 |
|
ART WORKING: He Wenjue paints in his studio in the Songzhuang Art Zone on October 1, 2012 (IC) |
Ma Liang, a painter who was forced out of Weihai Road 696, another art district in Shanghai, is working in an apartment he rented in suburban Songjiang District, though he would prefer to work in a downtown studio. "It's hard for artists to afford a studio in downtown cultural and creative industrial parks. There's no support from authorities," Ma said.
But He Shouchang, a Shanghai official in charge of promoting cultural and creative industries, said that support is available for artists who find the right area for their studios. "Some creative industry parks are particularly for artists and offer incentives for settlement," he said.
Despite support from the government, property prices have kept rising in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and local art districts are no exception.
Since 2010, about 30 artists have left the 798 Art District for the Songzhuang Art Zone in Beijing's suburban Tongzhou District, due to rising rents. "The 798 Art District could not have become well-known without these artists," said Hong Feng, Director of the Art Promotion Association of Songzhuang Art Zone. "Art is vivid only when artists stay. Sevenstar should raise the rent according to artists' financial ability."
Huang Rui, one of the first artists to have settled in 798 Art District and lend the area its famed reputation, left much earlier by comparison.
At the end of 2006, the property owner cut power to Huang's studio, as he hadn't paid rent for several months. Huang had enough in 2007 and went elsewhere.
"The art zone has become nothing but a market," said Huang. Real estate prices had decimated the cultural nexus like a neutron bomb, eliminating artists but leaving the East German Bauhaus-style buildings still standing.
As the rents rise, only a few can afford to stay. "Business is business, nobody can help," Huang said. "How to keep their studios operating and make good money out of them are what artists should consider now."
With thousands of artists flocking to the Songzhuang Art Zone, the relatively newer creative haven has also become a target of complaints about commercialization.
"I don't think much of Songzhuang. It is too far away from downtown and I found out after moving there that some artists' works become idle and less vivid. It is disadvantageous for artists," said Li Xianteng, a Beijing art critic. After spending seven years in an art community near the Old Summer Palace in north Beijing, he moved to Songzhuang in 1995.
| 
