The art markets of emerging economies have undergone a rapid expansion in the past three decades, bringing some of them into the same league as the more established art markets of the West. Nevertheless, there is still considerable variation between the art markets of emerging and high-income countries, as well as between the art markets of emerging economies themselves. More specifically, we can observe these differences along two lines: the size of the market and the subject matter of the art.
In explaining this first line of difference, it is useful to consider the fact that investors in the emerging countries have less to spend and that there is a strong link between markets and politics in emerging economies. Moreover, to explain the variations in the size of the art market between emerging economies, we can turn to differences in government restrictions on artistic content and the level of government involvement. In regard to the subject matter of the art, there are both similarities and differences between emerging and high-income countries. While in both cases, the art reflects the social, cultural, and political experiences of the country and/or artist, a sub-section of emerging market art has also touched upon the transformations associated with being an emerging economy.
At the close of the 1990s, art markets in emerging economies began experiencing an impressive boom, both resulting from and contributing to the development of the country. Among these emerging markets, China has by far undergone the fastest and largest transformation. The country has consistently ranked as the second largest art market (after the US) in recent years, despite its complete absence from the artistic world stage until the turn of the twenty-first century. Equally, in India the modern and contemporary art market saw a 36 percent increase in sales in 2015, reflecting a wider pattern of success among South Asian markets.
Having said this, art markets in emerging economies have backslid in the past two years and still trail their Western competitors. So, what explains these trends? We can first turn to these countries’ level of income. While this may seem like an obvious point, it often goes uncovered. Despite the spectacular growth of emerging economies, especially the BRICs, in recent years, the income of their citizens still lags behind that of Western countries. This reflects directly in there being fewer domestic investors for their art. Secondly, the very nature of emerging markets, as countries “where politics matters at least as much as economics to the markets” (Bremmer) means that the art market is more vulnerable to downturn following political trouble. Indeed, the art markets of Iran and Russia both suffered as a result of sanctions and the general deterioration in their relationship with the West from 2011-14. Similarly, the political conflict of 2015-16 substantially impacted the Brazilian art market.
While these two factors effectively explain a large proportion of the difference in the size between art markets in emerging and high-income countries, to understand the variation between the art markets of emerging countries, we must turn to two other factors. These are the level of support from the government and government restrictions on artistic content. First, there are vast differences between the levels of support from different governments for their national art markets. The Iranian government has invested little in the country’s contemporary art scene, leaving private galleries to fill this void. Similarly, the Indian and Brazilian governments have failed to reflect on how their high import taxes on art (which can reach up to 60 percent in the latter) impacts the art market. By contrast, the Chinese auction market has greatly benefitted from the government’s prioritization of the development of a cultural industry. Indeed, out of the top 10 auction houses in the world, 6 are now Chinese, and only one of these is more than a decade old.
Moreover, it is important to note that a substantial proportion of emerging markets are not democracies, they are instead either hybrid regimes or authoritarian, meaning that in many cases the government imposes restrictions on artistic content. As a result, in multiple emerging markets, there has therefore been a development of both an official and non-official art scene. This is problematic as it means that only the former receives government support, despite the fact that it is far less popular with international audiences and investors than the latter. These internal divisions then go on to hamper the overall potential of the country’s art market. China and Venezuela illustrate this point nicely. Both governments have sought to encourage their artists to produce art that promotes the nation. It is thus only this type of art which they have exhibited at international fairs. For instance, at the 2011 Venice Exhibition, the Chinese government intentionally chose to display a piece which presented a mono-cultural perspective on Chinese identity, but Western critics characterized as self-defeating given that the piece was supposedly done in the Realist style. Similarly, at the 50th Venice Biennale, the Vice Minister of Culture for Venezuela vetoed the artist Pedro Morales’s installation as the piece was considered to contain “harmful elements for Venezuela’s international image”. This resulted in an empty pavilion, representative of the self-imposed obstacles which have hindered the potential of Venezuela’s art market.
Having considered the reasons for the variation in the size of art markets in emerging and high-income economies, we can now turn to another dimension along which the art markets of these two groups can be compared: the subject matter of the art. First, it is undeniable that in both emerging and high-income economies the vast majority of the art reflects the social, cultural, and political experiences of the country and/or artist. Indeed, in her work, Bharti Kher, one of India’s most celebrated artists, focuses on the themes of identity, sexuality and gender roles. For instance, her 2004 sculpture, Arione, is a six-foot fiberglass Amazonian woman, with one hand holding a tray of cupcakes and the other resting seductively on her hip. She is bare-chested, dressed in shorts and a holster and one of her legs gradually morphs into that of a horse. Kher explores the themes of identity with this sculpture, describing Arione as “the goddess, the housewife, the mother, the whore, the mistress, the lover, the sister… everything”. This same theme has been and continues to be explored by artists across Western nations, representing an interesting parallel between the art of Western and emerging countries.
However, an important difference between the art of these two contexts lies with the exploration by artists of the latter of the very experience of being an emerging country. Indeed, this theme is particularly prevalent among Chinese artists. The last 20 years of China’s meteoric economic growth have in many ways been shaped and fuelled by globalization. This has led to huge transformations, including an increasingly capitalist economy. One of the artists who has explored this dimension of China’s experience as an emerging economy is Wang Guangyi through his Great Criticism collection. In the piece below, Guangyi juxtaposes realist depictions of propaganda imagery with symbols of consumer culture as a way of presenting the contradictions inherent in the Chinese national experience over the past two decades. Therefore, an interesting and distinct dimension of emerging market art is the exploration of the momentous economic transformations of the country in question.
In conclusion, the ascendance of the art market in emerging economies has been shaped by a variety of forces, including the strong link between markets and politics in emerging economies, the level of government funding, and government restrictions on artistic content. Moreover, artists in emerging countries have not only sought to examine their social, cultural and political experiences but have also used their work as a platform for exploring the reality of being an emerging economy.
Concepts to consider
- What are forces hindering the potential of emerging market art?
- What will the future bring for emerging market art? Could emerging market art overtake the art markets of Western countries?
- Might art have a diplomatic use in creating and improving relations between emerging nations and other countries?
- How was the art industry benefited from and contributed to the growth of emerging economies?
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