NEWLY established Shenzhen Free Art House (SFAH) has made a significant breakthrough in the international art market with its artists' works going on show at two contemporary Chinese art auctions in Hong Kong through May.

A total of 20 works by 20 SFAH artists will join the contemporary art auction to be held by the Hong Kong-based All Arts Auctioneers Ltd. on March 31.

Another three works by three SFAH artists, including Du Yinghong, Zou Wei and Wu Desheng, have been accepted by the London-based Bonhams for its inaugural Hong Kong auction of contemporary Asian art on May 26.

"The participation of SFAH artists at the two auctions in Hong Kong will not only help promote the collective image of the SFAH outside the mainland, but also produce a positive impact on SFAH artists' thinking and creation as their works' values will be tested in the international art market," said SFAH's founder Du Yinghong.

Du, a 31-year-old Shenzhen-based freelance artist, established SFAH with 20 other young and ambitious artists by renting a 2,400-sqaure-meter floor of a redundant factory in Nanshan District in December 2006.

"Every era has its own representative artists, and it will be to our great satisfaction if we, as auctioneers, can find any representative artists of our time and do something to promote and advance their art," said Tony Chan, partner of All Arts Auctioneers Ltd.

Established in the autumn of 2001, All Arts has become "a platform for all forms of artistic creation" and "an intermediary between artists and collectors" in Hong Kong, according to Chan.

In February and March this year, Chan and his colleague, Chong Chi-kong, general manager of All Arts, visited SFAH twice to select works for the contemporary art auction.

"The chemistry of this community which creates an alcove for both support and competition in nurturing limitless potential impressed us greatly," Chan said.

"We are very excited to be able to add this group of young and hardworking artists to the Hong Kong art market."

Following Sotheby's and Christie's, Bonhams is the third-largest auction house in the world, with offices throughout Europe, the United States and now Hong Kong.

"The establishment of the Bonhams Hong Kong office (in February 2007) is a statement that the company takes the markets and opportunities in the Far East seriously and the Hong Kong office will mark the beginning of the company's presence in the region," said Howard Rutkowski, director of the contemporary Asian art department of Bonhams London.

The inaugural series of sales this May includes traditional Asian works of art and a separate sale of contemporary Asian art.

"Contemporary Chinese art is seen as the growth market, not only with the interest of Western collectors, galleries and museums, but also by the growing domestic market," Rutkowski said.

Rutkowski joined Sotheby's New York in 1979, and a 13-year career at Sotheby's culminated in his appointment as managing director of Sotheby's Korea, where he also acted as the Western painting specialist for the entire Far East.

In 2002, Rutkowski joined Bonhams London as director of modern and contemporary art, instituting the company's first sale of contemporary Asian art in London in June 2006.

"The contemporary art scene in China is unlike any that we have seen before," he said. "Much is due to the Western interest in 'things Chinese' - a long tradition - as well as the attention focused on China as a future economic powerhouse."

At the moment, there is a feeding frenzy in the market, with Western and Asian buyers competing for a select number of artists.

"Unfortunately, much of this art is 'painted for the market' by artists who once were barely important in the annals of contemporary Chinese art," he said.

Rutkowski believes, as the market develops, collectors worldwide will move beyond the babies in Mao suits, the pretty young pioneer girls and other references to China's recent political and cultural past.

"What will happen - and is already happening - is the important and more interesting work created by a generation of artists who have a more conceptual approach and use a visual language that speaks to an international audience," Rutkowski stressed.

In recent years, Hong Kong has grown to become Asia's most important auction center in the wake of the booming Chinese economy and art market.

In 2006, Sotheby's and Christie's, the world's two biggest auction houses, sold US$190 million worth of contemporary Asian art, most of it Chinese, in a series of record-breaking auctions in Hong Kong, New York and London.

At the beginning of this year, Sotheby's also launched a special department focused on the outstanding works being produced by Chinese, Japanese and Korean artists, with inaugural auctions in New York on March 31 and Hong Kong on April 8.

As Christie's celebrates its 20th anniversary in Hong Kong, it will hold its 20th century Chinese art auction, along with other sales, May 27 to 29.

Editor: Wing