Art Taipei, Taiwan’s foremost gallery exposition, held its preview Aug. 25 at the Taipei World Trade Center, with 66 international and 58 local galleries participating in the event, which runs through Aug. 29.
Foreign galleries make up more than half of all participants for the first time in the 18 year-history of Art Taipei, with Japan the largest contingent, the Council for Cultural Affairs said, adding that more than 3,000 artworks by over 700 artists will be on show.
The economic slump in Europe and the U.S. and the stock market crisis around the world seem yet to affect buyers in Asia, according to Richard Chang, chairman of event organizer the Taiwan Art Gallery Association. Chang said he expects 200 major art collectors and sales exceeding last year’s NT$600 million (US$20.79 million).
Works by Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso, at NT$68 million and NT$75 million, respectively, offered by Hong Kong’s Edouard Malingue Gallery and Japan’s galerie nichido/nca, posted the highest values at the event. “Seaside” by Taiwanese old master Liao Chi-chun, provided by Taipei-based Ever Harvest Art Gallery, is priced at NT$25 million, sources said.
This year the show, titled “One Love, One Art,” is also appealing to collectors with moderate budgets, encouraging them to buy art for the love of it, the CCA said.
The award-winning documentary “Herb and Dorothy” about the life of a middle-class American husband-and-wife team of art collectors will be screened at the expo, accompanied by discussions and lectures on how beginning collectors can develop relationships with artists and galleries.
Sections such as New Media, Fresh Art and Made in Taiwan are set to attract potential buyers to contemporary art and artists.
Art Taipei has also invited artists to design logos around the theme, and will donate proceeds from their sale to the Aboriginal Cultural Association of Pingtung County for art education in Taiwan’s remote areas.
Even before the preview event opened, Cher Wang, chairwoman of HTC Corp., bought “The Blessing of Jesus,” a mosaic painting by Taiwanese artist Chen Ching-jung, which she will donate to a church in Japan’s Tohoku region, still recovering from the earthquake-triggered multiple disasters in March, the organizer said. (THN)