in Asia art.
"It's been conservatively priced at $400,000 to $600,000 in Canada, but we
expect intense international competition for this work," he said.
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Font: ****"I anticipate it will set a record price for his work in Canada." It
is the first time the work, simply entitled 5.11.62, the date of its execution,
has been offered for sale publicly.
Heffel said the Asian art market is one of the strongest to emerge in the past
few years, mirroring the Russian art market, which became very buoyant with the
arrival of nouveau riche Russian millionaires and billionaires buying back
artworks of their country's most famous artists.
Heffel says Asian art is now a major force in Canadian art circles as well as
internationally.
A major reason for the exploding interest, he says, is competition.
Heffel says web-based marketing and communications has really opened up the
global marketplace, where potential buyers from Canada, the United States,
Europe and Asia are all competing for the best works offered.
The rapid transformation of the Chinese economy is being felt as well.
"There are many Chinese and Asians with money who want to invest in fine art,"
Heffel says.
Zao, an abstract painter, and his works are already well known in Canada
because, when he moved to Paris in 1948 to avoid political troubles at home, it
brought him into contact with the so-called Canadian School of Paris and artists
such as Jean-Paul Riopell, Heffel said.
The work can be viewed at www.heffel.com.
© The Vancouver Province 2007