China casts a long shadow over the Japanese art market. However lively, large and long-suffering the art world in Japan may be, it has not garnered the kind of excited interest that the relatively young Chinese scene has in the last five years.
Just last month in London at Sotheby's auction house, painter Yue Minjun's "Execution" (1995) set a record for Chinese contemporary art at £2.93 million (¥660 million). In comparison, the top seller last April at the contemporary art sale by Shinwa Art Auction, Japan's homegrown auction house, was Tenmyouya's "Nue" (2004) at ¥16.5 million. Shinwa's contemporary art auction this past Saturday saw similar restraint, with its high set by the Lee U Fan painting "With Winds" (1990), which went for ¥30 million ($275,000). Still, at a total of ¥460 million (¥537 million including the buyers' premium) the auction was a solid one, selling out 97 percent of the lots, which mostly featured veteran Japanese contemporary artists such as Lee and Yayoi Kusama, more recent arrivals Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, and emerging stars including Kumi Machida and Koichi Enomoto.
Some of that success in sales may have something to do with the influence of China. Shinwa, in its attempts to promote the Japanese art market, has decided that if you can't beat them, ask them to join you.