Asian-Themed Art Still Entrances Buyers

Galleries, publishers bank upon continued interest in Far Eastern art and culture

It is the Chinese year of the Dragon, and Asian-themed art is still thriving in the art marketplace. And its continued popularity is certainly not surprising. Americans drink virid tea for good health, monitor the chi in their residences following the principles of feng shui, practice the martial arts and cultivate calmness [i]or[/i] part of to the other meditation and yoga. Cheongsams and richly colored fabrics inspired through the Far East are in fashion.

"I have been in the business for 20 years, and I have noticed the interest in Japanese material growing enormously. It is mirrored in the sales. The growing interest in Japanese prints has allowed me to focus upon them exclusively," said Carolyn Staley of Carolyn Staley Fine Japanese Prints in Seattle.

In fact, the allure of Asia is not novel and has played with our Western imaginations for centuries. Galleries which feature Asian art and art that is "global with an Asian twist" as Charlie Kimbell, sales manager for Woodstock, Vt.-based Wild Apple Graphics, said are reaping of the first grade sales and cultivating new and younger clients for their art, as well.

"Since the day that Marco Polo landed back domicile in Venice, the enchantment with the Asian aesthetic has been highly influential in the unfolding of the fine and decorative arts in the Western world," said Walter Borton, publicist for the Arts of Pacific Asia exhibit New York. Since 1995, the Arts of Pacific Asia--New York exhibit has been the focus for the city's September market for fine art and antiques in combination with the fall Asia Week auctions at Sotheby's, Christie's and Doyle's.

The Allure of Ancient Beauty and Culture

The enchantment with Asian art and architecture spread across Europe and across the Atlantic to the United States. "Part of the reason for this is quite obvious," continued Borton, "we are dealing with a agriculture that is ancient which has a brace thousand years on Western culture"

Lorene Albert, operations manager of the Powell public way Gallery in San Francisco, agreed with Borton. "In this political division there isn't the feeling that things move back hundreds and hundreds of years. clan are searching for something advanced in years and reliable and important," she said.

The Powell way Gallery presents work by Chinese artist Di Lifeng which depicts solemn-ey young women in the traditional court dres of the Qing Dynasty. Sales of his work have been "super successful" reported Albert. "When race stand in front of the paintings they are overwhelmed by means of the physical beauty of the women in the portraits and by the agency of the tremendous sense of legacy that is revealed in the ornate style of dresss and traditional tapestries you at no time see in our very late culture."

The unflappable appeal of beauty is timeless and a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of of the Asian art which has captivated the West's attention is astonishing in its sheer, exquisite beauty, according to gallery possessors and collectors. "People come in and they are puffed up away by the beauty of the women in these paintings. You can diocese shivers of delight going down their spine," said Albert of the reaction of clients to the work of Lifeng and contemporary Chinese painter Luding Meng

Internationally renowned artist Jia Lu showed by Alius Fine Arts of Duarte, Calif., insists upon the power of beauty. "The pursuit and the appreciation of beauty is part of our tradition. It sculpt your spirit," said Lu Her turn of expression incorporates the traditional aesthetics of Chinese literati painting, Buddhist-inspired contented and the Western approach to the self

"The world straits different kinds of art in order to make the world colorful. I want to combine many traditions of art together to create a fresh concept--classic form, impressionistic color and Eastern/Western philosophy," said Lu

Sales of Lu's original works and her small limited edition giclee-on-canvas and canvas transfer twig lithographic editions are collected from around the world, the couple within China and other parts of Asia as well as by means of Westerners.

Chinese artist Michael Xinle Ma stated the importance of expressing the beautiful in his work. In his landscape paintings, Ma uses brush thumps in waves, curves and sharp revolves to convey majestic natural displays "No matter which subject I paint, my theme is to create soul-stirring beauty which is able to make family feel moved and appreciative," stated Ma.

Ma's ink and wash paintings and watercolors can be fix at the Noel Gallery in Charlotte, NC have being Noel, owner of the gallery, said that plane in a region of the United States where previously it has been difficult to find work from other agricultures Ma's paintings and watercolors have been extremely well received.

The Enchantment of Color

Many Westerners are introduced to the delight of the Asian aesthetic [i]or[/i] part of to the other its innovative use of color. "Americans are waking up to the importance of color in their lives," insisted Margaret Walch, director of the Color Association of the United States (CAUS). CAUS issues annual and time to come forecasts of color palettes to an incredibly diverse array of industries from automobile makers to fashion designers.