ABSTRACT
New art doesn’t have to originate in Western Europe or America. Today, it is as likely to be ‘discovered’ in the developing world as the developed. Travellers to Africa will buy contemporary carvings and paintings for a song. Cultural tourists to South America and Southeast Asia will pick up paintings and drawings from highly respected local artists for tens of dollars and believe they have a bargain. Visitors to the Russian Federation, China and East Asia will pay considerably more for local art, but still feel confident that they have something better, or at least more exotic, and cheaper than a Western European or American equivalent. Are these new art buyers successful arbitragists, enlightened collectors or just deluded cultural tourists? Are they panning successfully for gold or just trading in the wind?
