A New York collector made 63 times his cost on a Chinese painting at a London auction Saturday, showing how money is being made by betting on trends in contemporary art markets.
Howard Farber said he paid US,000 (HK5,000) in 1996 for Wang Guangyi's Great Criticism: Coca-Cola, which portrays revolutionary soldiers stabbing at a Coca-Cola Co logo. It sold for 780,000 (HK.25 million) before commission at Phillips de Pury & Co, compared with a 600,000 top estimate ahead of the auction.
Wang Guangyi's Great Criticism: Coca-Cola (www.baozang.com)
The buyer was Larry Warsh, a New York-based collector and art adviser who is Farber's son-in-law.
The political pop artist's 1993 critique of US consumer culture is "the most reproduced image of Chinese contemporary art," Farber, 65, a former real-estate financier, said before the sale. "The artist sees the Coca-Cola logo as an invasion of Western brands into China, and every story in any magazine or book about Chinese art would probably use this image."
"It's a lot of money," Warsh said in an interview. It was the most he had ever paid for Chinese contemporary art: "I am very nervous. Part of my plan is to create a traveling collection and send it to Asia, and this is the key piece. Wang Guangyi is the Warhol of China. This piece is one of the most famous samples of his work and one of the earliest," he said.
Warsh said he planned to sell some of his collection, which includes pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, to focus on China.
The collector's decision shows that resources for many art buyers are finite, and purchases are not always a sign that new money is coming into the market.
Phillips' sale is part of a five-day marathon of contemporary art sales estimated by auctioneers to bring in as much as 184 million.The last night at Sotheby's took in 34.9 million, missing its 40.4 million top estimate even after adding commissions, in a possible sign collectors are discounting some artworks after two months of turbulence in the financial markets.
Still, Yue Minjun's Execution, a 1995 oil painting of laughing men in underwear, set a record at Sotheby's both for the artist and for a Chinese contemporary work, taking 2.9 million including commission from a telephone buyer.
As China's economy grows, the country's art is captivating Western collectors. London's Charles Saatchi will open his new gallery with a Chinese contemporary show, and Belgium's Guy Ullens has built a Beijing museum.
Farber's sales have enabled him to profit from a three-year boom in values and from the rules he applied to buying works since 1995.
Phillips is selling 44 of Farber's works valued at as much as 5 million.
A June sale of Farber's art at Phillips took in US.5 million before commissions, almost 2.8 times the cost of his entire collection.
Farber, who retains enough Chinese art to fill his homes in New York and Florida, originally made his money buying and leasing stores in New York, at the same time collecting US painters such as Georgia O'Keeffe and John Marin.
After a Hong Kong visit in 1995, he began buying Chinese art and has spent about US million on it, Farber said.
Often, he bought directly from the artists, purchasing works that had featured in museum and gallery shows, he said.
Chinese artists in Phillips' sale include Ai Weiwei, Chen Zhen, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun and Zhang Xiaogang.
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