There has been a lot of commotion, in the art markets, these days, about new art investment vehicles. They include art funds, art stocks, and outside guarantors of auction stock. We even recently commented about art funds, in another piece. In the mean time, we keep hearing about more people jumping into the fray. In China, more and more people seem to be getting into the auction business, which has its shady side, and opening art stock funds and exchanges, too. And there ...

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A copy of Pan He's sculpture, Tough Times (1956), recently sold for ¥ 10 million at an auction in Beijing. You can see the details at http://www.zggjysw.com/ConDetail.aspx?id=14424 .

You can read more about Pan He and this sculpture in previous posts on this blog.

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Guangzhou, September 27, 2011 - There are Chinese artists who poke fun at the Cultural Revolution and call it contemporary art, and there are Chinese artists who have been making contemporary statements with their art since before the Cultural Revolution. There are today’s stylish dissident artists, and there are those who dissented for years, back when it was even more dangerous. There are Chinese artists who have become crowd-pleasing commercial enterprises, and there ...

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We were recently asked to write an article about the Chinese art market for China Economic Review. The final edited version to fit space is in the September 2011 issue. You can read it at
Painting by Numbers.

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Well, this week, the two part piece by Guangzhou TV covering the opening of our ongoing sculpture exhibition by Pan He, the Michelangelo of China, and his son, Pan Fen, finally came out.

Although the descriptions and interviews are in Cantonese, except for mine, kit is a great show to watch. I am not just saying that because it's about the gallery. In fact, most of the things that we get done, here, in China, for the gallery, ... << MORE >>

Our exhibition of sculpture by Pan He, the Michelangelo of China, and his son, Pan Fen, opened this past weekend at Leona Craig Art Gallery, in Guangzhou, China. The opening was a fun event, but the continuing exhibition, which lasts until the end of September is a bigger event. As we have noted, elsewhere, it is the first exhibition at a gallery that Pan He has ever agreed to. In his mind, his art is for the ... << MORE >>

Leona Craig Art is pleased to announce the inclusion of works by PanFen (Frank Pan), son of the famous Chinese sculptor, Pan He, in our gallery offerings. 



Born in 1964 to an already artistic family, Pan Fen eventually attended the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, known for its tradition of fine art teachers and artists, ... << MORE >>

We had accumulated a number of sculptures by Pan He, and from what we had heard, other exhibitions have similar small numbers because small versions of his sculptures are quite rare. Thus, about a month or so ago, we began an exhibition. In the mean time, we have visited with him several times: at our gallery, at his home, and at his new sculpture garden, in Guangzhou. We also met his young son (born in 1964), Pan Fen (Frank Pan), who is a sculptor, in his own right, and is also in charge of limiting cast bronze copies ... << MORE >>

As I have noted, on a number of occasions, in a number of forums [see, for example,    for a good overview], many people have become involved in the art market, in China, solely, because they have heard “it can make money.”  We have seen people become art dealers, open art auction houses, and develop art securities, who have no idea about art or the market. Indeed, a recent experience provides a good example of the focus on money, in the ...

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Li Zheng Tian was a dissident artist, in the 1960’s, long before it became fashionable. In recent years, he has settled down, has opened his own atelier, and has written his own philosophy about art. Now, there are people trying to market his art. However, there are some problems with all that.

An amusing beginning to our story is that when I recently bought a book about Michelangelo for the gallery and ...

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