«I LIKE MONEY ON THE WALL»

As part of its spring season of sales in the territory, Sotheby’s dispersed 106 works of contemporary Chinese art from the much larger collection of Belgian food baron Guy Ullens (and founder of the non-profit Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing). The works were of great interest, dating from the 1980s and documenting the beginnings of avant-garde art in China. Its target was $16.7m but here again bidding was frenetic and when the dust had settled the sale had racked up over $54.7m, with all the lots sold and new price highs established for a posse of artists including market stalwart Zhang Xiogang (“Forever Lasting Love”, 1988, at $10.1m) as well as Wang Guangyi (“Mao Zedong, P2”, 1988, at $2.5m). The Zhang price also set a new record for any work of Chinese contemporary art: buyers were mainly Asian private collectors but American private bidders snagged two of the top ten lots.

-Financial Times