Road to fusion

Dong Mengyang,founder,Art Beijing.

Before the onset of the global financial crisis, art fairs and exhibitions were often flooded with works by star artists.

But Dong says it is now time that the market gets diversified－with new talent and galleries that can offer something more experimental but not so commercially oriented, so they can cultivate new collectors.

"People's desire for art has grown along with improvement in the standard of living, and this is what is supporting Art Beijing and the Chinese art market," he says.

"But if one spends 100 million yuan on a painting only because you can resell it for 200 million, it has nothing to do with art. When you spend 100,000 yuan on a painting so that you can hang it in your living room, that is meaningful (to the market)," he adds.

Now, as the Chinese art market begins to occupy more space on the global stage, there is speculation as to how long it will be before China has its version of Art Basel, a top world art fair, with shows in Basel, New York, Miami and Hong Kong.

Dong says: "Different soil and environments lead to different things. What we need is not another Art Basel, but something that suits China, something people here can accept and digest."