An artistic investment

Beauty of art may lie in the eye of the beholder, but expensive price tags often keep people from owning their own modern Chinese artworks. Thankfully, art that won't break the bank will be on show at the All Affordable Beijing (AAB) Art Festival. The annual festival will be held over June 2-3 at the 798 Art Zone, with this year expected to be the biggest in its six-year history amid anticipation of tens of thousands of visitors.

Hundreds of works by contemporary Chinese artists, from small prints to large oil paintings, will be sold over the first weekend of June. There will also be hand-painted sculptures and prints from established photographers.

Tom Pattinson, the festival's co-founder, said the event helps promote talented local artists, many of them representing the new face of modern Chinese art. The youngest artist whose works will be on sale was born in 1993, while the majority of artists hail from Beijing.

AAB has a direct contract with artists and allows them to price their works on their own terms. Luka Yang, an artist and the communication manager of the festival, revealed that more than 10,000 artworks will be on sale this year thanks to the festival's increased collaboration with art schools across the country.

"We hope to have more young artists participate in the festival as it is a good platform for them to publicize their art," said Yang. "We give artists the chance to reach a large and diverse audience with thousands of visitors." AAB has cemented its reputation in recent years for unearthing future stars in Chinese art circles. Past artists who have participated in the festival include acrylic painter Shen Qi, ink painter Zhou Jun and avant-garde artist Yin Jun.

Pattinson noted how Yin, renowned for his animated and exaggerated portraits of wailing children, sold some of his paintings for 8,000 yuan ($1,270) at the festival in 2008. Today, Yin's paintings fetch as much as 250,000 yuan on the international market.

"We're receiving more submissions every year. While this makes our job in selecting works even harder, I'm constantly amazed at the amount of talented artists who apply to take part," said Pattinson.

This year, AAB has teamed up with charity World of Art Brut Culture (WABC), an organization that offers art therapy to people with learning disabilities.

AAB will provide an exhibition space at the festival to sell WABC artworks, with all the proceeds from sales going to the charity.　　

Statistics from artprice.com, an international online art market, show the global art auction market was worth $11.27 billion in 2011, up $2 billion from 2010.

China had the lead share of last year's fine art auction sales, with 41.4 percent of total revenue.

The painting Lion Forest by late contemporary artist and the man dubbed the "father of modern Chinese art," Wu Guanzhong, sold at auction last year for 115 million yuan, becoming the most expensive contemporary Chinese artwork ever sold.

However, less than 1 percent of art globally is sold for more than $1 million. Around 70 percent of all art sold in Europe and the US is priced under $5,000.

Although this trend is not reflected in China, where only about a third of art sold is priced under $5,000. This is something that is gradually changing however, said Pattinson, who predicts sales of affordable art will likely experience steady growth in coming years. "The potential affordable art market in China is currently estimated to be $1.1 billion, but that's growing year-on-year," he said.

"We will stick to the fair-priced art market," he added, saying the price for artworks at next month's festival would range from a few hundred yuan to a maximum of 20,000 yuan.

When: June 2-3

Where: 798 Art Zone, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district

Admission: Free

Contact: 5978-9181