Shanghai Art Week remains optimistic despite China’s continued economic slowdown

Last week, the West Bund Art & Design Fair and Art021 opened in Shanghai amid a burst of business vitality, with many galleries reporting strong first-day sales despite a backdrop of economic caution and regional competition.

“The energy here feels like a real year-end rebound,” said Enrico Polato, founder of Shanghai Capsule Gallery. art news West Coast opening day. “I’m excited to connect with new collectors who are showing genuine interest in our projects.”

However, this optimism runs counter to sober economic forecasts and the changing gallery landscape.

Just days ago, China’s former finance minister Lou Jiwei warned at a major business conference in Beijing that China’s property market slump has not yet bottomed out and will continue to weigh on economic growth. many galleries and collectors art news People interviewed before the show said they were bracing for a downturn this year.

This economic uncertainty, coupled with the overlap with the Kyoto Art Collaboration Show (November 13-16), which many industry insiders say attracts the attention of international collectors and exhibitors, is evident in the way major global galleries have moved into Shanghai this year.

Blue-chip artists such as Gagosian and Pace, long-time regulars at the city’s art fairs, have chosen to sit out entirely. Pace’s absence comes as the company announced last month it would close its Hong Kong flagship store. Those who did attend, including Almine Rech, White Cube and David Zwirner, scaled back, choosing to attend either Art021 or West Coast Art Show rather than both as they had in the past.

Yet when the doors opened to collectors last Thursday, the response was surprisingly strong, especially on the West Coast, where the fair debuted its new main venue. After years of being held in cavernous Brutalist factories, the event has moved to a sleek, jewel-like conference hall designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a space that many likened to a slightly smaller version of the Art Basel Hong Kong venue.

While the days of seven- and eight-figure works disappearing within the first few hours are clearly gone, many Chinese collectors say they now only buy art they truly like, rather than viewing it as an investment. (This is confirmed by a recent McKinsey survey, which found that more than 70% of affluent Chinese consumers said cultural heritage impressed them more than directly displayed luxury goods.)

Even so, sales were impressive. Thaddaeus Ropac exhibited five works on the opening day of the West Bund Museum, including a painting by Martha Jungwirth, which sold for 500,000 euros, and a painting by Alex Katz, which sold for $280,000. Hauser & Wirth sold two works by Avery Singer and Nicolas Party to an Australian collection for $575,000 and $520,000 respectively. White Cube announced several first-day sales, including two Antony Gormley sculptures, which sold for between £250,000 and £500,000, and a Gerhard Richter watercolor that sold for €325,000 on the third day.

Wendi Xu, Managing Director of White Cube Asia, said: “The relocation of the West Bund Art and Design Fair to a new venue this year has significantly improved the exhibition experience.” art news. “Its more centralized layout provides continuity and comfort, benefiting both galleries and collectors.”

Across the city at Art021, David Zwirner benefited from parallel events with Art021 co-founder David Chau, including a Huma Bhabha solo show at his CC Foundation and an installation by Felix Gonzalez-Torres Untitled (Lover Boy) (1989) as a special project at the fair.

“The Huma Bhabha exhibition will certainly help start a great conversation with existing clients and new collectors,” Christopher D’Amelio, senior partner at David Zwirner, told us art newsnoted that visitors gained a deeper understanding of her work by viewing the exhibition.

The gallery said it features works by Huma Bhabha, Mamma Andersson, Katherine Bernhardt, Scott Kahn, Dana Schutz and Walter Price, as well as works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres Untitled (Last Light) (1993), which is collected by a major collection in China but declined to disclose the price.

As with most art fairs, blue-chip galleries generally hold their ground, but the true measure of the market is the performance of small and mid-sized galleries.

Many local and regional exhibitors at both shows reported modest sales, with some anonymously admitting they did not place enough work during the two VIP days to justify the cost of participation.

But Shanghai’s long tradition of cross-industry collaborations between art, lifestyle brands and real estate developers offers galleries many alternative, more economical ways to capitalize on the energy of the city’s Art Week. Anachronistic satellite fairs such as Guillaume Gallio’s “Hang Over Shanghai” in the French Concession in 1929, as well as collectors’ mansions along the Suzhou River, provided such an avenue.

Initiated by Linseed Gallery’s Zhuang Lingzhi and Shanghai fashion boutique LMDS co-founder Orin Teng, Hang Over brings together nine galleries from five countries, including Layr Gallery from Vienna and Turnus Gallery from Warsaw, for a week-long pop-up event in the 1929 Art Deco Club. Pieces are tucked into Louis Vuitton luggage, hung above ceiling beams, or seamlessly integrated into furniture, turning the entire space into an art treasure hunt.

The idea, Zhuang said, is to create a more relaxed environment for dealers and collectors while keeping costs manageable for smaller galleries. Participants such as Misako&Rosen and Tomio Koyama Gallery, both at the Kyoto Art Cooperative, ship works directly to her and she handles sales on their behalf.

Meanwhile, a 13-day collector’s residence event launched by Larry’s List China partner Tyra Wang takes up an entire floor of a newly renovated industrial building on the banks of the Suzhou River, next to Fotografiska Shanghai and Suhe Haus, which has become one of Shanghai’s newest art hotspots. The project brings together 11 galleries and institutions to create a fair that blends paintings and installations with high fashion, ancient artifacts and collectible furniture.

Collector-initiated and lifestyle-oriented exhibitions also performed strongly this week. The group exhibition “Transmatter” at the Hengshan Pavilion and Huang Wanbing’s solo exhibition at the interior design brand WHYGARDEN’s showroom both reflect the rapid maturity of Shanghai’s art luxury ecosystem.

“People in the art world love new things,” said Wang Luning, a London-based influencer and art dealer who hosted a dual solo exhibition of modern masters Chu Teh-Chun and Georges Mathieu at her private space in Shanghai. “You need to come up with a new model to capture everyone’s attention.”

Wang explained why she turned to modern masters rather than contemporary artists, as she did last year. With so many contemporary exhibitions throughout the city, she wanted to take a different route.

The choice also suited her site, a space that once belonged to early 20th-century industrialist Wing Tak-shen – his brother’s former home is now Prada Wing House. The level of investment in modern productions also promises higher returns. “Collectors are still looking for quality,” she said.