Word: collector
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...purchase of a large painting by Zhang Xiaogang at an Oct. 15 London auction by British collector Charles Saatchi suggests there's every reason to believe that the tide of interest from overseas will continue to rise. Saatchi paid about $1.5 million for one of the artist's Bloodline series. Still, New York City--based collector Larry Warsh believes he got a good deal. "Saatchi is coming in late, but he's important because people follow him," says Warsh, publisher of the magazine Museums and an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary Chinese art. "It will soon prove to be a bargain...
Such speculative interest could evaporate overnight if the market cools, of course. But that's where the non-Chinese buyers come in. The international contemporary-art market is highly cyclical--many would say current prices are at all-time highs--but there remains a core group of wealthy art collectors who will be comparatively unaffected by external conditions. It's the buyers from that group who are now turning their attention to China, argues banker and avid collector Carl Kostyal. "About 10 to 20 collectors are at the leading edge of contemporary art globally," says Kostyal. "They are already buying...
Inevitably, the flood of money has left some members of the art world in China unhappy. "Modern art in China has become a monster," says respected collector Guan Yi. "People's attention is no longer focused on the art itself but [on] what kind of return they will get on their investment, like the stock market...
...only about investment, however, and at the center of each staggeringly expensive acquisition is a collector who is usually rapturous about a painting. "It's not like buying and selling shoes," says Los Angeles--based art adviser Patricia Ciaffa Peyser, who handles a number of high-profile collectors. "There's a sense of wonder and immortality about art that's precious to everyone. It transcends business." But as the art bubble continues to expand as a barometer of the overall health of the economy, even the most passionate collectors and the people who advise them are trying to figure...
...longer produces, frequently because their licensing agreement with the studio has expired. But it can still be tracked down from on-line retailers, and of course on eBay, where there's a lively trade in discontinued Criterion titles like Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo. And anyway, to the real collector, scarcity is catnip...