Barry Friedman Ltd. Work: Gottfried Helnwein, NY, The Armory Show 2010 © Gabriele Heidecker

Art fairs, with their aggregation of art dealers forming a one-stop shopper’s marketplace for art, attract high-spending collectors, generate greater sales, and have to some extent replaced galleries with their increasing drawing power. Before the recent market collapse, the frenzied demand for new art had peaked with the proliferation of smaller, budding art fairs. Some as satellites to the major European events, the biennials, art festivals and fairs such as Basel, Venice, Documenta, catered to lesser known, emerging artists. Even more notable are the fairs that have sprouted in Asian countries and off the map destinations, creating alternate markets for art, challenging the existing western hegemony – such as the Shanghai Contemporary, Art Dubai, Art Summit New Delhi and SP-Arte in Sao Paulo.

Berlin based photographer, Gabriele Heidecker has been documenting this new trend for the last few years, as a follow-up to her already published volume Art Affairs, containing candid behind-the scenes images of such events as Art Basel Miami Beach, London’s Frieze, ARCO Madrid, FIAC Paris, Art Cologne, which serve as watering-holes for artists, dealers and high-rolling investors alike. Heidecker’s photos reveal the subtext of commerce under the carnival-like atmosphere of the fairs, making us wonder if the transformative value of art is subsumed by its monetization.

Lady on the floor, Frieze Art London 2004 © Gabriele Heidecker

I met Gabriele Heidecker aptly enough, on a plane from India to the Emirates as she globe-trotted between art events in Kolkata to Art Dubai and Sharjah, which are emerging capitals in the nexus of new art in the Middle East. I asked Ms. Heidecker about her new book in progress.

Art Dubai '09, Waterhouse & Dodd, works by Ahmed Moustafa, catalogue with Shirin Neshat ©Gabriele Heidecker

What are some of the interesting new emerging art fairs you’ve been documenting for your new book?

All of the art fairs which I have attended since 2008 have unique atmospheres: Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair 2008, Art Dubai, India Art Summit New Delhi, Contemporary Istanbul 2009 and this year I’ve been to The Armory Show, Fresh Paint Tel Aviv, ART HK 10 Hong Kong. For example, Art Dubai is remarkable because of the attire of its visitors: the men wearing white robes and the ladies in black. The India Art Summit for the fresh, unprejudiced approach by its visitors. I’m looking forward to Art Moscow. Hopefully I shall be able to document the art fairs in Johannesburg, Seoul, Mexico City, and eventually Sao Paolo, Tokyo and Singapore, which are on my agenda for 2011.

What have you seen in these emerging fairs that are different to what is going on in the bigger fairs?
To mention a few differences, they are not as perfect as in our expectations of European Art Fairs and, the selection of works that are shown, are a result of different cultural conventions and understanding of what art is. The behaviour of the public is led by fresh curiosity and sometimes there is less of a distance between the viewer and the object of art. This has become particularly obvious at the east Asian Art fairs, for example at ART HK 10. But also they add a breath of fresh air to the usual bazaars of the art world – something very new may emerge from this confrontation between western logistics, style, understandings and – from my point of view, the unfinished, uncontrolled, regional but vivid state of these new art fairs. This may in turn lead to new horizons and greater opportunities for the more established art world and fairs in general, which are usually characterized by their exhaustive professionalism.

Art Dubai 2009 © Gabriele Heidecker

Will you be exhibiting the new images soon?
Yes in 2010/11, I intend to exhibit each of the “photo-portraits” in the respective cities where the photos have been taken – for example in Istanbul, the series on Contemporary Istanbul 09 will most probably be shown at the fair ground; in New Delhi and Hong Kong talks are underway with representatives of the Goethe Institute. Then there is an exhibition planned – including the publication of the next book, in Berlin with selections of all the art fairs including the European ones. My aim with these photo-portraits is to capture the special character of the individual art fairs as determined by the respective country’s culture and perception of art. I’m also interested in the people who set up these fairs as well as in the people who visit them and how they deal with this art-phenomenon.

Do you feel that we are tending towards a universal art, a global language transcending cultural conventions which will become a unifying force?
With art fairs appearing everywhere there seems to be a global aspect to this market – the phenomenon of the art bazaar can be compared to a global language. The art fair as an expression of western culture, as a benchmark for up-to-datedness and civilisation, and at the same time, as a type of implant, has been accepted and implemented worldwide – it is this phenomenon of the art scene which seems to me – to have a dimension of time on its own – and which I try to capture in the expanding moment.

Do you feel this will result in a homogenization of artistic influences – resulting in a singular codification of art history that will dampen future artistic expression?
To what extent and if at all this development will take place I dare not make any projections . . .

See Gabriele Heidecker in action on German TV.

The Armory Show , New York 2010, Leo König inc. New York, works Tony Matelli, Nicole Eisenmann, Ridley Howard © Gabriele Heidecker

India Art Summit 09 Sakshi Gallery: work: Isa Ho © Gabriele Heidecker

Contemporary Istanbul 2009; CDA Projects, works by Balkan Naci Islimyeli © Gabriele Heidecker

"Actions of Chinese Characters," by Yue Minjun

Though it may be a bit of an afterthought, we couldn’t, in all good conscience, let Yue Minjun’s New York show pass you by without even the slightest notation in the margin.

Comprised of twenty-eight never-before-seen paintings featuring a smiling likeness of himself, Minjun once again demonstrates that a smile doesn’t always denote a euphoric mindset. Stretched ear-to-ear across the canvas, each visceral vignette smiles in the artist’s terrifying trademark, the weight of the world—and a draconian government—quite visibly taking its toll. Throw the paintings in a mold, add plaster, and you may just have an stunning recreation of the entombed souls of Pompeii, their fate forever sealed behind a locked door of a haunting veneer. Minjun says of his work, “”I paint people laughing, whether it is a big laugh, a restrained laugh, a crazy-laugh, a near-death laugh or simply laughter about our society: Laughter can be about anything. Laughter is a moment when our mind refuses to reason. When we are puzzled by certain things, our mind simply doesn’t want to struggle, or perhaps we don’t know how to think, therefore we just want to forget it. The 90’s is the time when everyone should laugh.”

"Untitled (Smile-ism No. 8)"

A known “Cynical Realist” since emerging on the scene in 1989, Minjun is considered a major player in the movement, which is to date the largest and most popular contemporary art campaign currently in China. Those who chose to break away from the established sociopolitical norms that have been in place since the Chinese Revolution’s inception are changing the art world and shattering sales records for contemporary art to emerge from Asia (a painting of Minjun’s was sold at Christie’s in Hong Kong $5.9 million).

The show is running at Arario Gallery in Chelsea until January 16th.

Simon Birch in his Hong Kong studio

On my extended trip to Hong Kong last month, I found the perfect chance to finally be acquainted with the former colony’s arts scene—a world I’ve unfortunately ignored for some time. A little asking around from some trusted sources pointed me to the direction of Simon Birch, a British-born artist known for his heavily energized, vibrantly colored, textural portraits of his friends. His paintings capture youthfulness and raw emotion that is both vulgar and delicate. Forty-year-old Birch, who has lived in Hong Kong for thirteen years, is considered by many as one of city’s most successful artists. He invited us to his tranquil studio, secluded in an industrial zone of Aberdeen overlooking blue skies and still waters, to talk about his journey to Hong Kong, his battle with cancer, and what he thinks about the rest of the world.

Simon Birch: Have you gotten your head around Hong Kong, how it works, and how the arts scene works here?

SPREAD ArtCulture: No, not at all. I was hoping to get some ideas from you.

SB: Well, I can give you my opinion, but of course it doesn’t necessarily reflect what is actually going on here, which is basically nothing going on at all. There’s no culture here really. There’s no art or music. There are little pockets of it. A band here that is kind of cool. A bit of art here that is kind of cool. A night here that is kind of cool, but there isn’t a regular momentum.

SAC: Having said that, what’s Simon Birch doing in Hong Kong? Why are you here?

SB: By accident really. When I came here, I was broke. I needed a job and I was living in Australia; my work visa ran out and I had nowhere to go either than to go back to England. I didn’t want to go back because I just had bad memories of it. I didn’t live in London; I lived in the North, in the middle of nowhere, in this horrible industrial town. It really wasn’t a very creative, supportive, or motivating environment. I’ve always wanted to do creative things but I never really had much opportunities. Somehow, I ended up in Hong Kong, I got a day job working construction, and it paid me really well. So I basically thought that this is my chance, I can reinvent myself here, so I can save up some money. I can fund myself to go to art school, and I can live my childhood dream of being an artist, right? I started saving money, working construction, DJing on the weekends, and painting every spare minute trying to get a portfolio together. I was twenty-seven at that time. And then, somehow, I started selling paintings. It kind of snowballed, and the next thing I knew I quit my day job. Now I am a full-time artist and that’s it. I basically come here everyday and paint. I paint and sell. Every year the prices seem to go up and that money allows me to fund my non-profit art work which is film, sculpture, and installation. I’m building an enormous installation for Hong Kong for springtime next year, which is a dozen films, a massive sculpture. It’s a huge interactive environment. So, that’s the Simon Birch story.

I came here by accident and somehow became an artist. I just wanted to go to art school and study and get an education. Somehow I became a commercially successful artist here. Outside of Hong Kong I don’t really exist. If I go to New York, nobody has ever heard of me. I’ve considered by some as the most successful artist in Hong Kong but I’m not. I go to London, I go to galleries, and I can’t get my foot in the door.

SAC: But you’ve shown in the States, in Los Angeles and in Miami, right?

SB: I did a show in Miami and another one in LA this year. Those are the first shows that I’ve done outside Hong Kong. I’m an unknown. I’m genuinely unknown outside Hong Kong. To be honest, you are the first people who have taken interest.

SAC: How has your worked changed after being diagnosed with cancer? (Simon was diagnosed with NKT-cell Lymphoma at the beginning of 2009 and has since recovered through rigorous therapy. He had a 20% survival rate.)

SB: Before I was sick, I thought a lot about success and failure and how to get ahead, how to win and make money and things like that and now I don’t give a fuck about any of those things. People say that I’ve changed a lot (after cancer). I’d say my work has, too. Any life-changing event, whether it’s to have a baby or having your mother die, has a profound effect on you. It’s going to affect everything, the way you respond to life, isn’t it? It’s not just me. It’s common to everybody.

SAC: Were you writing a book as well?

Radiant Seven by Simon Birch

SB: I did. After I finished all the treatment from being sick, I took some time off to recover. It’s not very good. I’m a terrible writer. It’s more like a therapeutic thing for me, I think, to get it out of my system. I traveled around the world. I hooked up with a lot of people, took photographs, told the story of what happened to me when I got sick. And, to be honest with you, the story is not finished. I’m not officially cured yet. The truth is I could be dead in a few weeks time and so, fingers crossed, so far so good. You never know with these things. My situation is very unusual. It’s always at the back of my head but I carry on working. The light is at the end of the tunnel but not quite. That’s what the book is about. If and when I get to that goalpost of two years, I finish the treatment, then I’ll finish the book.

SAC: What’s it like working with local artists here?

SB: I really reach out all the time and try to do stuff with other artists, but there isn’t a great creative energy out there to bounce off, you know? I just came back from England. I went to make a film in London, then I went to Amsterdam to work with an artist there. I met up with half a dozen people involved with the installation project that I am building. There was so much energy flying around! My buddy, James Lavelle, is a music recording artist and he has a band called UNKLE. He works with Radiohead and Queens of the Stone Age and he is doing the soundtrack to the exhibition. We sat down and we are old friends but, you know, we talk about what’s going on. We talk about film, we talk about culture, what he is working on, and who he is working with. He said he just did this orchestra performance in a church and it’s just amazing.There’s all this energy and I have this experience a lot overseas but I don’t get those experiences very often here and I find that very frustrating. There isn’t a lot of super creative energetic people so I think I feel a little bit of responsibility to be one of those people here to generate projects that excite people, inspire people, and do the right thing by Hong Kong.

Let me give you an example. My friend, Wing Shya, is a famous fashion photographer in Hong Kong. He’s just told by magazines what to do. That’s his life. He is an absolutely frustrated artist and he is a lovely lovely guy and he just wants to be an artist. But he has two kids, a studio to pay for, an office, so the art gets sidelined. For me it’s not a dilemma, it depends where you are coming from. Fuck the money, fuck what people want you to do, if you are really into it, you just have to go for it. It worked out okay for me and it took a long time. It took years, and years, and years. I’m not making millions and millions of dollars but I am not disheartened. I have a lot of clarity about how life works now. I want to have a really good time while I’m here. Risk means nothing to me anymore. So, that’s it. I don’t care about making mistakes, how I am perceived, or whether people like me or not. I’m doing it because time could be really running out for me, you know? It’s a very weird situation.

"Sabbaticaler" by Simon Birch

SAC: Do you plan to stay in Hong Kong much longer?

SB: Well, I don’t plan much at all because my future is very fragile compared to most people, unfortunately. So I just try to live in the now and I take everyday as it comes. It’s a beautiful day today, I’m getting some work done. I met a couple of interesting people and it’s all good. The future? I don’t think of aside from plans for exhibitions, which I’m very motivated about.
I like living here because I like the pace, the energy, the 24-hour thing, and I like my friends. I’ve made really good friends here because as an expat, a non-local, you tend to be like a magnet and you are drawn to other people in the same situation. You are away from your family, your hometown, so you tend to gravitate towards one another. You end up making very very strong friendships here. It’s a beautiful unique thing about Hong Kong. Maybe it’s typical of people who are outsiders, they kind of stick together.

The reason why I’m still in Hong Kong and I haven’t moved to New York, for example, is partly opportunity, circumstance and partly because, honestly, I just want to make art. I don’t really care where it goes. The positive thing about being in Hong Kong is that when I do go to London, I go to the Royal Academy, the Tate and Serpentine. I see these crazy art and it’s very inspiring and also very intimidating. There are thousands of artists in London and I’d just be this little pea lost in the sea of art. But in Hong Kong, I come here and there’s not a lot of art to see, so I don’t get distracted and I also don’t get intimidated. In my world, I’m king. In this studio, I’m the best artist.

Simon Birch’s current exhibition, SMALL WONDER, at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, showcases his most recent works, a series of portraits painted during and after the treatment of his cancer. He will also launch his first limited edition print, Meteor, to support the Hong Kong Cancer Fund. The exhibition runs until January 23. His large-scale installation will be open for viewing in April 2010 at Artistree in Hong Kong. He will be also be showing next June at Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles.

Hanging out in Simon Birch's kitchen