798's Pace Gallery Beijing Closes Citing a Poor Climate for Art in China
Pace Gallery has announced that it will close its expansive space in Beijing's 798 art district, as reported by ArtNews.
American art dealer and Pace founder Arne Glimcher cited a poor business environment for selling art here as the basis for the closure, and specifically the 38 percent luxury tax that buyers here must shoulder when buying art.
Glimcher said that the ongoing trade war between China and the US also played its part. In an interview with ArtNews, he states: “It’s impossible to do business in mainland China right now and it has been for a while,” adding, “The last straw is Trump’s duty on Chinese artists coming into this country and Xi Jinping’s duty on Americans coming into China.”
The 22,000sqm converted factory space opened just in time for the Olympics in 2008 and in doing so became the first major Manhattan art gallery to land in Beijing. Since then, Pace has been host to numerous world-renowned international and Chinese artists such as Irving Penn, Richard Tuttle, Diane von Furstenberg, Zhang Xiaogang, and Zhang Huan.
For now, no date of closure has been announced, but Glimcher has said that Pace will maintain an office and a viewing room in Beijing.
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