March 23, 2007
Asian Art Fair Kicks Off!
The New York Sun
Art Around Town
By Amanda Gordon
In just the first hour of the International Asian Art Fair — which opened last night and runs through Wednesday — one could see that the market for ancient and contemporary art of Asia is blooming. "It's going fantastic," the owner of the fair, Brian Haughton, said as collectors brushed past him.
At Phoenix Ancient Art, one piece sold just as the fair opened, with six pieces under serious negotiation within an hour.
"People are interested in beautiful things. When they hear how old the work is, and they hear the prices, compared to modern art, they understand that they're undervalued. They become collectors," Phoenix Ancient Art's owner, Hicham Aboutaam, said.
Just as he finished speaking, a woman approached, brimming with enthusiasm. "I bought my daughter a tribal idol," she said.
The director of the Asia Society's museum, Melissa Chiu, had her eye on Zhan Wang's "Ornamental Stone," which is made of steel. "I like it because it's a traditional form in an unconventional material," Ms. Chiu said.
The event drew the who's who of the Asian art world in New York, including the Guggenheim's Asian art curator, Alexandra Munroe, and dealer Liza Hyde.
Many of the more than 1,000 visitors who were at the opening had traveled much farther. "This is the same as other events like it in China," performance artist and photographer Wang Jin said. Mr. Jin was born and lives in Beijing, and was on his first trip to America.