Two days ago I was able to explore Beijing’s 798 arts district for the first time since my move. Although I spent a lovely Spring afternoon in the district on my first full day in Beijing, I merely enjoyed some tea and good company after attending a brief discussion at UCCA with artist Kong Lingnan.

Although gifted with a technical ability and impecable sense of light, her neon paintings that touch on issues of global warming and the dominance of man in nature lack a depth of discussion, considering the weight of the issues.  Rather aesthetically pleasing, her oil paintings are  selling quite quickly in the Asian market, but considering the rather affordable price point of under USD$10,000, I too would be buying one to decorate my kid’s room, if I had one.

(Images courtesy of Yang Gallery)

However, this weekend I was able to browse a few more galleries as well as meander into Affordable Art Beijing. The brainchild of UK born Tom Pattinson, AAB is similar in nature to other affordable art fairs throughout the world. Although, unlike AAF in New York, its price ceiling is capped at 20,000 RMB (a mere USD$3,070), and thus giving truth to the term affordable.

Having just completed its fifth show, AAB is still rather small. Housed in a large, one-room converted factory building, the fair’s densely covered walls could be scanned and sorted through within thirty minutes. I did, however, enjoy that all the works were selected and curated by Pattinson and his small team.  In a certain sense, it was was affordable art should be; coming directly from an art school or a small practice that has yet to be picked up by an established gallery. It gave the artist a chance to showcase their work in the middle of Beijing’s busiest arts district on a buzzing Spring afternoon.

Though I must say, if this is truly the newest and most appealing work coming from the top academies in China, then there may be yet another stagnant spell on its way. Unfortunately, the majority of the work that was being exhibited had the remnant concepts and aesthetic value of the political pop and cynical realist movements that developed out of the Cultural Revolution. But then again there is alway the hopeful promise of what ArtHK 2011 can bring in less than two weeks. We shall see how significant the tradeoff is between a price tag and the dialogue it generates.