On July 7, Qiao Zhibing, founder of Tank Shanghai, launched “Friends of Art,” a group exhibition of collectors. He selected 30 collectors who have been among the most active and well regarded in the field in recent years, asking them to lend works acquired within the past three years. The exhibition offers a broader view of Chinese collectors today and a chance to listen to the voice of our time. In recent years, more and more young collectors have entered the field of contemporary art. Collectors born in the 1970s, 1980s, and even the 1990s have gradually formed increasingly rich and diverse collections. The contemporary art they collect expresses their understanding of the era, reflects the lives they lead, and becomes a form of introspection.
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. “Contemporary art is, in fact, relatively niche, and there isn’t that much exchange among collectors,” Qiao Zhibing said. “I hope to build a more connected art world and provide like-minded collectors with a platform where they can meet and talk.” Shortly before the opening, we spoke with Qiao Zhibing, the exhibition’s initiator, and Jordan, one of its curators, about this “rather ambitious” exhibition.
Chen Yujun, Life·Growth—One Art Museum 001, 2021. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. The white tanks of Tank Shanghai stood out under the fierce July sun. Before entering the exhibition, visitors encountered two tables—one gold, one silver—at the entrance. They belong to Justin Chan, founder of CHI Art Center. “I thought placing these two tables outside the Tank exhibition space, in front of the introductory wall, would be a good beginning,” Jordan, one of the curators, told us. “They interact strongly with the tanks and the park outside.” The other curator is Yuan Jiawei, a Shanghai-based curator who graduated from Fudan University and the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London. Across the Tank’s two levels, the exhibition presented 32 works in a range of media, including painting, sculpture, video, sound, and installation.
Philippe Parreno, Marquee, 2013. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. As soon as we entered the exhibition, a light in the distance caught our attention. It looked remarkably like a Broadway theater sign and was one of the works collected by Chen Songzheng. Parreno’s piece had been installed above a doorway, as if pointing the way. “At the back of the first floor is a door left over from the Tank,” Jordan said. “We hadn’t used the back entrance in previous exhibitions, and because it is at the rear, people tend not to notice it. This time, the light guides visitors and draws their attention to the works behind it.”
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. Most of the 13 works on the first floor speak directly to the present social context and intersect with feminist questions that have drawn sustained attention in recent years. “We gave the collectors no thematic instructions at all. There was only one requirement: the works had to have been acquired within the past three years.” Each collector contributed roughly three to five works. After the institution selected from them, this theme emerged naturally. “It is probably the truest reflection of collectors’ changing profiles and collecting trends in recent years. Collectors and artists are growing together. We did not define what kinds of works they should provide; the collectors made those choices themselves. We didn’t revise them. We wanted to present the most truthful picture.”
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. Because the works come from entirely different artists, with different contexts and backgrounds, their juxtaposition produces unexpected echoes—a viewing experience none of us had anticipated. Joanne, a light-box assemblage by the British-Japanese artist Nishiho Fujiwara, was brought by Liu Linyao, one of the founders of Dangxia Art Foundation. The 12-minute film was made for Joanne, the artist’s former middle-school teacher, who inspired his passion for art. It depicts her in her various roles as a female teacher, beauty-pageant winner, artist, teacher, and boxing champion.
Sun Yitian, Gaia, 2018. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. On the other side, Yang Fudong’s International Hotel showed young Chinese women in swimsuits, smiling with confidence and abandon. It was one of the works collected by the post-1990s collector Luo Xudong. A diptych of “inflatable-ball” paintings by the young artist Sun Yitian was brought by Chen Zihao, one of the founders of the Longlati Art Foundation. Hung beside International Hotel, it made for an especially interesting pairing.
Marilyn Minter, Pink Eye, 2005. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. On the other side of the wall was a work by the pioneering, rebellious artist Marilyn Minter, brought by Wang Shujin, a partner at Yitiao and the founder of Yitiao Art. Pink Eye is a metal painting made with enamel. Because of its material, the vivid, dew-bright pink collides with greens of varying depth, producing a crystalline effect, as if the image had been washed with water. The eyes seem charged with tremendous energy. “Few people would imagine that these works could answer one another so strangely,” Jordan said. “They give viewers a new way of understanding them.”
Yuko Mohri, Decomposition, 2022. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Upstairs, we first heard an otherworldly sound. Then we saw pineapples, oranges, and apples arranged on a low table, with a speaker beside them. Only when we moved closer did we discover that the sounds came from electrodes inserted into the fresh fruit. They were produced by changes in resistance caused by the fruit’s internal decay. The work, Decomposition, by Yuko Mohri, was brought by the collector Coobe Wang.
He Xiangyu, Little Boy, 2019–2020. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. The second floor also has two large porthole windows and an expansive view. One looks directly onto Tank Shanghai’s garden; the other faces the Huangpu River. Both connect with the daylight and the natural world. He Xiangyu’s stainless-steel sculpture Little Boy stood opposite the river, its rigid figure staring toward the water and skyline. The work addresses migration, and its placement facing the river suited both the site and the atmosphere. It was brought by the collector Zhang Chang, also one of the founders of Dangxia Art Foundation.
Simon Starling, The Great Rift Valley Crossing Project, 2015–2016. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Two photographs by Simon Starling—one of a solitary boat, the other of water breaking into waves—were placed beside the window facing the river. They belong to the collector Cao Jixiang. Their position in the gallery naturally created an exchange with the view outside.
Zhang Yibei, The Silvery-White Flower Locked in the Hillside, 2022. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Particularly amusing was a hairtail fish, a creature that ought to live in the sea, hanging to one side above a bucket. The collector Yang Jialin brought this work, which was both playful and sad. “The cleaning lady was about to take the bucket away,” a museum staff member told us, laughing in disbelief. “It’s part of the work.”
Vivienne Suter, Untitled. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. Beside the window facing the garden was a work by Vivienne Suter, acquired by Che Xuanqiao, founder of the Red Star Macalline Art Center. The artist draws much of her inspiration from nature. Her triptych in green, red, and yellow brought to mind the fresh green of spring, the heat of summer, and the fallen leaves of autumn, neatly corresponding to the garden outside.
Duan Jianyu, Treasures Left Behind in the Human World No. 2, 2014. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Several eggs rested on Duan Jianyu’s white porcelain sculpture. The work belongs to the collector Zhang Kairong. When we asked the staff, we learned that the eggs were real and fresh, placed there only recently during installation. Their vitality echoed both the work nearby and the view through the window.
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, Tank Shanghai, 2023. On the second floor were Zhang Enli’s signature abstract paintings, along with works by Wei Jia, Daniel Richter, Duan Jianyu, Qiu Xiaofei, and other established figures in contemporary art. The selection leaned mainly toward traditional painting and sculpture. “The collectors in this exhibition come from very different backgrounds and from all kinds of professions,” Jordan told us. “Many of the younger collectors are second-generation collectors: their parents collect antiques, while they themselves prefer contemporary art. That is an interesting phenomenon.”
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. The exhibition’s initiator, Qiao Zhibing, is himself a veteran collector, and many of the participating collectors are his friends. For him, organizing the exhibition was a matter of calling in old companions and bringing them together, and he approached it with evident enthusiasm and ease. “The exhibition grew out of a group exhibition of collectors we did in 2018, called ‘Art Patrons,’” Qiao told us. “After five full years, from 2018 to now, we wanted to see what collectors look like today. There has also been a lot of discussion about young collectors—those born in the 1990s and even the 2000s—with opinions ranging from praise to criticism. So we wanted to present them collectively.”
Jiǔ Group, Snow White, 2022. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Collector: Bao Yifeng. Qiao said that launching the exhibition was also a way of thinking through the past few years. That is why he insisted that every work contributed by a collector had to have been acquired within the past three years: only then could the exhibition most accurately reflect the present. “The collectors we invited have been very active in recent years and have excellent reputations in the field,” he said. “They are collectors who take collecting seriously.”
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. Although the specific ages of the 30 collectors were not a selection criterion, we found that those born in the 1990s made up a substantial share of the list. The youngest collector was even born in the 2000s. “Because of collecting, people often run into one another at fairs, exhibition openings, or dinners,” Qiao said with a smile. “Many of them are friends, though I don’t yet know some of the newer collectors. This is a good opportunity for everyone to meet.”
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. Qiao’s collector friends also felt that the project was meaningful and showed their support through their actions. The response was, essentially, immediate and unanimous. In addition to the 30 collectors participating in this exhibition, Qiao hopes to expand it during Shanghai’s art week in November, eventually bringing the number to 50. By then, the participating collectors might reasonably represent “half the sky” of Chinese contemporary art collecting.
“Friends of Art”—Exhibition of China’s New Generation of Collectors, installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Photograph: JJYPHOTO. “We’ll also hold a number of forums and conversations, something like an art salon,” Qiao said. “Each collector can invite friends, and everyone can talk about collecting, the exhibition, and our art ecology. There will also be plenty of lively events at the opening—modern dance, experimental theater, even a DJ. We want to give people a different, distinctive experience.” Speaking of his original vision for the exhibition, Qiao said he simply wanted to provide a platform and build a more connected art world.
Wolfgang Tillmans, Double Exposure (Digital Print Fair/Vegetable and Fruit Fair) III, 2011. Installation view, Tank Shanghai, 2023. Collector: Guo Hetian. “Everyone is placing more emphasis on offline socializing now, but there is actually not much exchange among collectors, especially since contemporary art is relatively niche. Personal collecting is quite private, and sometimes people don’t want to talk about it. But when an exhibition opens and people are willing to come, it can encourage like-minded collectors to communicate with one another.” Beyond exchange, the exhibition may also serve the function of showing newcomers the way in. “I think many people are curious: What are Chinese collectors like? What do they collect? Others may want to begin collecting. After seeing what other people collect firsthand, they may feel that collecting is not so difficult and become more willing to try,” Qiao said.
Among the 30 collectors in the exhibition are heads of art institutions and artists, as well as collectors from advertising, finance, media and communications, technology, and many other fields. Here we meet the collectors born in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and even the 2000s. (Note: Listed in alphabetical order by name.)
Known as “Shanghai Bao,” Bao Yifeng is one of the founders of 021, currently the largest contemporary-art fair in China, and a co-founder of Design Shenzhen. He began following contemporary art in the mid-1990s. His collection includes early works by major figures in Chinese contemporary art as well as works by younger artists. The media range from new ink, oil painting, printmaking, photography, and installation to animated posters and art toys.
The post-1990s collector Che Xuanqiao is the initiator of the Red Star Macalline Art Center, vice president of the traditional-furniture company Red Star Macalline, and founder of the furniture-design brand THE SHOUTER. The Red Star Macalline Art Center occupies a two-level space in Beijing’s 798 Art District. It opened in 2022, covers 900 square meters, and is a new landmark in the district.
Chen Songzheng is a member of the M+ New Art Committee. The work he contributed was Philippe Parreno’s Marquee.
Born in 91, the collector Chen Zihao is a co-founder and the artistic director of the Longlati Foundation, founded in 2021; he is also an artist. Located near Hong Kong Road on Shanghai’s Bund, the Longlati Foundation has a space of approximately 1900 square meters. The institution is particularly attentive to transformation, multiculturalism, women artists, minority groups, and young artists born in the 1990s.
The collector Cheng Cheng is a managing partner of Focus Media and the founder of the public-welfare program Paradise Cinema. After working in advertising and film for more than 20 years, he formally began collecting contemporary art in 2020. In just three years, he has amassed more than 100 works, primarily paintings, including many by major figures in Chinese contemporary art.
The collector Cao Jixiang is managing partner of Cuisheshu Yunj i, a nonprofit contemporary-art institution. Focused on contemporary art, Cuisheshu Yunji is a nonprofit collecting institution whose principal functions are collecting, exhibiting, and research.
The collector Xiang Yijing is the founder of “Art You and Me C” and one of the partners of Star Space. She studied art history at University College London. She is also a model and fashion blogger, active across fashion, culture, and art in several capacities.
The post-1990s collector Cindy Yan entered the field of contemporary-art collecting in 2019. Her collection ranges widely in geography, field, and period, from postwar Western art to artists of China’s middle generation. She hopes to grow alongside the artists.
The post-1980s collector Coobe Wang works in finance. In 2019, he and his wife, Sophia Luo, began collecting contemporary art. Their collection includes painting, sculpture, installation, video, sound, and mixed-media works.
The post-1990s collector Guo Hetian co-founded Ren Wu Gallery with Jiang Tianze, who is also from the 1990s. He is the founder and editor in chief of the independent magazine te magazine, as well as a professional curator who graduated from the Royal College of Art. His collection focuses on traditional painting and sculpture and includes works by Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Lee Ufan, Alex Katz, Yayoi Kusama, Oscar Murillo, Wolfgang Tillmans, Kohei Nawa, He Xiangyu, Haegue Yang, Izumi Kato, and other artists from China and abroad.
The 90s collector Jiang Tianze is currently pursuing a doctorate at Fudan University. He hopes to connect collecting with academic research, focusing on young contemporary artists and attempting to trace the development and historical logic of contemporary emerging art through their work.
The post-1990s collector Guo Jiaxin and Yang Jialin, also from the 1990s, founded the soil collection together in 2022. Both divide their time between Beijing and Hong Kong and hold international degrees in art management, along with experience at local institutions. They are seeking a new physical space in Beijing for the soil collection, one that will better support young artists.
The collector He Juju is the founder of Beijing Zhigu Space, located on Ren’ai Hutong in Huigu Gengyuan, a villa district in Beijing’s Wangjing area. The space is a three-story, twentieth-century-style building with an attic. Her collection is broad and unrestricted by form or method, encompassing painting, installation, video, sculpture, and other media.
The collector Hua Zihan is director of Beiqiu Contemporary Art Museum. Built into a mountain, the museum has a 1100-square-meter space. Because of her institutional role, Hua’s collection reflects the preferences of an institution: it is highly structured and informed by academic research.
The collector Justin Chan is founder and director of JUZHI Furniture and founder of CHI Art Center. His collection is inseparable from his interest in design and furniture, and he often collaborates with artists across disciplines.
The collector Liu Feng is founder of Yougang Capital, where he invests in and acquires companies in the semiconductor and new-energy sectors. He is also a lover of art and rock tea. He enjoys sharing what he sees and thinks, and often posts about his experiences and collecting on his WeChat public account, “Gaston’s Anger.”
The post-1980s collector Liu Wenchao is the daughter of Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian, the directors of the Long Museum. Influenced by her family, she entered the world of contemporary-art collecting. After graduating from New York University, she has continued to appear at exhibitions, auction houses, art fairs, and group exhibitions of young collectors.
The post-1990s collector Luo Xudong runs the company he founded in 2014, and began collecting contemporary art that same year. Over nearly a decade, he has built a clearly articulated and distinctive collection of Chinese contemporary art and has worked to promote its healthier development.
The post-1990s collector Michael Cheng Sheung Chuen is a “second-generation collector” deeply influenced by his family’s collecting environment. He divides his time between Hong Kong and Beijing and was steeped in ancient art from childhood through his father. After completing a degree in financial management in Britain, he studied at Christie’s Education. He returned to China in 2017 and began collecting art, with a collection spanning Chinese and Western contemporary art across a wide range of media.
The collector Wang Shujin, the only Ph.D. in art among the exhibition’s collectors, is also a partner at Yitiao and the founder of Yitiao Art. She has devoted herself to contemporary art and hopes to support young artists through collecting, editorial coverage, and academic research, accompanying them as they grow. Since entering contemporary collecting in 2020, she has read extensively, visited exhibitions, and spoken with artists. Her collection includes painting, sculpture, and installation, and she has acquired works by many major contemporary artists as well as rising newcomers. She has established an approximately 400-square-meter exhibition hall at Yitiao Art, where she plans to hold regular exhibitions of young artists from China and abroad, furthering the development of contemporary art.
The collector Wen Yu is founder of the LalLal Museum in Australia and the “head” of the world’s largest wool-processing company. Wen began encountering and collecting contemporary art in 2013 and has since acquired works by more than 100 contemporary and modern artists from China and abroad. Through the LalLal Museum in Australia, Wen also supports artist-residency programs. Between 2017 and 2019, more than ten Chinese contemporary artists completed residencies there.
The collector Wu Meng is an entrepreneur, a patron of UCCA and the New Museum in New York, and the founder of M Art Foundation (maf.art), a nonprofit, non-collecting platform. Since 2017, the Wu Meng Collection has followed the thread of iconography in visual culture and has acquired more than 300 postwar and contemporary works. Works from the collection have also been donated to international institutions, including the Centre Pompidou and the Singapore Art Museum.
Zhang Kairong is an initiator of Dangxia Art Foundation and graduated from the sculpture department of the Royal College of Art. He is also an artist.
The collector Zhang Chang is an initiator of Dangxia Art Foundation.
The collector Liu Linyao is an artist and also an initiator of Dangxia Art Foundation. Dangxia Art Space is located at the Bolode Art Center. It aims to support cultural exchange for young Chinese artists at home and internationally, and to present artistic and academic research related to the development of China’s urban and rural areas, ultimately taking the form of a foundation.
The collector Zhang Qiong is founder of the ASE Foundation, established in 2021. She originally worked in finance and, after graduating from Stanford Graduate School of Business, spent nearly 20 years in venture capital. She is one of China’s earliest and most accomplished female venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. ASE FOUNDATION (ASE Foundation) is a nonprofit art foundation devoted to promoting contemporary art in China.
Zhou Nick is the youngest collector in the exhibition, a member of the post-2000s generation. He is the founder of 69 ART CAMPUS Art Center and entered the field of contemporary collecting as early as 2018, when he was 18.
Zong Long is a collector from Xi’an. Contributing writer: Huang Xirui. Editor: Deng Kailei. Image courtesy of Tank Shanghai.
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