Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) — Christie’s International has scrapped plans to start an art-investment fund and a lending division, according to two people involved with the projects. The move is another sign that the global economic slump is hurting the once-booming art market.

At least seven employees working on Christie’s financial projects have been fired or have left the London-based auction house since December, the people said.

Christie’s spokesman Toby Usnik wouldn’t comment on the status of the investment fund or lending operation. He said “a handful of employees in financial services” have left the company this year, though he wouldn’t give specific numbers.

The auction house, owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault, reported a 35 percent sales decline in the first half of 2009. Christie’s announced “significant staff reductions” in January and another round of cutbacks in June without disclosing specific figures or names.

“Christie’s retrenchment, and the continued paring down of financial officers and staff is symptomatic of the state of the art market,” said Peter R. Stern of McLaughlin & Stern LLP, a lawyer who specializes in art issues. “These actions are necessary if the auction houses want to survive.”

Art-Market Decline

The international art market has taken a battering this year. Christie’s worldwide sales of contemporary art plunged 69 percent during the first half of 2009, while its New York auction sales fell 51 percent during the same period. In May, Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in New York was down 87 percent from the previous year.

Christie’s was exploring ways to create a separate financial division, instead of offering loans and other services as part of the larger auction company.

The closely held company wanted to compete more directly with Sotheby’s Financial Services, a subsidiary of Christie’s main auction-house rival. The financial division of Sotheby’s, a publicly traded company based in New York, generated $6 million in revenue during the first half of 2009.

HSBC Holdings PLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. were both approached about the ventures, but talks fell apart, according to a person familiar with the plan. Spokeswomen Juanita Gutierrez of HSBC and Andrea Raphael of Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Fired Executives

Christie’s interviewed investment managers and bankers to gauge interest in an art-investment fund and took steps to establish a separate asset-management company aimed at raising $250 million to $350 million.

As the world economy continued to falter, Christie’s scrapped its plan and fired several executives in New York and London who were going to run the operation, according to the two employees involved in the project. Among those dismissed were Chief Operating Officer Michael Plummer, Senior Vice President Ed McGorry and Vice President Jeff Rabin, the employees said.

The major auction houses have traditionally used art loans to get consignments. Both companies give interest-bearing loans called “consignor advances” to collectors who agree to sell their art at an auction, usually within six months. The collectors must repay the loan, even if the art doesn’t sell.

Sotheby’s also offers term loans, which cover longer periods and use art as collateral if the loans aren’t repaid.

The auction house said this week that the document, printed July 4, 1776, and one of only 24 known to exist, was found two summers ago, and it plans to sell the document for the owner next June. Sotheby’s says the man, who was not identified, didn’t realize the document’s value until a friend who collects Civil War artifacts urged him to have it appraised. In January 1990, another copy of the Declaration was sold at the auction house for a record $1,595,000.

text john martin
images courtesy of the oberoi, sofitel seminyak, hu’u bali and divine villas

It is not entirely clear to many where the geographical boundaries of Seminyak actually lie. Then again, what was once a sleepy fishing village nestled in the shadows of touristic Kuta has, in the less than a decade, blossomed into one of the premier resort destinations in South East Asia. So what is Seminyak? Ask any of the boho ex-pats, jet setters, fashion mavens, gallerists and high-rolling hedonists that call it home and they’ll probably tell you that it’s not so much a place as a state of mind.

If any single factor sparked the evolution of Seminyak into the upscale destination it has become, it was the appearance of the trailblazing Oberoi hotel. Built in 1974 and bought by the Oberoi group four years later, it spearheaded development northward up the coast from Kuta and set a benchmark in terms of design and exclusivity that would not be matched for a quarter century.

Starting its life as a kind of peaceful suburb set apart from the bustling fairground atmosphere of Kuta, it was natural that Seminyak would develop at right angles to it. Where Kuta has long been the province of backpackers and package tourists (think high capacity hotels, global brands, large scale clubs and a veritable fraternity of touts), Seminyak evolved into a jet-set jumble of boutiquerie, crammed with high concept bars and lounges, designer shops, fine dining restaurants and ‘lifestyle’ villa resorts and residences.

The other vital thread that runs through Seminyak is of course the beach – a vast swathe of golden sand that stretches virtually unbroken from Ngurah Rai international airport in the south to the village of Pereranan 10km further north.

Here you’ll find some of Seminyak’s most refined – even iconic – tenants. Spread elegantly on a westward-facing beachfront bluff, Ku De Ta has fully lived up to its moniker since opening in 2000, earning itself international notoriety for fine dining, high design, unforgettable sundowners and cosmopolitan revelry with its legendary high season party series. Its recently added VIP rooftop lounge KUVE offers a whole new perspective on the paradisiacal location, accompanied by custom cocktails and tapas style delicacies like oysters, wagyu tenderloin and foie gras.

Just a beach stroll away is Samaya Villa & Spa resort, whose alfresco restaurant & lounge, Breeze, has become a favourite both for sunsets and dinners – think haute global cuisine amid reflecting pools, manicured lawns, pavilions and white stone verandas. A Frisbee throw further up the beach is another Seminyak institution, La Lucciola, a two storey wood pavilion that sees a steady flow of patrons from morning till midnight drawn by its immaculately turned out Mediterranean fare, sinful chocolate martinis and of course the ocean outlook.

Anantara is a relative newcomer to the league of oceanfront big hitters. The south beach style resort has been making waves with its outdoor shindigs featuring international DJs.

Head inland, however, and there’s no shortage of impressive developments to swoon over. Sentosa Resort & Spa has established a stellar reputation with its spacious villas and designer club/restaurant facility – think irregularly cut stone facades, black mirror, centuries old frangipani trees and futuristic modular furnishings. They also host intermittent but invariably fabulous parties. On site Blossom restaurant meanwhile presents a mix of Thai and international cuisine prepared by talented Australian chef Chris Patzold.

Those with a penchant for audacious design – and five star comfort – need look no further than the Layar. The word means sail in Indonesian, a tribute to the elegant play of roof planes that characterizes each of these two and three bedroom villas – roofs that are detached from the walls, creating a radically different sense of volume and space within. Situated on a tract of land just behind the Laksmana road – where a myriad eateries and indie boutiques jostle for position – it’s the perfect pied a terre for the Seminyak socialite.

Jl. Laksmana – or Jl. Oberoi as it is often referred to – is almost a legend unto itself, with its ever shifting collage of dining and shopping options – catch some refined rock star couture at the new Religion store, which also houses sister brand Buddhist Punk. Billing itself as a champagne lounge, Red Carpet is soon to open its doors on the Laksmana strip, while mainstays like Italian restaurants Ultimo and La Lucciola and nearby Rumours with its cut-price steaks always do a roaring trade.

For exquisitely executed French cuisine, Kafe Warisan is unmatched in the area – and has been for more than a decade. Fans will be intrigued to hear that it will soon be shifting premises to a bigger site in Batu Belig – officially two villages on from Seminyak, but for many, more of an adjunct to its famous neighbour. For Asian street food given a gourmet twist, head to Sarong, with the added attraction of some maximalist contemporary décor with ethnic overtones.

There is something of a ritual to the Seminyak nightlife. It might begin with a dinner at any of the abovementioned eateries. Living Room and Hu’u Bar are hotspots for both eating and midnight mingling. But by two or three am, most head down to the Blue Ocean beachfront (where Bacio with its spacious dancefloor, sunken bar and VIP mezzanine, tends to draw the froufrou flock. But all roads lead to Double Six, Bali’s grande dame of nightclubs, a venue that doesn’t even really get going until three or even four am.

Whilst the appearance of new villas and restaurants has continued apace, there’s been an out and out boom in new boutiques over the last couple of years. Laksmana was once known as Eat Street, but a flurry of new clothing stores is making it more than just that. Notables include Dindarella, Lulu and Lily Jean for ladies fashions that run from cutesy to downright ostentatious. Both the newly opened Zuttion and Cornerstore successfully combine café and boutique concepts with effortless hipster credentials, while Simple Koncep Store (SKS) is the place for home ware design classics and immaculately cut Italian fashions.

On the Seminyak main drag, Sabbatha creates flamboyant leather accessories encrusted with stones and other curlicues while Pura Vida’s large-scale retro patterns and colours take you back to Rome circa 1960. For the ultimate in fine jewellery – and sensuous indulgence – head down to Jemme on Jl. Petitenget and splurge on their signature Diamond Cocktail – A bottle of vintage dom Perignon and a heart shaped pendant encrusted with more than 1/2 carat of diamonds resting at the bottom of the flute.

Once you’ve shopped, simply drop into one of Seminyak’s myriad spas – both Sentosa and Samaya offer treatments that will pamper you silly, as does the long standing Prana Spa at The Villas and Le Spa at the Sofitel.

To wrap things up, make your way to Biku on a Sunday for their Mystic High Tea served in a converted antique wooden joglo house – classic china tea service, scones, sandwiches and other delights, plus your future revealed in a swirl of lapsang souchong leaves…

After all of which you’ll probably agree that Seminyak’s a pretty nice state of mind to be in.

A joint exhibition in Jogja offers a dialogue between art and its limits.

One of the essential matters in the discourse of any art exhibition is the desire to make art works enjoyable to anyone, without limits. But as we all know, art always receives only a limited space for understanding, and not everyone understands this realm.

The nature of art – open to multiple interpretations – is far from the intention of an art exhibit. This is quite understandable, since artistic products, especially in Indonesia, are still struggling to achieve greater appreciation.

But through art exhibits, regular art biennales, art bazaars, seminars and workshops, and even art auctions, artists in Indonesia are hoping to expand this appreciation, though it will ultimately return to its limitations.

With an exhibition entitled Borderless, Galeri Srisasanti in Jogjakarta celebrated its second anniversary in August. This show also commemorated a decade of lively activity in Indonesia’s arts world. The title of the show is interesting, because it derives from a metaphor from John Lennon’s song Imagine, which deals with limits, the physical space of art works, or images without borders.

John’s piece urges us to free our imaginations and offer empathy: imagine if there were no national borders, nationalities or religions. It would be so much easier for us to give to one another, to understand one another, and to free ourselves. With this song as our introduction, let’s have a look at some of the works in the show.

Awi Ibanezta, a young artist, is still dealing with the physical form of John Lennon, portraying the face of the singer, who was so ironically shot dead by a “fan”. With the title Just Imagine, Awi offers his interpretation that the song has indeed transcended national borders: Lennon’s face is shown with its skin in a batik pattern. Lennon belongs to everyone, even Indonesia.

Bambang Toko Witjaksono opts for a comic style like that of the American Roy Lichtenstein, but with hints of the Indonesian comics of the 1970s. Bambang discusses the question of borders with a narrative of a pair of lovers facing an erotic dilemma through their speech balloons.

Another very similar work, in the sense of being close to low-brow art, is seen in Indie Guerilla, in an illustration-like style somewhat resembling a poster. And the art of graffiti is neatly realized by Farhan Siki in Hiding Place.

Borders can also be symbolized as a rope that ensnares and restricts us. This idiom is still expressed in a rather illustrative style. Roeayyah Diana Capunk expresses herself through a work entitled “Manis Setelahnya” (“Sweet Afterwards”). She actually wants to say that freedom without limits is impossible without there being some shackles beforehand. And so she portrays a person tightly bound with ropes, preparing to escape.

Nyoman Sujana Kenyem, an artist from Bali, prefers abstract symbols, with small human figures in the midst of a white vortex like little fragments of bamboo. He is trying to say that the vortex of the imagination is wild and uncontrollable, though centered in the self.

And how do the other artists express themselves? We meet Januri; this time he offers us a house, rays of light, and the blue stones that surround it. The stones symbolize the self, with different characters and behaviors, spreading out freely but all heading toward a common direction. The rays from the house are like an inner human ritual, holy and poetic.

Another young artist whose work speaks with an interesting idiom of imagination without limits is Riduan. He compares mankind to paper airplanes. Like little children, we fly these little planes so freely, never knowing where they will land. This is a kind of human longing: to constantly lose control of whatever was originally planned – to explore and face the future without fear. The canvas shows a rectangular corridor that ends with a view of a sky full of clouds, free and limitless.

Izur Suroso, who is deeply into a hyperrealist style, with lots of self-portraits and portraits of women, offers a different context: humans have complete freedom over their bodies and their thoughts.

Art is indeed without limits. As the Romans said, Ars longa, vita brevis; art lasts forever, while life is very short.

BERITAJAKARTA.COM — 8/28/2009 5:24:47 PM

Jakarta Capital City Governor Fauzi Bowo, on his opening speech, expressed Thursday night (27/8) his high appreciation for the event of “Bazar Art Jakarta 2009-Indonesia Art Festival”.

At this international class event, the governor showcases five items of his personal painting collections. They are: a painting created by Sudjojo in 1981, entitled Dynamic Jakarta; a painting created by Srihadi Soedarsono in 1981, entitled Jakarta Skyline; a painting created by Basoeki Abdullah in 1973, entitled Tribute To The Indonesia Revolution III; a painting created by Affandi in 1978, entitled Jalan Thamrin at Night; and a painting created by Cubung in 2004, entitled Technology Digital.

This exhibition is scheduled to be held from 28 August to 30 August 2009 at Ballroom I of Rits Carlton Pacific Place, Central Jakarta. As many as 22 participants of galleries and auction halls are taking part in the event.

“I am quite happy that Jakarta holds an event like this. I hope the exhibition can enrich the treasury of Jakarta,” said Fauzi Bowo, while opening the exhibition, Thursday night (27/8).

The governor also expresses hope Jakarta will continuously hold similar events in the upcoming years, thus the masterpieces of Indonesian artists can be well known by international community. “It can also become an event for art lovers to exhibit their creations,” Fauzi Bowo added.

A man near weaves a type of local cloth called lurik in a small village in Central Java. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG)

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is speeding up the drafting of a bill designed to protect the country’s cultural heritage following a public outcry over the use of traditional Balinese dance images for a television show on Malaysia, an official said on Monday.

Speaking at a news conference, the ministry’s director general for intellectual property rights, Andi Sommeng, said his office was currently working with several academics to formulate the new bill, which he hoped would be forwarded to the House of Representatives for further deliberation in December.

“A lot of our traditional knowledge and art forms have been used by foreign countries for commercial purposes,” Andi said. “Others shouldn’t profit from what is rightfully ours. We need this bill to protect our cultural heritage from exploitation.”

Earlier this month, the Discovery Channel acknowledged that it had wrongfully featured the pendet dance of Bali in a television advertisement to promote its program “Enigmatic Malaysia.”

Despite the fact that Discovery claimed sole responsibility and issued an apology, many still directed their fury toward Malaysia, accusing it of stealing the country’s cultural heritage.

Critics also urged the government to protect the dance against what they called intellectual property infringement.

However, the director general said that the dance should not be protected under intellectual property rights, which is limited, but be given the full protection of a registered cultural heritage.

“Intellectual property rights only last for a certain time unlike cultural heritage rights,” he said, adding however that current international agreements did not provide sanctions against infringements.

“Unless all the legal instruments have been well established we can’t sue anyone,” Andi said. “What our government has done by issuing an official protest is a step in the right direction.”

Anshori Sinungan, the director of international agreements, said that the ministry was currently cooperating with the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture to inventory all traditional knowledge and art forms.

“So far we have managed to register 2,058 local technologies, indigenous arts, music, dances and crafts as part of our cultural heritage,” Anshory said. “So far, we have only gathered data from 15 provinces but we will continue the process until all aspects of our heritage have been documented.”

Edi Sedyawati, a history and cultural professor at the state-owned University of Indonesia who was involved in formulating the bill, said that Indonesia should look to the success of the Dutch during colonial times in properly documenting and studying Indonesian culture.

“The Dutch have a complete catalog of basic patterns of batik,” Edi said. “They know where the designs come from and the philosophy behind each one.

“We should implement a similar system of our own. Not only to protect our heritage but also to preserve it for future generations,” she said.

She said it was imperative that the ministry work with local authorities to properly document the country’s culture.

The Minister For Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik took example of Indonesians’ high solidarity when Pendet dance from Bali province, Reog Ponorogo dance of East Java province and Rasa Sayange song from the Mollucas Island claimed by Malaysia for its tourism campaign.

“However, their appreciation on traditional art and culture that are recognized by international body of the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), like traditional puppet show of wayang and traditional weapon of keris, is not in line with our expectation,” Wacik said here on Thursday.

The UNESCO determined wayang and keris as “non material culture heritages” in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

However, he said that the wayang show is rarely performed and if it is shown, it gains few young spectators.

“It is responsibility of government, people, and artists to embrace all people to love and appreciate our nation’s art and culture,” he said.

According to Wacik, UNESCO is expected to set traditional clothes of batik and traditional music instrument of angklung as non material culture heritages in September 2009 and 2010, respectively.

He also said that the government’s attention to traditional art and culture is also small. He took example of only three local governments that had registered their traditional art and culture to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, namely Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and Yogyakarta provinces since the ministry asked them to register their art and culture two years ago.

Malaysia’s tourism campaign in the Discovery Channel that used Pendet dance had draw critics from Indonesians, forcing Minister Wacik to summon Malaysian ambassador to explain the move. Malaysia promised to recall the advertisement.

A new art space opens in Jakarta on Friday, April 17. It is not like any other gallery in town – being situated amid Ancol Dreamland, a center of fun, entertainment and creativity. Named North Art Space, it will be known by its acronym NAS.

“NAS is presented as a response to the need for more stages and show windows for high-achieving creative artists, the need for more educational programs for the people at large, and also the need for more opportunities for economic transaction,” says Budi Karya Sumadi, director of PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol in his foreword to the catalog.

An art lover himself, Budi has put his words into practice, with the impressive exhibition to mark this special occasion.

Over 20 artists using a variety of mediums have been selected and their art works curated, in cooperation with Galeri Semarang, to respond to the title of the exhibition, which deals with hybridization.

The curator, Rifky Effendy, has written an interesting curatorial which elaborates on the historical path of hybridization in Indonesia.

In contemporary art, hybridization is not only a mix of medium and culture, says Rifky, it is also a matter of how the construction of thought and visual language or signs have crossed cultures throughout the ages.

Thus, according to Rifky, hybridization has become a process of liberation, a freeing from the historical dogmas of Western (colonial) visual art, and allowing local culture to be considered. Hybridization then is an ongoing process.

To what extent and in what manner such a process is visible in the various works, is something that takes time to answer, but the mere appearance of some of these works are fascinating and easily understandable.

Sometimes there is a notion of confusion, or boredom, as in the work by Soni Irawan titled Hari Ini Hari Libur Nasional (Today is A National Holiday); as if to put an accent on the profound boredom that such national holidays bring to some people, he adds the text “celebrating boredom” and “happy bore day”.

A similar mood seems to also dwell in the painting by Arie Dyanto, titled Juxtaposed and features a figure buried under a heap of open books that lay in chaos, as if the figure had purposely and out of sheer weariness thrown the books upon his body. Surrogate riverstones of all sizes hung on threads of varying lengths form the Endless installation by Yani Mariani Sastranegara, evoking a sense of the surreal.

There is also a C-print – likened to a painting – by Indra Leonardi, featuring a dramatic image of a girl with iron fingers titled Far from Home, the images on soft textiles juxtaposed with video images by Prilla Tania.

A video performance by Jompet shows the elegance of a dancer with a naked upper body rhythmically moving amid the cold industrial machines and instruments, and Galam Zulkifli’s painting of Illusion featuring an icon behind “stripes” may well be a reminder to beware of deception.

And while Haris Purnomo marks the smooth skin of babies with tattoos, revealing his concern for the future of our youth, Heri Dono’s Moon Racer, an imaginative vehicle crafted out of an old car, gives hope for the future. Indeed hybridization is all around – though we may not be aware of it.

An exhibition by Haris Purnomo, Arie Dyanto, Soni Irawan, Sapto Sugiyo Utomo, Galam Zulkifli, Andy Dewantoro, Hanafi, NGK Ardana, Gede Mahendra Yasa, Agus Sumiantra, Irwan Bagja Dermawan (Iweng), Heri Dono, Agus Suwage, Yani Maryani, Ketut Moniarta , Albert Yonathan, FX Harsono, Indra Leonardi dan Davy Linggar, Jompet, Tromarama, Prilla Tania and Saftari.

“hybridization”

North Art Space
Ancol Dreamland
Ancol, North Jakarta
April 17 – May 3, 2009

An exhibition by Haris Purnomo, Arie Dyanto, Soni Irawan, Sapto Sugiyo Utomo, Galam Zulkifli, Andy Dewantoro, Hanafi, NGK Ardana, Gede Mahendra Yasa, Agus Sumiantra, Irwan Bagja Dermawan (Iweng), Heri Dono, Agus Suwage, Yani Maryani, Ketut Moniarta , Albert Yonathan, FX Harsono, Indra Leonardi dan Davy Linggar, Jompet, Tromarama, Prilla Tania and Saftari.

Ever so clever and tapped into the zeitgeist, the German publishing house Taschen recently sent out an e-mail blast promoting a new art book. KOONS FOR THE POOR! read the subject heading. At almost 600 pages, the book showcases the American king of kitsch art’s “entire oeuvre to date, at a decidedly unKoonsian price” of $70, the e-mail read. (On Amazon, it’s $44.10.) In 2007, the artist’s “Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)” sold at auction for $23.6 million, setting the record at the time for a sculpture by a living and still very productive artist. Just last summer, a buyer paid $25.7 million for Koons’s “Balloon Flower (Magenta).”

Talk about a comedown. Taschen certainly captured the mood in the contemporary-art market: why risk big bucks on a stainless-steel sculpture when the artist’s entire collection can be had in miniature for $70? Whether or not they actually are, everyone feels poorer, and that includes collectors who are realizing they can get by without a porcelain figurine of Michael Jackson and his pet chimpanzee Bubbles, or a wall-size photograph of Koons passionately entwined with his porn-star ex-wife. They’d be better off putting that money toward a block of foreclosed suburban American homes.

The contemporary-art market may be down, but it is definitely not out. In fact, these unKoonsian times, like many downturns before, allow artists and dealers to be more creative, and collectors to focus on the fundamentals—like originality and timelessness—instead of on the buzz. At Maastricht in March, London art dealer Clovis Whitfield told the influential Art Newspaper: “Old masters are better than buying gold nuggets if you’re looking for something that will retain value.” The Dutch art fair, the world’s biggest, offers both contemporary and classical. In some cases, rare old masters commanded more than a year ago. Whitfield, whose gallery declared Maastricht a “success,” was close to selling an early-16th-century religious painting by Florentine renaissance artist Andrea del Sarto for €8.5 million—on the reasonable side for an old master but on the record-breaking end for contemporary works.

Serious collectors are finding excellent deals on top quality art. “Like everyone else, we’ve been hurt by the economy, so we’ll buy fewer things and be more selective, but the opportunity to buy great things is outstanding,” says American hotelier Don Rubell, one of the world’s biggest contemporary-art collectors. He continues to add to the extensive Rubell Family Art Collection, housed in its own museum, a 15,000-square-meter former Drug Enforcement Administration warehouse in Florida. He and his wife, Mera, started in the 1960s, purchasing works in good and bad economies. They acquired art by names like Damien Hirst and Keith Haring long before they hit the top of the market. Rubell, whose collection is international, is currently focused on young artists and the best works from those in midcareer. He thinks one of his best buys of the past six months is a piece by the 30-something California-based Thomas Houseago, known for mixed-media sculptures that reference traditional statuary.

Like most serious art aficionados, Ru-bell and his family spend a lot of time visiting galleries, art fairs and studios around the world. He believes that often an artist’s finest pieces are from the early years, when they are unknown and therefore more willing to experiment. “The best art has new ideas, new techniques, new manifestations,” he says. “When you have a very hyped-up market, there is a tendency to produce the same kind of work.”

Repetition and a perceived pandering to the market eventually brought down what was until last year the hottest category around: Chinese contemporary art. Some Chinese artists became almost instant millionaires thanks to work that was probably bigger in scale but similar in style and theme (and more often involving Mao Zedong) compared to what they and their peers have been doing for the past 15 years.

Personalities like Yue Minjun, who is in his 40s, suddenly became famous for breaking auction records. In May 2008, a bidder paid $6.9 million at Christie’s in Hong Kong for “Gweong-Gweong,” establishing a new all-time high-price for Yue. In a way, his “cynical realism” works have become unintentional parodies of the general problem: his trademark pink, laughing face appears over and over on banal paintings and sculptures, many of which sold for millions. But after years when almost everything was snapped up, it was sobering late last year to see so many contemporary Chinese pieces, including some by Yue, going unsold—half of all lots at some sessions. After so much excitement over “new” art, dozens of galleries in Beijing and Shanghai have dramatically downsized or simply not reopened after the Lunar New Year break in February.

China is an excellent example of a contemporary-art market gone wrong. It seemed to get bigger and frothier without a corresponding curatorial and critical framework for “what makes a work interesting,” says Magnus Renfrew, director of the ART HK fair and a former contemporary-art specialist at Bonhams in London. As a result, auction houses, with their marketing prowess and international reach—as opposed to academic journals, galleries and museums—became the place where careers were created. Says Renfrew: “Because the commercial value of a work became the primary way of evaluating its value, work became good because it was expensive rather than expensive because it was deemed to be good.”

It’s hard to determine whether collectors were the cause or the victims of the frenzy. Ninety percent of the buyers were American or European. “Many were buying with their ears, not their eyes,” says Sundaram Tagore, a grandnephew of the Indian poet Rabindranath and a dealer with galleries in New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Tagore has seen his revenue drop by 70 percent in the past year, but says good works by key artists— especially in the $500,000 and over range —have been moving. Among them: the textured, monochrome paintings by India’s Sohan Qadri inspired by meditation, and the hypnotic waterfall images created by Japan’s Hiroshi Senju with crushed-seashell pigments on rice paper.

Contemporary art from the mainland may enjoy a resurgence once the global economy gets back on track. But for now, only the bravest, savviest collectors remain. They are considering purchases more carefully and shaping the market with demands for fresh quality art. This is forcing artists and dealers to produce more than their “greatest hits,” leading to more adventurous exhibitions. Rubell thinks that one of the good things that will emerge from the current slump is that “in a market that is not so active, artists tend to go back into themselves and are not afraid to work on new ideas.” Serious collectors still happily pay top dollar for top works, but are also more open to less expensive, more experimental genres like photography or cutting-edge Southeast Asian art.

The less frenetic art commerce environment has also resulted in galleries staging more daring exhibits. Hong Kong dealer Katie de Tilly, who represents Julian Schnabel as well as a number of Chinese artists, decided to concentrate on showcasing Vietnamese diaspora artists and new Cambodian works. Some paintings sell for as little as $500. “I’m probably not going to make money on these shows,” she says. “It is not a money-making year so I thought I might as well do this because it is important.” With things slow right now, Tagore is using the time to write a book on Indian modernism and to collaborate with a German curator on a traveling show of Islamic art.

For better or worse, there are also some renewed stirrings of hype in the contemporary-art market. In June, Koons is having a solo exhibit at London’s prestigious Serpentine Gallery, which is expected to draw big crowds. The law of supply and demand being what it is, many will no doubt continue to aspire to own his art (if not his new book). At the Pulse New York art fair a few weeks ago, five large photographs of Imelda Marcos by Filipino artist Steve Tirona drew plenty of attention. The volume of inquiries on the last day prompted gallery owner Isa Lorenzo, a physician, to diagnose herself with a panic attack near closing time. A museum bought a set of five (there are 15 limited-edition sets), European collectors wanted to talk, and passersby stopped to gawk at the images of the former Philippine first lady gamely posing to help her grandson’s costume jewelry line. In one image, she sits regally holding her pet dog Venus by a leash, in an opulent room that has seen better days. Photo illustration exaggerates the sparkle of her bling. A picture of her with Saddam Hussein in his heyday adorns a table, a classic painting hangs askew on a silk-covered wall and the mirror in a large gilt frame is cracked. The image is a reminder that like classic art, the best contemporary works make us weigh our icons, our values and what we consider beautiful.

Introduction by L. Ridwan Muljosudarmo

For the Galeri ”!  So brief answer from Dr. Oei Hong Djien when I enquire “What for end this place?

Finally with my big enthusiasm, I dare to build a place for an art exhibition. Perhaps this can be executed with the existence of support from my close friends and artists.

My gallery name “Syang Art Space” is derived from word “sayang ”, and my expectation for this gallery is that I hope this place will be truly useful as a medium or an infrastructure for a fine arts exhibition.

The development of fine arts in our country demands adequate infrastructures. There are so many artists which all their activities can not be accommodated because of lack of mediums or infrastructures. Syang Art Space is aimed in order to participate in it.

Magelang have had old stuff for the discourse of Indonesian fine arts world. Dr. Oei Hong Djien as a collector, an art devotee, and a fine arts activator in Indonesia is always active to give motivation not only to us but also to all artists, not only to young artists and but also to senior artists.

Like Dedy Irianto, the owner Langgeng Galeri, is very active to carry out the exhibition in Magelang, Jakarta and even to abroad.

There are still a lot of collectors or art devotees who are actively taking roles in of fine arts dynamics.

Indonesian fine art has extended far enough in a period of excitement with a lot of future promising expectations. Artworks of Indonesia artists start to become the world attention.

After world of fine arts is surprised with the appearance of modern Chinese artwork, they start to perforate the artwork of South-East Asia artists, especially Indonesian fine art which its uniqueness and quality is better than the artist artworks from other country.

The collectors and investors see the Indonesian artist artwork very beneficial because the price is still cheaper than other country fine arts.

This mushroom growth of fine art needs a lot of roles which follow to push till this situation become to enrapture, such as the appearance of galleries in town, the publishing of fine arts magazine, and also the active participation of auction room not only in Indonesia but also in abroad.

This condition is very different from the condition in early 1990 where I started to recognize and learn the fine arts. With motivation from my friends and especially from Dr. Oei Hong Djien, I tried to collect the fine arts by visiting to all artist studios.

Visiting to artists studios made close relationship and assigned more value to their artworks. We could tell a story, discussed and joked with them. Initially I have recognized some young artists like Pupuk Daru Purnomo, Nasirun, Entang Wiharso, Made Sukadana, Ugo Untoro, Ivan Sagito, and Faizal. Then I have also got acquainted with various other artists in Yogyakarta, Bali, Bandung and other towns till now.

By having all that, Syang Art Space will execute the event of Grand Opening by inviting all artists to participate in exhibition event with placing forward “friendship’’. “Friendship Code” is a sign for Syang Art Space with the artists to adjoin each other in walking journey of better fine arts activities.

All will not carry out better if there isn’t support, aid and cooperation from a lot of good parties, from my family, friends, curators and all artists.