早在八十年代，当我决心投身于中国艺术的投资与推广事业时，我就反覆思考一个问题: 怎么样的艺术投资与推广才是不欺骗自己、不误导市场，最终达到画家、客户和画廊三赢的局面。其中关键中之关键是要搞清楚什么样的作品才具有永恒的价值。

    最后，我定下判断一个优秀艺术家及其具有价值的作品之三大标准:1.具有开宗立派的鲜明艺术风格;2.具有不可取代性的高难度艺术技巧;3.具有不断进取的艺术探索精神。而作品必须是作者严谨认真的真情之作，则经得起时间的考验，并具有美术史上永恒的价值。我们二十多年来以此标准选择和推介画家，事实証明这一标准是正确的，并经过时间客观事实的考证。

    近年来，艺术市场在国内外基金、策展人、理论家及拍卖机构联手推动下，产生了一股强大的“当代艺术”热潮，这股以当代油画为主的浪潮以2006始，至2008就达到高峰，许多中青代画家作品在短短两二三年间，价格就被推上过百倍高位，甚至远远超越了近现代定位大师的价位，一下子吸引了全球艺术投资者及收藏家的眼球，同时亦引起收藏投资界人士的惊讶和质疑。这股以“政治波普”、“标新立异”甚至“光怪陆离”为卖点“当代艺术”热潮在2008年渐渐降温后就引发出市场及艺术界一个巨大的问号，到底如何评价这股“当代艺术”？这个问题如果不弄清楚，将直接影响广大艺术投资者及中国艺术家的未来路向和何去何从。同时亦将影响中国艺术市场及当代中国艺术未来的健康发展。

    以我的看法，近年来这股当代艺术的热潮既有正面的意义，亦有负面的因素。

    正面的意义:当代艺术带来新的视觉效果和表现手法令中国艺术界眼界大开，从而对因循守旧的创作思维产生强大的冲击和启发，对中国艺术界创新思维和多元化发展有正面作用;其二， 当代艺术在强大的市场资本力量的推动下产生的高价位打破了传统投资市场对作品价值论资排辈、生不如死、现代不如古代的固有成见，对作品未来价值客观评估亦有正面的作用。

负面的因素:这股“当代艺术”热潮基本上靠资本运作的力量而掀起，实际缺乏了广泛的市场基础和客观检验;更大的问题在于内里蛇龙混杂、鱼目混珠，许多不具专业水准、艺术价值，甚至是丑陋及令人不安的作品被加上突破创新的桂冠居然可在国际拍卖场上大出风头，大大地扭曲和侮辱了市场的智慧和良知，同时以“皇帝的新衣”式的手法愚弄和误导了许多无辜的艺术投资者。当然，其中亦不乏具有独特想法且具有专业水准的艺术家。然而，当他们的作品往往在人为力量推动下把其价格提高至远超过应有价值的地位，同样会产生误导成份并不可避免地要大幅调整，最终亦会对市场产生伤害。

    如今，数年前掀起的“当代艺术”浪潮从兴起至降温虽然已有好几年了，然而其引起中国艺术市场的混乱及美术界的争议及等不明朗因素并未消除，许多艺术投资者及艺术家对此认识仍然像雾又像花，十分模糊 。

    事实上，真正优秀及具有价值的作品在古今中外的标准都大至相同:作品从来只有好与坏的分别，新与旧只是相对而言，真正优秀的作品不管古代或现代都能感动观众，首先都必具有真善美的属性，形成个人独特风貌属发明创造性，是对人类美术史的贡献;专业及高难度技艺属不可取代性，能确保作品的稀缺性和崇高地位;好的作品永远是艺术家真情之作。

    过去，我们曾以此标准选择和推介艺术家已证实是正确的。现在，为了让中国艺术市场和广大中青代艺术家有更清晰的市场标准和努力方向。我们谨计划于本年底至明年初的大半年内推出《云峰眼中的新当代油画大展》及《云峰眼中的新当代水墨 (国画)大展》两项带学术性私全国巡回展览活动，我们所订立的“新当代”除了上述的三大标准，只要再加上新思维、新技法、新内容和新构成，即具有别于传统和前人的面貌兼具新时代的创新属性便附合了我们的标准 。

    我们希望通过当今中国各地一批杰出艺术家的精心作品的实证， 一起去演绎出中国新当代绘画艺术的风采，并为中国美术界和艺术市场提供一个生动的参考，并为中国艺术事业的健康发展作出新贡献。

二零一三年十一月一日

In the Eyes of Wanfung:

“New Contemporary Oil Painting” and “New Contemporary Ink Painting”

 

Back in the 80s, when I made the decision to devote myself to the investment and promotion of Chinese art, I have been over and over again reflecting one question: what kind of art investment and promotion is not self-deceiving, not misleading to the market, and can achieve an all-win result for painters, clients and galleries. I think the essential key to this question is to ascertain what kind of artworks possesses a permanent value.

I have finally concluded three criteria to determine the values of artworks and painters: 1. That they have to demonstrate a pioneering novel style that is highly distinguishable 2. That they have achieved truly advanced artistic skills which cannot be easily imitated or replaced; 3. That they have to be creative, and possess an exploring spirit, an incessantly innovative attitude. The artworks further have to be the genuine, sincere and serious creation of the painter, and then they would transcend the time and changes, and possess permanent values in the history of art. For over 20 years, we have been selecting and promoting painters based on these criteria, and the result proves that these criteria are correct, and can be always testified by time and experiences.

In recent years, driven by funds from home and abroad, curators, theorists and auctioneers, there once thrived an influential trend of so-called “contemporary art”. Beginning in 2006, reaching its climax in 2008, and dominated by contemporary oil paintings, this trend pushed the prices of young and middle-aged painters’ paintings to hundreds of times than before, even surpassing the prices of established masters of modern and contemporary periods, within merely two to three years. This phenomenon immediately attracted the attention of art investors and collectors around the world, but also brought about controversial astonishments and doubts of the collection and investment world. This trend, which boasted such selling points as “politic pop”, “seeking eccentricity”, or even “grotesqueness and gaudiness”, gradually died out in 2008, leaving a huge question for the art market: how on earth shall we evaluate this trend of “contemporary art”? Without solving this question, the future of general art investors, of Chinese contemporary artists will be left in a doubtful prospect. This will also greatly cripple the healthy development of Chinese art market and contemporary Chinese art.

In my opinion, this recent trend of contemporary art has its positive influences as well as negative ones.

The positive effects lie in the following aspects. This trend of contemporary art brought about various new visual effects and modes of expression, thereby serving as an eye-opening occasion for Chinese art community, challenging the conservative mode of creation and inspiring innovations and pluralistic development in China. Secondly, pushed by strong market capitals, the prices of contemporary art reached a strikingly high level, subverting the stereotype of traditional investment market that ranks art works according to seniority and sanctions criteria such as “works of the dead artists are better than those who are still alive” “contemporary art works are worse than the older ones”. Thus the new phenomenon contributed to a positive reshaping of a more objective evaluation regarding future values of art works.

Noticeably, there have also been negative impacts. This so-called “contemporary art” trend was accomplished basically by the power and drive of capitals, lacking real objective criteria and effective market base. A larger problem lies in that among the trend, there existed many art works of inappropriately debased levels. Works which could not fulfill professional standards, art values, or which are even uncomfortably hideous, were falsely crowned as groundbreaking or innovative, and were made the cynosure of international auctions, thus distorting and humiliating market wisdom and conscience, and deceiving and misleading many innocent art investors. Of course, there have been artists who were of professional standard as well as of innovative talent. But when prices of their works were artificially propelled to levels that did not match their due values, this will equally be misleading and will result inevitably in large-scale adjustment, thereby ultimately harming the market.

Until now, several years have passed since the “contemporary art” trend was dominating the art world. However, the chaos in art market and debates in art community as well as some other ambiguous factors are not yet exterminated. Many art investors and artists are still at loss and in perplexity.

In fact, genuinely excellent and valuable art works are to live up to almost the same standards, home or abroad, ancient or contemporary. Art works are always distinguished only by their level of excellence, and newness and oldness are merely relative terms. Truly outstanding works in all periods of time have to move the audience. They first of all have to form a distinguishable style of individual virtues and of innovative spirit, contributing to the development of art history; they further have to be professional, and of irreplaceable level of skills, guaranteeing the rarity of the art works; great art works last but not least have to be genuine and serious creation of the artists.

In the past, we have been selecting and promoting artists following these guidelines and have been proved to be right. Now, in order to set a clearer direction and criterion for Chinese art market and Chinese artists, we are planning to present two academic exhibitions across the country lasting around half a year from the end of this year until early next year. They are titled “In the eyes of Wanfung: Exhibition of new contemporary oil paintings” and “In the eyes of Wanfung: Exhibition of new contemporary ink paintings”. The “new contemporary” works defined by us have to fulfill the three criteria as mentioned above, and in addition have to fulfill standards of new modes of thinking, new techniques, new contents and new compositions, thus distinguishing themselves from the tradition and embodying the innovative spirit of our time. Only by fulfilling these criteria, can they qualify our definition and standard.

We hope to example these serious and exceptional art works by contemporary painters across China, to demonstrate the new outlook of Chinese contemporary art creation, to provide a vivid and tangible reference for Chinese art community and art market, and thereby to make new and positive contributions to the healthy development of the enterprise of art in China.