Struggling to please

The annual Art Beijing, which is running at the National Agriculture Exhibition Center, has developed into a local, affordable fair with more space devoted to little-known, homegrown galleries, an increased presence of design art and more works by young artists.

Exhibitors adopt a different strategy at Art Beijing. They offer a lot of moderately priced works to attract middle-class buyers.

Dong Mengyang, director of Art Beijing, says the most popular works are generally between 100,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan.

Xia Jifeng, director of Hive Center for Contemporary Art and a regular participant, agrees. Xia, who also chairs Beijing Gallery Association, says works within the price range normally sell quickly at his booth. He says he doesn't bring works that are priced in millions of yuan because "it would be difficult to find buyers" at the fair.

The Hive Center has operated a space in Beijing's 798 art district since 2008 and just opened a space in Shenzhen in March. At Art Beijing, it's showing some 20 figurative and abstract works, mostly by artists in their 20s and 30s. They are priced at no more than 700,000 yuan.

He says five works, including a painting by 41-year-old Tu Hongtao priced at 600,000 yuan, sold shortly after the preview began at 2 pm, and buyers include both familiar and new faces.

He adds that collectors today pay more attention to artists' painting techniques, and they make quick decisions on buying.