Shanghai's West Bund Art & Design fair and Art021 opened last week with unexpectedly strong sales, despite economic headwinds and regional competition. Many galleries reported brisk first-day sales, with Thaddaeus Ropac placing five works including a Martha Jungwirth painting for €500,000, and Hauser & Worth selling two works for over $1 million. However, major blue-chip galleries like Gagosian and Pace opted out entirely, while others like Almine Rech, White Cube, and David Zwirner scaled back their participation. The fairs took place against a backdrop of China's ongoing property slump and the overlapping Art Collaboration Kyoto, which siphoned attention from international collectors.
This year's edition marks a significant shift in the Shanghai art fair landscape, with West Bund debuting a new venue designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill that many compared to Art Basel Hong Kong's space. The strong sales suggest that Chinese collectors are still actively buying, but with a more discerning approach—purchasing art they genuinely like rather than treating it as an investment, a trend backed by a McKinsey survey showing over 70% of affluent Chinese consumers value cultural heritage over luxury displays. The scaled-back presence of major international galleries and the absence of longtime regulars like Gagosian and Pace signal a recalibration of the Shanghai market, as galleries reassess their strategies in China amid economic uncertainty and shifting collector behavior.