Monkdogz Artblog

We went to see a lovely fireworks display tonight.  We sat on the beach watching the wonderful exhibition with the waves gently breaking on the sand.  It brought back many happy memories of growing up in Japan for me.

Fireworks were invented in China in the 12^th century; a natural progression from the invention of gunpowder.  Today they are the world’s largest exporters of fireworks.   

Interestingly, despite being so close to China, fireworks arrived in Japan, via the Portuguese who brought it with gunpowder in the 16^th century.  The Japanese in their usually style, have refined the art to such a degree that many will agree that the Japanese create the most beautiful and near perfect globe fireworks in the world.  Competitions between master firework creators are common in Japan and help make up some of the 500 displays that occur during the summer throughout the country.  

The Japanese are renowned for the intricate fireworks which can change color two or three times and are perfectly round so that they can be appreciated from whichever angle they are seen.  Displays are an intricately curated choreography of colors, shapes, size, sounds, rhythm, positioning, duration and sequencing. 

The Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang who studied in Japan for 9 years before finally settling in New York has taken the work further, creating very dynamic fireworks events as well as drawings created by burning gunpowder on paper.  One of his gunpowder scrolls sold for $1million last month at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong and in 2007 a 14 scroll lot sold for $9.5million according to the Wall Street Journal.  His work currently holds the record for highest price achieved for contemporary Chinese art.  The Kennedy Center has created an excellent presentation of how Cai develops his creations.  

It’s an unusual medium but a magnificent art form that continues to develop in it’s contemporary incarnations.  

Christie’s Hong Kong sale this week confirms much of what has been happening around the world.  There is still significant money being spent on art, significantly less than the height in early 2008, but still an impressive amount.  Andrew Foster, Christie’s Asia president, said in an interview with Bloomberg’s that buyers paid an average 30 percent more per lot than at Christie’s November auction.  It is worth noting though that there was about one third less lots this year compared to the same time last year and results were less than half of last year’s total.  

The change since the peak of the bubble has been that the money is being spent on masters and not contemporary art and artists of the last 40 years.  Those spending the money seem to be older collectors with older money wanting art from pre-1970. 

There were several paintings that doubled their pre-sale estimate including a painting by Zao Wou-ki (born 1921)  “Nous Deux” (1957,  63” x 78”) which sold for approximately $4.5 million.  

I’m hoping that this lack of interest in contemporary artists is just a reaction to the crazy prices that spiraled up and out of control in the last few years and it will hopefully correct and settle at a much more realistic and maintainable level………SOON.