ArtDepot is pleased to announce that ‘Friends to Meet’ - ArtDepot 15th Anniversary Exhibition will be presented on Saturday, 23rd November 2024 at the 798 Art District space in Beijing. The exhibition recalls the history of the gallery's establishment and development through literature, and brings together representative works from 23 artists who have had solo exhibitions here, covering easel painting, video and sculpture. The exhibition will run until 5 January 2025.
Feeling our way through the river by touching the stones. This is especially true when it comes to opening an art gallery in China.
In my recollection, I was still working at the former Iberia Center for Contemporary Art when I met Qianqian, an enthusiastic, cheerful, straightforward, and clever girl from Chongqing. In the blink of an eye, by 2009, Qianqian had established her own gallery. The gallery developed rapidly, and five years after its founding, it moved from the Caochangdi Art District to the 798 Art District. “It was also during this period that I began to think more formally about the operation and positioning of the gallery, and I made myself work harder to learn about art,” she said. The opening of the ArtDepot Center in 2018 was an integration and upgrade of Qianqian’s ten years of gallery experience, and it also marked the beginning of a new type of public art. At the opening exhibition, artists such as Mao Yan, Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun, Xue Song, and Wei Guangqing all attended, briefly bringing the center of art back to Chongqing. In 2019, Qianqian's acquaintance with artist Zhang Zhanzhan not only created a new business logic in the art field: A (artist) | B (business) | C (customer) | D (data), but also changed some of the rules of the art circle.
When it comes to ArtDepot, from my perspective as a spectator for fifteen years, Qianqian has always been very clear about what she wants: the gallery has chosen from the beginning to progress along two threads—established artists and young artists, as well as academia and commerce. ArtDepot has hosted many representative and controversial exhibitions featuring well-known older artists: from Mao Xuhui, Wang Yuping, Ren Xiaolin to Zeng Hao, Song Yonghong, Ma Liuming, and Zhao Nengzhi. Perhaps because Qianqian is from Chongqing and has graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and Central Academy of Fine Arts, her gallery often features artists from the Sichuan-Chongqing region—I remember the first time I saw the works of Chongqing artists Zhu Xiaohe and Yang Shu was at ArtDepot.
For young artists, especially those from the southwestern region of China, the continuous exploration and promotion are also what ArtDepot insists on. Many outstanding young artists from the southwestern region, in the early stages of their artistic careers and before being represented by galleries, have already been noticed and showcased by Qianqian: such as Chongqing artists Tao Hui and Tong Wenmin, and Chengdu artists Hu Shunxiang and Ma Lingli. At the same time, Qianqian has boldly pioneered many new forms of cooperation: including the six “Young Artists’ Commune Residency Invitation Exhibitions” held from 2016 to 2022 at the famous Commune by the Great Wall in Beijing, leading many young artists into their first cross-industry collaboration with commercial real estate, and also facilitating the inclusion of their works into the collection systems of China’s top 500 enterprises—this has also sown the seeds for the artists’ subsequent commercial breakthroughs.
In the spring of 2023, when everything had not yet recovered, Qianqian invited me to curate an exhibition. I recommended five young artists from southern China who were born in the 1990s; this was their first exhibition in Beijing, and even their first exhibition in life. My original intention for this exhibition was the same as Qianqian’s, hoping to give more outstanding young artists a presence in Beijing, where art resources are most concentrated. The exhibition was named “Nomadic Diamond Heart”, which is the free and open state of mind I hope to maintain; it is also like Qianqian’s original intention for founding the gallery, the diamond heart—after going through countless trials and polishing, it is still precious to maintain a diamond-like shining heart, which is rare and valuable—the light comes from the warmth of humanity.
Over fifteen years, Qianqian has led ArtDepot to grow and strengthen while exploring, and it has to be said that she has gradually forged a unique path for artist promotion and gallery management; among the most prominent is her successful creation of many new business models. In 2011, ArtDepot developed China’s first art application combined with iPad, which landed in the Apple App Store for global users to download. The annual paid downloads of all artist iPad portfolio apps reached 6,000, and the free downloads reached 180,000, making it the largest art and IT cross-industry cooperation company in China. The artist app portfolio exhibition in 2010 made Qianqian aware of copyright for the first time; also in 2011, Qianqian established a print workshop—although at that time Qianqian only used copyright to make prints and had not yet started other commercial actions, this had a significant impact on her later proposal of the A｜B｜C｜D model.
In the field of art and business crossover, Qianqian has always been at the forefront of the times; the A｜B｜C｜D concept is a set of business logic she proposed and widely practiced, prominently displayed in the field of artist IP creation—from traditional gallery management to public art to art consumer goods retail, Qianqian has transformed the maximum value that artist IP authorization and DATA art + technology can have in various cross-fields—The A｜B｜C｜D paradigm is not only a commercial form but also an upgrade in the philosophy of art management.
In the special three years, Qianqian went against the trend, which fits the ancient Chinese saying, “Crisis is also an opportunity.” In 2020, ArtDepot took the initiative to become the exclusive agent of the famous Dutch artist, “Father of the Big Yellow Duck,” Florentijn Hofman, in China, starting a series of public art project cooperations in China; the most successful was that Qianqian promoted the young artist Zhang Zhanzhan to the forefront of the industry in just four years, becoming a well-known artist IP in today’s Chinese contemporary art circle, real estate circle, and among the general public, achieving a win-win situation. In 2020, Zhang Zhanzhan’s first solo exhibition opened at ArtDepot, and Qianqian keenly captured the universal mood that people needed psychological healing: in the following three years, Qianqian successively launched Zhang Zhanzhan’s solo exhibitions in important art museums in Shanghai, Chengdu, and Beijing, continuously expanding and deepening the depth and breadth of artist IP content, allowing the artist to step out of the gallery and move towards an unknown broader world.
“The gallery has been around for fifteen years now. I was confused in the first five or six years, and by the tenth year, I updated my business model. In the past five years, I have been more certain about my persistence.” In the past five years, not only Zhang Zhanzhan but also young artists under ArtDepot, such as Hou Jianan, Sun Yukun, Lin Tianlu, Liu Yufei, and Lin Zhi, have been discussed and valued by the industry. Looking forward, in the next five years, Qianqian’s most important strategic plan is to go global and establish new galleries and art centers in the Middle East, promoting artist derivatives and public art to enter the Middle East market more quickly; at the same time, through exchange programs, better integrate bilateral art, culture, and business.
Time flies, fifteen years have passed, ArtDepot has held more than 120 exhibitions, represented more than 30 artists, maintained deep cooperation with more than 100 artists, and landed nearly a hundred commercial projects and corporate collections. Fifteen years have passed, and I am fortunate to have witnessed the madness and climax of Chinese contemporary art in 2005, the low point during the financial crisis in 2008, the full entry of domestic capital in 2010, the eastward expansion of foreign galleries in 2015, and everyone preparing to go global in 2024 at different stages. In this cycle, I am also very happy to see Qianqian grow from a girl who loves art into an excellent gallery owner and female entrepreneur.
In the ups and downs and unpredictable waves of the great era, let’s raise a toast to everyone who is still working diligently and daring to explore. In November 2024, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the founding of ArtDepot, I sincerely wish Qianqian and all those who love art and life: remember the original intention, continue to ride the wind and waves, and Survive in the Art World.
Different eras, young friends, meet today.
———Ning Wen
Curator / Art Director of the Chinese Edition of ARTnews
