Can Chinese Art Stay Hot?

After a year of high excitement and higher prices, Chinese artists are hot at influential European fairs. But the bubble may have grown too fast, and Portfolio's Alexandra Wolfe reports on speculation that it's about to burst. One curator says Chinese art is "a consumer category, not a collector category.”

Cartoonish work with a traditionally Asian look has sold especially well. “Collectors new to the market who aren’t sophisticated ... want a recognizable Chinese icon" says Chin-Chin Yap, a contemporary art expert. Should the bottom drop out of that market, look for less trendy pieces that echo Western conventions to increase in value. (More Chinese art stories.)