Is the art market, especially the domestic auction market, a carnival of a group of people, or a few people alone? If the answer is the latter, it is not difficult to explain the attitude of Wang Zhongjun, Liu Yiqian and others to the auction market.
From buyer to seller
The art market has been quiet for too long, and it seems unrealistic to want to rely on the market's “invisible hand” to quickly pass the adjustment period. As a result, the big men in the circle began to save themselves.
On June 22nd, the opening ceremony of “Poly International Auction·Huayi Brothers (300027, Shares) Venture Capital·Tianchen Times Strategic Cooperation Signing Ceremony” and “Pauli Huayi Chinese and Western Art Dialogue Exhibition” was successfully launched on the sixth floor of Yunlou Building, Xinbaoli Building. Held. At the opening ceremony, the three parties jointly announced that they will establish Poly China (Shanghai) International Auction Co., Ltd. in Shanghai during the year, which indicates that Wang Zhongjun, the chairman of Huayi Brothers Group, has finally embarked on a buyer of art. The road to the seller.
As the boss of the domestic entertainment industry leader Huayi Brothers, Wang Zhongjun's name is no stranger, but there is another circle that is also familiar with Wang Zhongjun, that is, the auction industry.
Wang Zhongjun is a veteran collector with more than 20 years of experience. His record auctions at the major auctions are staggering.
At the Sotheby's auction in New York in 2014, Wang Zhongjun took the Van Gogh still life oil painting "Daisy and Poppy" for $61.76 million, setting the highest bid price for Chinese collectors to bid for Western art overseas. Half a year later, Wang Zhongjun again won the Picasso work "The Woman Sitting in the Shirt" at Sotheby's in New York for a high price of 29.93 million US dollars. In China, Wang Zhongjun also often buys a large number of artworks through auction houses such as China Guardian and Beijing Poly, among which the most famous one is the "Postcard" which was auctioned for 207 million yuan this spring. Wang Zhongjun also occupied the headlines of almost all art news in this spring shooting season.
It was such a buyer with great financial strength and experience in art collection that began to turn to attack. Wang Zhongjun publicly stated at the opening ceremony that "this cooperation to set up an auction company will realize my personal ideals. My good personal relationship with the Poly Group leaders and the close cooperation with Poly Auction over the years have contributed to this cooperation."
Constantly using the words "personal ideals" and "personal relationships", Wang Zhongjun hinted that this represents personal behavior, but it is undeniable that with the entry of capital and more and more companies, the pace of integration of the domestic art market has been Start to speed up.
The reason for this is that in addition to attracting Wang Zhongjun into the game, there are other familiar names ready to go.
For example, Liu Yiqian, who is also a star buyer active in the auction industry, is also trying to become a seller by changing his identity in some ways. Unlike Wang Zhongjun, Liu Yiqian chose to share the benefits in the process of promoting the auction.
As a result, the industry began to circulate such a saying, “Art and capital are undergoing a blind date for marriage.”
Different roads
Collection is an investment behavior in itself. Even if it incorporates more interest factors and cultural missions, it cannot hide the profitability of its behavior.
The overall coldness of the art market in recent years has undoubtedly brought some pressure on the big buyers such as Wang Zhongjun and Liu Yiqian. After all, no one wants to see the depreciation of the art they bought at a big price. So they began to look for the "marriage" object, Wang Zhongjun took the form of investment in the form of investment, Liu Yiqian found a way to promote the listing.
If, a year ago, the listing was still an impossible and impossible thing for the auction industry, then with the gradual adjustment of the market, the auction company began to embark on the road of seeking help from the capital market. The most obvious is the attitude of the industry to the listing of auction companies.
Ji Tao, a researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics Auction Research Center and the managing director of Tianwen International Auction Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the reporter: "The listing of Poly Culture is an individual behavior. It does not have much reference for other auction houses, and it does not. It will lead to blind follow-up." After a year of change, he also chose to take the opportunity to complete the listing action. This time, the attitude of Ji Tao has also changed. "The most important thing in the auction industry is the brand." There is a brand endorsement of listed companies, which will bring more trustworthiness to buyers and sellers. Especially for the domestic auction market which is undergoing continuous adjustment, this time, the listing will be used for the entire downturn. The industry has a positive effect."
Another industry insider who worked at an auction company in Shanghai told the new financial observer that "the practice of other companies is not good for me, but from my personal point of view, listing is difficult for auction companies, and there is no The realization is necessary. First of all, the auction company is a manpower-oriented enterprise, and the demand for funds is not so large. Secondly, the auction company is a typical light asset company. At most, there are some fixed assets such as real estate, which is very difficult to estimate. It’s hard to go public."
The fact is also true. The time for the listing of the international market is not smooth. The new financial observers reviewed the temporary announcement issued by Hongtu Hi-Tech and found out that the Shanghai Stock Exchange “issued the company’s shares to purchase assets and raised matching funds”. Inquiries on the disclosure of related transaction plan information, the inquiry letter questioned the sensitive models of the time-honored profit model of Liu Shiqian, Wang Weiwei, etc., and asked for further explanation.
It should not be overlooked that according to the transaction plan, Liu Yiqian’s son-in-law Chen Jia will become the second largest shareholder of the company. Therefore, with Wang Zhongjun's approach to the same goal, Liu Yiqian is also preparing to use the power of capital to formally enter the art market.
Obviously, whether it is Wang Zhongjun or Liu Yiqian, the establishment of private art museums is not their ultimate goal. Even if neither of them settles, capital forces are quietly changing the art market.
[Beichuang Exhibition Exhibition]
