New tastes, new names, and new modes of operating are in play, and no one, who is seriously interested in the art market, can afford to ignore the scene any longer. A glance at the numbers tells us that for now that Asia story is really the story of China.

In 2011, China — which includes Hong Kong — accounted for 41.4 per cent of the world auction market, while the remainder of Asia added only another 1.6 per cent to that total. Art Price, a specialist in art market information, continues to bet on China, noting that, “if we analyse the top 10 artists ranked by turnover, the top two are modern Chinese masters whose performance exceeds those of Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso by several tens of millions of dollars.”

Initially it was only a few contemporary artists who stormed the citadels of western art but the rest are still coming in. A few artists like Yue Minjun, Cai Guoqiang, Ai Weiwei, Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi and Wang Guangyi feature among the primary cadre who introduced Chinese contemporary art to the western world.

One of China's most well known contemporary artists Minjun is famous for the laughing irony and cynicism which is typical to his signature self-portraits in oil on canvas. In 2007, Time magazine added Minjun to their list of ‘People who mattered’, an honour reflecting the sale of ‘Execution’, which sets records as the most expensive Chinese contemporary artwork when it was sold for 5.9 million dollars. Critics consider Minjun to be at the forefront of the Chinese ‘cynical realism’ movement, a label that he rejects. The trademark sardonic grins that prevail throughout most of Minjun's boldly colored work are a social commentary on the emptiness in today's world, creating images that are stunning as well as unnerving.

Making innovative use of gunpowder and pyrotechnics to express his artistic capabilities, Cai Guoqiangis is famous for his explosive art. Cai studied stage design at the Shanghai Theater Academy before moving to Japan in 1986, where he began experimenting with gunpowder. Cai's works have garnered many awards and his Set of 14 Drawings for Asia-Pacific Cooperation sold for 9.5 million dollars in 2007.

His most famous ‘explosion event’, the fireworks spectacle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, drew praise both at home and abroad. His artistic voice draws on a variety of historically Chinese concepts, from dragons to fengshui, and is often political in nature, a charge that has made him a contentious figure in his homeland.

One of China's most controversial contemporary artists, Ai Weiwei's conceptual vision spans mediums that range from architecture to performance art. The son of a poet who fell from Mao Zedong's favour, Weiwei spent his formative years in a Xinjiang labour camp as part of his father's re-education campaign. This harrowing experience left a lasting impression on Weiwei which strongly influenced his outspoken style and anti-government sentiment. Many of his works of art break down ancient Chinese relics or juxtapose infamous Chinese sites with tongue-in-cheek gestures.

One of China's best-known symbolists and surrealist painters, Zhang Xiaogang creates anonymous portraits of families and individuals that draw inspiration from both Mao era family photos and European surrealists. His ‘Bloodline’ series uses familial ties to exhibit the collectivism that ran deep throughout China's recent history. Xiaogang 's paintings are created to resemble old photographs, often using formal poses reminiscent of studio photos from the 1950s and 1960s and a black and white palette interspersed with splashes of colour to offer insight into the turmoil behind the blank stares of the subjects.

Unlike his artistic peers, Zeng Fanzhi's work is introspective, reflecting psychological pain instead of projecting political statements. Everyday experiences and images are the main catalyst for his art. The ‘Mask’ series represents the loneliness and isolation that China's white-collar, city dwellers felt during the 1990s, an issue the artist related to after moving to Beijing from his hometown of Wuhan. A chameleon of styles, Fanzhi refuses to be pigeonholed by his artistic expression and regularly reinvents himself.

A leader of the ‘political pop’ movement in China, Wang Guangyi's style reinvents propaganda posters from the Cultural Revolution. In his ‘Great criticism’ series, Guangyi integrates western logos, from Coca-Cola to the WTO, with posters featuring Chinese soldiers and workers. This juxtaposition of iconic images symbolises the enormous shift from Mao era propaganda to western advertising images that has underscored China's development into a capitalist country with socialist characteristics.

Hailing from vastly diverse backgrounds and purporting an array of styles and approaches, the art practice of these modern Masters is underscored by personal experiences and childhood memories of the Cultural Revolution. This perspective facilitates the understanding of the history, scope, and complexity of this emergent and vital field of artistic practice.