苏富比尤伦斯藏品拍卖掀起中国当代艺术高潮，并刷新纪录

苏富比尤伦斯藏品拍卖掀起中国当代艺术高潮，并刷新纪录
Chinese Contemporary Art Roared to New Records at Sotheby´s Flawless, $55 Million Ullens Collection Sale

香港报道——4月3日晚，张晓刚1988年的画作《生生息息之爱》在香港苏富比拍卖会上以7906万港元成交，刷新中国当代艺术拍卖的世界纪录。张晓刚这幅早期杰作是来自尤伦斯中国当代艺术收藏的105件拍品中的一件，盖伊·尤伦斯男爵（Baron Guy Ullens）曾希望以这批藏品作为其在北京的私人收藏博物馆之核心。这一新纪录突破了2008年的艺术市场鼎盛时期曾梵志的《面具系列1996 No.6》在香港佳士得拍卖会上创下的7536万港元的拍卖纪录。
在苏富比拍卖场上的拍品可谓珍奇荟萃，堪称完美，几乎每件拍品都会掀起一股激烈的竞标大战。直至拍卖结束，总成交额达4.27亿港元，超出其1.3亿港元的估价上限的3倍。电话买家的风头胜过场上买家，坐在场上的还有看上去闷闷不乐的乌里·希克（Uli Sigg，他的中国当代艺术收藏与尤伦斯的收藏有得一拼）。在拍卖会后，希克对路透社称他也曾举牌出价，“但那些价都抬得太高了”。
张培力的《萨克斯管手》（1986）作为本次拍卖会上的首件拍品奠定了当晚的基调，在电话买家们长时间的竞标之后，以482万港元成交，超出其估价上限的4倍。下一件拍品，张培力的《X？No.3》创下了艺术家的个人拍卖纪录，以2306万港元被一位电话买家拍得，这一价格是其估价上限的9倍。
此外，王广义、耿建翌、余友涵、丁乙和关伟的作品也都极大幅度地突破其估价上限，并创下新的个人纪录。这些作品最特别之处在于它们都创作于20世纪80年代末、90年代初，中国前卫艺术蓬勃发展之时。买家们激烈竞标，欲得到一幅蕴含着中国当代艺术史的作品，致使其中有些作品的成交价超出其估价上限的20倍。
最受欢迎的一批作品包括张晓刚的《生生息息之爱》和耿建翌、张培力、关伟、王广义和杨诘苍的作品，这些作品最初亮相于1989年2月在中国美术馆举办的那影响后世的“中国现代艺术展”上。这一传奇大展首次向世界呈现了中国当代艺术界的概貌，一些在接下来的10年中将主导中国当代艺术界的艺术家亦是在此次大展中被引介的（方力钧、徐冰和刘小东也是在其中初露头角）。当时正逢中国改革开放第一个10年的高潮，“中国现代艺术展”在中国当代艺术史上的地位无与伦比。
目前，那些天价拍品的买家的身份尚不得而知，然而有人推测《生生息息之爱》的买家或许是亿万富翁级藏家刘益谦的妻子王薇。王薇计划于明年年底在上海开一家私人博物馆，因而这两年在中国的拍卖场上甚为活跃。如果她真的就是那件作品的买家，那么人们对历史性作品将散入私人收藏而不见天日的忧虑便会得到缓解了。
当晚拍场上还有一大喜人迹象：西方买家回到了近来全由中国本土藏家支配着的圈子。前10名的买家中至少有3位来自美国，表明中国当代艺术又迅速受到国际上的支持。
 

HONG KONG— A new world record was set for Chinese contemporary art at auction last night when Zhang Xiaogang´s 1988 painting "Forever Lasting Love" sold for a total of $10 million at Sotheby´s Hong Kong. Zhang´s early masterpiece was part of a 105-lot sale of works from the Ullens Collection of Chinese contemporary art, a famous trove that founder Baron Guy Ullens had once hoped would form the core of a private museum collection in Beijing. The new record surpassed the one set in 2008 when, at the height of the contemporary art boo, Zeng Fanzhi´s "Mask Series 1996, Number 6" sold for $9.7 million at Christie´s Hong Kong.
The sale occurred on the same day that Chinese police arrested political artist Ai Weiwei as part of a mounting crackdown on dissident intellectuals. 
At  Sotheby´s, the room was packed for what proved to be a white-glove, or perfect, sale, with bidders battling for almost every lot in a tense atmosphere. By the end of the night, the auction house had netted $54,774,263, more than trebling its high presale estimate of $16.7 million. Phone bidders dominated the action, reducing those in the room — including a morose-looking Uli Sigg (whose own collection of Chinese contemporary art rivals that of Ullens) — to the position of bystanders. After the sale Sigg confirmed to Reuters that he did bid, "but the prices were too high."
The tone of the night was set by the very first lot, Zhang Peili´s "Profile of the Saxophonist" (1986), which sold after a long duel between phone bidders for $619,000, more than four times its high estimate. The next lot, Zhang Pelli´s "Series ´X?´ No. 3" (1986), set a new record for the artist, hammering to a phone bidder for a total of $3 million, nine times its high estimate.
This was to be the first of many artist records set on the night, with works by Wang Guangyi, Geng Jianyi, Yu Youhan, Ding Yi, and Guan Wei, among others, soaring past their high estimates to set new marks. What was notable about these works in particular was that they dated from the flowering of China´s avant-garde in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some of them went for more than 20 times their high estimates, as bidders battled to secure a piece of Chinese contemporary art history.
A number of the works that drew the most energetic bidding — including Zhang Xiaogang´s "Forever Lasting Love" and works by Geng Jianyi, Zhang Peili, Guan Wei, Wang Guangyi, and Yang Jiechang — had first been exhibited in the seminal "China/Avant-Garde" exhibition at Beijing´s National Art Museumu in February 1989. This was the legendary show that first defined the contours of the country´s contemporary art scene to the world, and introduced many of the names that would dominate Chinese art scene for the succeeding decade (Fang Lijun, Xu Bing, and Liu Xiaodong also came to notice in the exhibition). Coming just before the student demonstrations that culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, the "China/Avant-Garde" exhibition occupies an unrivalled place in the history of Chinese contemporary art.
For the time being, the identity of most of the successful bidders for the top lots are unknown, but there was speculation that "Forever Lasting Love" was bought by Wang Wei, the wife of billionaire collector Liu Yiqian. Wang plans to open a private museum late next year in Shanghai, and has been very active in the auction room in China over the last two years. If she does turn out to be the buyer, it will come as a relief to those worried about a historic work of this significance disappearing into a less-visible private collection.
Meanwhile, last night´s proceedings were notable for the re-entry of Western buyers into a scene that Chinese collectors have recently had all to themselves. Among the top ten bidders were at least three from the United States, indicating that international support for Chinese contemporary art continues apace.