Fire Sale: Affordable Art Beijing's Hot Stuff

Given that artist Zhang Xiaogang just sold a triptych for USD 10 million at the latest Sotheby’s auction, you might think getting a foothold in China’s ballooning art market is a little bit of a reach. Here’s where Affordable Art Beijing (AAB) comes in, offering you the chance to buy the next generation’s art, starting at a couple hundred kuai. You never know, you might find a piece that will fund your kid’s college education down the road. Then again, if that’s too much pressure, you can also just choose something that looks good on your wall.

Now in its sixth year, AAB has made a name as the art fair that the rest of us can, well, afford, while also becoming a much-needed platform for emerging artists to get exposure. This means more people and more artwork (over a thousand pieces this year), which can make spotting the good ones a bit like a hunt for buried treasure – amongst a hundred other hunters. Here are some highlights to give you a head start:

Chen Zhuo’s “Firetruck” has a pared-down, toy-like aesthetic, and manages to be playful while also recalling the city’s never-ending traffic jams.

Lin Shu’s vertigo-inducing photograph “Zhen No. 2” convincingly blurs the boundaries between digital art and Northern Song dynasty ink painting. The shaky grey tones evoke the calligraphic lines of a mountain form, but at the same time also suggest the artist’s play with a double exposure. Either way the result is striking. Lin describes his work as both private and populist: “I start by making work for myself, but the end result is for the public.”

Li Baoxun’s “Stifled” is oil paint on canvas, but the paint is textured so it looks like crumpled paper, perhaps mimicking the crumbling mental state of the huddled, roly-poly figure in the foreground. The looming grey wall above him heightens the sense of suffocation that, without a clear narrative, creates a visual conundrum. “Stifled” leaves the viewer wondering, which is what demanding art should do. This one might make for depressing wall art, but hey, some of us are into that.

All three artists offer a variety of media, content, and approaches, representing the mishmash one will inevitably find at AAB. So, whether you’re looking to invest in budding contemporary artists or just sick of your bare walls, AAB is worth a look. Just don’t get stuck in line behind one of those fire trucks.

Affordable Art Beijing takes over 798 Space on May 14-15.