JACK TILTON GALLERY PACKING UP XIANG JING’S SCULPTURE "AND YOU?"(2005), PAINTED FIBREGLASS 163 X 60 X 64.5 INCHES. SHCONTEMPORARY08 ART FAIR, SHANGHAI. PHOTO: GINA FAIRLEY – TAASA Review December 2011

trained on established international events and, with the lack of art critics on the ground in Asia to gauge these events, as well as their currency with local and regional audiences, the greater danger is not the economic burnout of these events but rather our inability to assess contemporary Asian art outside the endorsement of the market.

I return again to the fake Louis Vuitton handbag and the question: is what we are witnessing real or is what we are told the more real? A former arts manager in America and Australia, Gina Fairley is a freelance curator and writer specialising in contemporary Southeast Asian art.

She is Regional Contributing Editor for Asian Art News and World Sculpture News [Hong Kong], and lives in Sydney and Manila. REFERENCES AAP Editors 2011...