Being wealthy is one thing, and being art-buying wealthy is another. Luxury Insider reports that ultra-rich Chinese are beginning to throw their considerable status and wealth around in nontraditional (for Chinese) markets such as art and wine.

The article features a very interesting quote by Kevin Ching, CEO of Sotheby’s in Hong Kong:

“We saw a big surge in Chinese buying in categories that they were not familiar with. We have now seen mainland buying – not in huge quantities – of Western, Impressionist and contemporary art.”

This tells us that wealthy Chinese people are buying items because of their real and perceived worth. They are seeking to become a part of the small circle of western art buyers who spend large sums on buying art. Essentially they are taking cues from the Lambda personalities who they count as their friends or colleagues.

The article also has some key figures that further illustrate China’s growth into a global luxe powerhouse, a crown that once belonged to Japan.

For the first time in Sotheby’s 10-year history in Hong Kong, mainland buyers accounted for nearly 40 percent of Sotheby’s Asian sales during last autumn’s auctions. That figure represents a two-fold jump from 18 percent in the fall of 2008.

Does this newfound interest in expensive art signal a dimming interest in diamonds in Asia? It’s hard to say at this point.

What’s certain is that China’s rapidly growing economy is major impact on the local luxe industry, and that impact is reverberating on the other side of the globe, causing a mad dash by Western’s luxe labels to get a foothold in this booming new luxe market.

We’ve seen Damien Hirst challenge convention (and notions of connoisseurship) in the art world before with his diamond skull. For his newest project, he’s not just creating controversial art–he’s also challenging contemporary art’s business model.

It used to be that art dealers had a window of about five years to sell (and resell) a new piece of art, earning about a 50% commission on each sale, before auction houses would accept the pieces to sell. For his new collection, Damien Hirst is cutting out the middleman, selling all 223 pieces directly through Sotheby’s next week. The pieces are as bold as ever and include The Kingdom, an 8ft tiger shark suspended in formaldehyde, and The Golden Calf, a life-sized bull with gold-plated hooves and horns also suspended in formaldehyde.

This auction is a very interesting move by Hirst; he’s probably one of the few artists (perhaps only artist) who could pull it off. He’s well enough established that connoisseurs know what they’re getting when they purchase one of his pieces without it floating around on the market for a while. Hirst also wants to collect more for pieces up front rather than have them appreciate:

From an article in the Times of London:

“The first time you sell something is when it should cost the most,” he says. “I’ve definitely had the goal to make the primary market more expensive.” He compares a Prada outlet and an Oxfam shop. Why, in the world of shoes, do you pay more for a new pair from Prada, while in the world of art, the big money kicks in only when the shoes get to Oxfam?

I think this is a fascinating comparison–however, one of the reasons that Prada shoes and other luxury goods sell for so much more new is that they do wear in ways that that artwork won’t–artwork can be appreciated in the same way whether it’s new or old, and generally time (or the passing of the artist) makes people appreciate the work even more. Though it’s funny that Hirst should make this comparison, as some of his formaldehyde works have actually worn in ways that traditional art wouldn’t and needed restoration.

If you’re in London, you can see the whole collection on show at Sotheby’s through September 15.

The Courtauld Institute of Art, located in London’s famous Somerset House, is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year.  The Courtauld Gallery has just launched a new membership organisation called the Samuel Courtauld Society, which gives its members greater access to the UK’s most established art world network.  The Gallery has pieces which span 700 years of art history and has the most extensive collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art in the UK.

For various contributions – starting at £500 and going to levels of £5000 up – members of the Samuel Courtauld Society get invitations to private viewings of the special exhibitions held at the Gallery, free access to the Courtauld’s resource libraries, free publications and access to its staff and director.  This year’s exhibitions feature works by Walter Sickert, Auguste Renoir, and Paul Cezanne.  More information on the Samuel Courtauld Society can be found here.

For those who define luxury as something more for the mind than the mantelpiece, becoming a member of an art society is the ultimate luxury experience.  It helps us explore all disciplines of knowledge through a consistent medium, from politics, history, and philosophy to science and medicine.

A French artist named Dogmael Damien has set up his own website targeting billionaires in search of their next big acquisition, a recent Art Newspaper article reports.  The artist’s site is now online and markets itself as “Paintings for Billionaires Only”.  Each of the three paintings currently on the site can be had for only €150 million (and without any commission!).

None of the paintings has sold as of yet, but Damien has held firm to his concept.  He writes further on the site:

The acquisition of these paintings will cause a shock in the Art World, not only for the spectacular stunning massive price paid for it, but also for the private way it will be sold, far away from the noisy auction places. 

This private sale would have made these paintings the world’s most expensive ever sold in art history. The Most expensive Living Artist.

The recent boom in art sales has seen works of art selling for well beyond their list prices at art fairs or presale estimates at auctions.  A Russian billionaire businessman named Alisher Usmanov recently bought 450 lots outright before the start of a Sotheby’s sale in October for “substantially above” the initial expectations of the sale.

An update to this post–Damien Hirst’s For the Love of God, the diamond-encrusted skull that juxtaposes mortality and eternity,  recently sold to an unnamed investment group for its asking price of $100 million.

Hirst reportedly kept a share of the piece himself to ensure that it gets displayed. The UK’s Independent is skeptical that it actually reached the asking price, with sources remarking that it’s notoriously difficult to know the specifics of private art sales and that sales talks had previously stalled at £38 million ($76 million).

According to Richard Polsky, a California art dealer:

This is all about investment, not about art collecting. This sale keeps Hirst in the news, reinforces the demand for his work and makes everyone who spent money at the White Cube feel good about their investment.

When the value of a piece is as astronomical as For the Love of God, does the focus necessarily have to shift from art to investment?

Nice little article from Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, about her idea of luxury, recently published in Kiwi Collection, an online luxury travel magazine.

For me, luxury is art, craft and sensory pleasure. Art is something that we understand. It may be difficult and challenging but it is at the heart of luxury.

I agree with her; part of the difficult and challenge in art (and connoisseurship and luxury) is putting in the time and effort to develop a worthy appreciation. At Janus Thinking we believe that a big part of luxury is understanding yourself and what you want–the luxury you choose should always ‘feel’ right. Menkes concurs; she says that people long for true luxury experiences; they go out of their way to find places and things with perfect design and ambiance. You can read all of Menkes’ article here.