Chengdu prepares to host modern art fair next year

Sichuan province's capital, Chengdu, will hold its first international contemporary art fair, Art Chengdu, in April.

It's organized by a group of Chinese in their 30s.

The fair from April 28 to May 2 will be the first of its kind in southwestern China, where a large number of collectors and artists live.

About 30 galleries will be invited to attend, including 10 from outside China.

"The size of Art Chengdu will be small (at first), but we hope it will attract young collectors and art lovers," says Huang Zai, co-founder of the fair.

A Chengdu native, Huang says Chengdu had little regular art activity, although private museums and galleries have mushroomed in recent years.

Her partner, Huang Yu, came up with the idea of holding an art fair in Chengdu in June, after he held a show displaying his collection of contemporary Chinese art, featuring works by 66 artists, at a local museum.

Huang Yu is regarded by media as a typical young Chinese collector born in the 1980s.

The 36-year-old was awarded Collector of the Year 2016 by Chinese art magazine HiArt, along with Liu Yiqian, who offered a record price of $170 million for Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani's oil painting in 2015.

"My friends and I hope we have the chance to buy good art in our hometown," says Huang Yu, who flies to art fairs across the world every year for his collection, which mainly features videos and conceptual art.

Many of his friends, including some who're in their 20s, are collectors of contemporary Chinese art.

Huang Yu held a forum of young Chinese collectors that attracted many people from the finance and property sectors during his show last year.

"They buy a lot of contemporary art and always fly to Hong Kong for purchases," he says, adding that the number of young collectors in China is increasing.

Many are from Chengdu, a city that is also home to many accomplished contemporary artists.

Huang Yu's own collection has many works by artists from the province.

He says that during the art fair, they will cooperate with well-known artists from Sichuan to make large-scale works to be placed in public spaces to "interact" with locals.

They will also have a special section of the fair to display local artists' works.

He says the city is rich in culture and history.

But there are few avenues for young art lovers who want to learn more about contemporary art.

That's why he and his partner, Huang Zai, decided to stage an art fair to offer a platform to show contemporary works from around the world.

Huang Zai explains that they hope that works will be affordable for people who are just developing interest in contemporary art. She says they also hope to see big names on show.

"The locals spend about 15 billion yuan on eating hotpot every year. I think they can buy art," says Shi Zheng, art director of the art fair.

Her confidence in local consumption comes largely from their passion for luxury goods and fancy cars.

Forbes ranked Chengdu third on its 2012 China luxury-consumption list, after Beijing and Shanghai. Chengdu residents bought 40,000 luxury cars in 2014.

Shi says the fair offers outsiders an incentive to visit the city, which has many tourists spots like the panda park.

dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn