Ding Yi
DY: Yes, of course. But there is nothing I can do about this. Your art must be sold through a gallery, so it is difficult sometimes to know where the work went. Of course every artist wants to know which collector holds which work of his.
Gong Yan
GY: I definitely know where my art work goes if I sell it. And I will tell the buyer in case he wants to sell it, he must inform me. So I won’t miss the work for this reason. I will be happy.
Hu Jieming
HJ: So far I don’t think about this much, because I always have new works to work on. I think if I lose my creative ability one day, I may miss the works I have produced before.
Huang Kui
HK: It’s great to sell them. May as well sell them rather than manage them yourself.
Huang Yuanqing
HY: The paintings sold usually are the better works. So I will miss them. But I will leave it like this. Nothing in the world really belongs to you. I think this is a better attitude. That is why I do not collect anything. In the end, nothing belongs to you. So it’s no big deal.
Jin Feng
JF: To me they are like my children, and you know old people want to know where their children are.
Lu Chunsheng
LC: If the works are photos or videos, I can still make copies and retain them. But paintings, once sold, are gone. I would miss them very, very much. I poured my heart into a painting when creating it, every bit of it. And once it is sold, I will not be able to see it anymore. I feel quite sad about this sometimes.
Liu Dahong
LD: In the 1980s. At that time, I would stay awake all night thinking of the work just sold. Later, I got used to it and thought it normal for the artwork to circulate in the market. When you only have one child, you care about it very much. Once you have more children, things get better.
Liu Jianhua
LJ: I think it still has something to do with me. I would wish my art works to be respected in future, right?
Li Lei
LL: No.
Liang Yue
LY: Usually I don’t sell my work for money. I will wish that the people who buy my work will keep it well and not sell it to anybody with bad intentions. The customers who remain after the screening are likely to be trustworthy.
Qiu Deshu
QD: Because I think it represents the essence of me at that time. That period is past. To me, missing my art is just like missing my youth.
Shen Fan
SF: I used to be, but now I don’t care much about it. (Laugh…)
Song Tao
ST: No. Sometimes I think about it, sometimes I want to know who has bought it, and why he bought it. But I don’t miss the work itself.
I went through the entire process, including the final part of selling – if you can call this part of the process, and then I have spent all the money. That makes me happy.
Wang Tiande
WT: There is a difference here. My daughter is still young, so she is not yet married. I am content with the status quo now. When my daughter gets married, I will certainly know who she has married. The key is “who” she has married. In our lives, there will always be things we are sorry for. We cannot do anything about this. You were young so you could make mistakes that were not mistakes, you could throw out a lot of your good works. These days I see that lots of good works being auctioned are those sent into the market during younger days. When you grow older, you would treasure them more.
Xu Longbao
XL: Usually I think about those who have been collected by the museums. My works are collected in the China Art Gallery and Shanghai Art Gallery. Sometimes when my schoolmates ask where my works are, I would say “the Galleries” (laugh…)
DQ: You are proud of this, right?
XL: Everyone has emotional needs. Other people respect me, and I have works that others can see.
Xiang Liqing
XL: I have no idea where my works have gone.
Xu Zhen
XZ: I have copies of my work and occasionally I will think of them, but it is not “missing” them.
Yang Fudong
YF: If they are works I especially like, surely I would want to know where they are, especially if they are my favourite ones.
DQ: Do you think you can look after them that way?
YF: Yes, I think so.
Yang Hui
YH: Usually I know where my art goes. Of course I may not have met the buyers, but generally speaking, I will know who has bought my works.
Yu Xiaofu
YX: No. I enjoyed the painting process; I don’t care about it as soon as I finished painting.
Yu Youhan
YY: When somebody recommends that someone come to buy my works, he seems to have done me a big favor. But actually I would not be grateful to him at all. I would have a bit more money, but I would also have a few works less. Sometimes it is not really worth it.
YY’s wife: He keeps those he likes best.
YY: I kept part of them (laugh…)
YY’s wife: His art should stay in China.
Yang Zhenzhong
YZ: For example, my works have many copies like photos, videos. Even if they are sold, I still have my own copies in my computer, ha ha, so I do not miss them
Zhang Ding
ZD: I do not care about my art even if I cannot sell it, let alone having sold it. I would put my energy into other new work.
Zhang Haitian
ZH: I often asked those who bought my paintings whether they would hang them in their homes or give them to other people. If they said they would place them in their homes, I would ask them to send me pictures of their homes with the painting in it if possible.
ZH: They are like my children.
Zhu Julan
ZJ: But once it is gone, I no longer think about it too much. Maybe I have to think more about what I should paint in the future, or things I have to attend to which are put right in front of me.
Zhang Peicheng
ZP: I will. As the work is my child, especially those good ones.
ZP: Yes. There are some works I am not willing to sell, especially those I really liked when I was painting them. If someone wants it then I would make a copy. Those I cannot make copies of are the really rare ones, and I will not be able to paint them again.
