73-year-old Cui Ruzhuo donated 6,543.8 billion yuan to the Forbidden City, which was accompanied by fame and controversy. He has said many times before that his vision is to make his works more expensive than Picasso before he is 80 years old. Although the popularity is far less than Picasso's, Cui Ruzhuo's works have repeatedly shot sky-high prices since 20 14.
Behind the aura is controversy and reputation. "Jianghu painter", "putting on a show", "arrogance" and "hype" are all comments made by senior people in calligraphy and painting circles on Cui Ruzhuo. Hurun once rated Cui Ruzhuo as the first "living national treasure Chinese painting artist"; This move has attracted the question of art critics. "Is the Hurun Art List an artistic achievement list? Or the auction list? "
The work has been auctioned at sky-high prices many times, and the identity of the buyer is unknown.
Cui Ruzhuo, who studied abroad in her early years, just started filming in China in 2002. The price of her works is about 654.38 million yuan per square foot, which is not high.
Until 20 10, the annual auction turnover in Cui Ruzhuo was 26,532,800 yuan, and according to the data of Yachang Art Network, nearly 200 works were sent to Cui Ruzhuo for auction that year.
The key turning point of Cui Ruzhuo's career was at 20 1 1. In the autumn auction of Christie's in Hong Kong, Cui Ruzhuo's painting "Lotus in Prosperity" sold for 1.05438+0 billion yuan, making it the most expensive living artist's work of that year. This marks the official entry of Cui Ruzhuo into the "Billion Club". In that year's Hurun Art List, Cui ranked second among contemporary painters in China.
But it was not until 20 14 that Cui Ruzhuo really began his era of "mass production" of sky-high lots. From 20 14 to the first half of 20 17, the total number of works by contemporary painters and painters is eight. Except Zhouzhuang, which was written by Wu Guanzhong, the other seven works were all written by Cui Ruzhuo. In addition, Cui Ruzhuo donated 654.38 billion yuan to the Forbidden City with the proceeds from selling paintings, which made him famous.
From 20 14 to 20 16, the total turnover of Cui Ruzhuo in the auction was 466 million yuan, 786 million yuan and 820 million yuan respectively, totaling 2.072 billion yuan.
The reporter of the National Business Daily noticed that Mou Jianping, the "first person in domestic painting and calligraphy counterfeiting", expressed doubts about the sky-high auction of Cui Ruzhuo's works.
Mou Jianping believes that the market performance of Cui Ruzhuo's works is suspected to have "moisture", and the identity of the buyers behind these sky-high auctions is unknown.
Compared with Cui Ruzhuo, the sky-high auction of Ceng Fanzhi and Wu Guanzhong, both contemporary painters of "Billion Club", exposed the buyers. The only exposed buyer in Cui Ruzhuo is Huang Wenzai, who is one of the shareholders of Beijing Guantang Culture and Art Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guantang Culture).
Other high-priced lots in Cui Ruzhuo usually can't find the buyer's information. Although the buyer's information is not public and it is compliant, Mou Jianping believes that this provides space for speculation. For example, Mou Jianping said, "Sky-high lots or sky-high lots usually have specific buyers, such as Wu Guanzhong's Lotus Pond, which was auctioned by Hong Kong Poly for 20160,000 yuan and purchased by Shanghai Baolong Group; At the end of 2065438+2006, Ren Renfa's Drunk Five Kings in the Yuan Dynasty was purchased by Suning Appliance. "
Another controversial aspect of Cui Ruzhuo is its heavy dependence on auction house Poly Hongkong. According to the reporter's statistics, seven of its 800 million lots were born from the personal performance of this auction house. The other one, except for seven pieces, is 20 1 1 The Wind of Prosperity, which was shot at Christie's in Hong Kong.
The price increase of works against the market has caused doubts in the industry.
Another phenomenon that puzzles Mou Jianping is that the price of Cui Ruzhuo's works has gone up against the market.
20 15 was influenced by the big environment, and the contemporary painting and calligraphy market was once in a downturn. Liu, general manager of Beijing Rongbao Auction, said in a report that year, "I think the government's efforts to promote anti-corruption have punctured the bubble formed by speculation in the whole market, especially in the contemporary painting and calligraphy market."
20 16 mou Jianping thinks that "the contemporary calligraphy and painting market is weak, and the transaction price of many famous works has been reduced by half." In this context, Cui Ruzhuo has repeatedly hit sky-high prices against the market, which is not in line with market rules. "
In the autumn auction of 20 15, the total turnover of contemporary calligraphy and painting was 1 103 million yuan, which was nearly 70% lower than that in the autumn auction of 20 14. 20 16, the situation has not improved. In the spring of 20 16, the total turnover of Guardian contemporary calligraphy and painting was only 53.02 million yuan.
Cui Ruzhuo's billion-dollar "home" Poly is unusually divided. The total turnover of Cui Ruzhuo Contemporary Ink and Wash Exhibition in Beijing Poly was only 33.36 million yuan, while the transaction price of "Flying Snow in Spring" of Hongkong Poly's "Taipu Ruzhuo-Cui Ruzhuo Boutique Exhibition" was as high as 257 million yuan.
It is worth noting that the transaction price of "Flying Snow in Spring" beat Fu Baoshi, Zhang Daqian, Xu Beihong and Ming and Qing antiques, and became the highest price of all special auctions in the spring of 20 16.
Feng Danxue, shot in the previous 20 14 years, cost about1600,000 yuan, which is equivalent to the total value of bronzes, jewelry watches and works of several masters such as Wu Guanzhong, Pan and so on. At this time, "wide"
The National Daily quoted experts as saying:
"A Ming and Qing founder can't sell this price."
It is worth mentioning that due to the practice of valuing paintings in square feet in China, artists' creative behavior is influenced by the market. Cui Ruzhuo is rich in "big paintings", and its "weight" should not be underestimated. Combing the nine hundred million lots in Cui Ruzhuo, one is 300 square meters, three are more than 200 square meters, two are more than 150 square meters, and the smallest two are more than 80 square meters. With such a huge painting, Cui Ruzhuo has made great achievements in the sky-high market, although it does not occupy the first place in the unit price per square foot.
The mysterious "pusher" behind it has repeatedly refused to be interviewed by reporters.
"If a painting is worth more than 100 million yuan, there will definitely be many people who pay attention to the traditional culture of China and want to know why a painting is so expensive." In an interview with the Beijing Times, Cui Ruzhuo said about donating money to the Forbidden City. He also said, "Every artist should not only hold exhibitions, but also pay attention to his own art market positioning."
However, there are also voices of opposition in the art circle. Zhang Shaocheng, former vice chairman of the Guangdong Artists Association, said in an interview with the New Express that "the painter's responsibility is to draw good pictures, and how much it sells is not too much".
No matter how controversial it is, Cui Ruzhuo's road to artistic prosperity is getting wider and wider.
In Cui Ruzhuo, which just entered the domestic shooting in 2002, the price of a painting is about 654.38+10,000 yuan. Wu Guanzhong, who is often compared, made more than 500,000 yuan's works as early as the 1990s. In the spring of 2008, the price of Wu Guanzhong's works per square foot was 367,000 yuan, and Cui Ruzhuo's works reached 67,900 yuan per square foot. Eight years later, in the autumn, the price per square foot of Cui Ruzhuo's works surpassed that of Wu Guanzhong for the first time, reaching 760,000 yuan.
There is also an important "pusher" behind Cui Ruzhuo's success, which is the Tang Dynasty culture mentioned earlier. According to national business daily, the list of shareholders of Guantang Culture is full of bosses, including Ma Yue, the son of Ma Weihua. Huang Wenzai is the only exposed sky-high buyer in Cui Ruzhuo and one of the important shareholders of Guantang Culture. It is worth noting that there are complex relationships among some suppliers, major customers and shareholders of Guantang culture.
Guan Tang Culture also mentioned in its "Public Transfer Instruction" that "the company has established a long-term cooperative relationship and profound friendship with the famous painter Cui Ruzhuo, and the income of the company's paintings and calligraphy works also depends on Mr. Cui Ruzhuo's paintings and calligraphy works to a great extent".
It is unknown to the outside world how deep the friendship between Tang Wenhua and Cui Ruzhuo is. Liu Youju, president of China Calligraphy Institute in Guangdong Province and president of Guangdong International China Calligraphy Research Association, believes that the purpose of watching Tang culture is to make Cui Ruzhuo an artistic star. With its influence, "Cui Ruzhuo's worth has reached this point, and everyone will give him three points wherever he goes."
In this regard, the National Business Daily reporter contacted Lu Jiahe, CEO of Guantang Culture, but he declined the interview on the grounds of busy work, saying:
"There are many, many things at present. Shall we contact again after a while? "
At the same time, regarding the related disputes in Cui Ruzhuo and the relationship between the shareholders of Guantang Culture and several suppliers and customers, the reporter repeatedly expressed his interview demands to Lv Jiahe, sent three interview letters successively, and proposed to contact Cui Ruzhuo directly, but as of press time, he has not received a reply.
Reporter 2 1 came to Guantang Cultural Office at noon and contacted Lv Jiahe to show his intention to interview, but the other party still didn't show up on the grounds of meeting.