Five paintings will represent RI in ASEAN Art Awards<\/p>\n
By Astri Wright<\/p>\n
UBUD, Bali (JP): Paintings by five artists, which last week
\nwon this year's Indonesian Art Awards, will represent Indonesia
\nat the ASEAN Art Awards 1997 in Manila in September.<\/p>\n
The five finalists are Dede Eri Supria's Those Left Behind, A
\nPanorama (1996), Hanura Hosea's Story of the Blind from the
\nOfficial Island (1997), Nasirun's Diluted in Colors (1997), Tisna
\nSanjaya's Tears of Feet (Prayer for the Victims of Violence)
\n(1997) and Yuswantoro Adi's Masterpieces of Indonesia (1997).<\/p>\n
They had beaten five other semifinalists, painted by Dikdik
\nSayahdikumullah, Effendi, Hanafi, Teguh Ostenrik and Zulkarnaini.<\/p>\n
The jury considered the finalists as the best works according
\nto content, fulfillment of the competition theme, technical skill
\nand innovative spirit.<\/p>\n
The jury, chaired by Amir Sidharta of Museum Universitas
\nPelita Harapan in Lippo Karawaci, consisted of former education
\nand culture minister Fuad Hassan; chief of the Indonesian Fine
\nArts Foundation, Susrinah Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo; senior painter
\nSrihadi Soedarsono of Bandung, West Java; owner of the Ubud-based
\nAgung Rai Museum of Art, Agung Rai; Yustiono; and Suwarno
\nWisetrotomo.<\/p>\n
During June, the jury reviewed photos of 1,246 paintings
\nsubmitted by 890 painters from around Indonesia, selecting the
\nbest 100.<\/p>\n
Sidharta said this initial selection was done without the jury
\nknowing the names of the artists. The original paintings were
\nthen submitted to the jury.<\/p>\n
From these 100 works, 10 were chosen as semifinalist winners,
\nreceiving Rp 1 million (US$400) each. From these 10, five were
\nchosen as grand winners and received $5,000 each.<\/p>\n
Unlike last year, when submissions were elicited in all
\nmediums, on the subject matter of the artists' choice, a
\nparticular theme was set this year by the Phillip Morris Group,
\nthe sponsor of the Philip Morris 4th ASEAN Art Awards.<\/p>\n
In addition, medium and size were also defined. Submissions
\nhad to be two-dimensional paintings on canvas, no larger than two
\nmeters by two meters, appropriately framed without glass, and
\neach artist could submit only two works. The theme was defined as
\n"work connected with the awareness, impressions, feelings and
\nviews of real life in Southeast Asia\/Asia".<\/p>\n
With last year's open framework, over 2,000 works were
\nreceived from more than 1,000 artists. With the lower number of
\nartists and works this year, it was clear that requirements
\nlimited the number of participants and the number of artworks.<\/p>\n
This regional art competition was inaugurated by the Phillip
\nMorris company in 1993 to stimulate the development of modern art
\nand appreciation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) countries -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
\nPhilippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- and to facilitate
\nknowledge about contemporary ASEAN art internationally.<\/p>\n
For the past few months, ASEAN members have been preparing
\nnational competitions to select the finalists for the regional
\nfinals, to take place at Manila's Metropolitan Museum of Art in
\nSeptember.<\/p>\n
While including artistic and cultural activities in mandates
\nand budgets has become a corporate commonplace in the last 10
\nyears to 15 years, with bank and corporate collections of art
\ndeveloping worldwide, the Philip Morris Awards is the only such
\nregionwide art competition conducted by a company.<\/p>\n
Vice president of Philip Morris Asia Incorporated, Don Harris,
\nsaid: "The artistic expression of a nation is just as vital to
\nthe life and growth of a community as its economic advances.<\/p>\n
"Through art, we are able to explore and appreciate the many
\nfaces of life which distinguish a nation's people and culture as
\nwell as the strength which hold it together.<\/p>\n
"And by examining visual expression, we gain insight into the
\ndiversity of history culture and nationalities which make up
\nASEAN."<\/p>\n
Completely missing from such a statement is any reference to
\nthe fundamental raison d'etre of multinational corporations,
\nwhich explains their presence in Asia and around the world in the
\nfirst place: to do business.<\/p>\n
The philosophy of megascale capitalism is to see significant
\nnew levels of growth each year. The cost-benefit analysis is the
\nanalysis that matters; major profits are the bottom line and,
\nneedless to say, these profits do not get shared equally, across
\nthe board.<\/p>\n
For a conglomerate of companies that still bears the name of
\nits original tobacco company, for example, the following
\nquestions have to be asked: What is the relationship between the
\ndwindling markets for cigarettes in North America, Europe and
\nAustralia as people quit smoking, and the need to develop new
\nmarkets elsewhere in the world?<\/p>\n
What is the relationship between the cost and effectiveness of
\ntraditional forms of advertising and the dissemination of a
\ncompany's name by the goodwill and broad participation generated
\nby highly publicized sponsorship of cultural events?<\/p>\n
Such events inevitably serve similar purposes as advertising,
\nonly better, perhaps, and cheaper, and certainly in a nicer way.<\/p>\n
Rhetoric, corporate idealism and subtexts aside, events like
\nthe Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards also raise as many questions
\nand concerns on the artistic level as on the economic level.<\/p>\n
They create new fashions and precedents in national and
\nregional art worlds which are increasingly driven by outside,
\nforeign models and concerns and by nonart world leadership and
\nsponsorship.<\/p>\n
By providing themes and requirements, artists end up working
\nwithin the controlled framework of a dominant patron rather than
\nfreely.<\/p>\n
At the same time, having specific goals to work towards and
\nthe promise of possible professional recognition, is of
\ninestimable value to a nation which only 10 years ago counted
\nonly a few hundred artists, only a very small number of which
\ncould live off their art.<\/p>\n
This situation is now changing. From the material perspective,
\nart need no longer be the loser's, or the "black sheep's" choice
\nof profession. It remains to be seen whether the forces of
\nglobalization and commercialization in art will also spawn a
\ncontemporary Indonesian or Asian art heritage that can stand the
\ntest of time.<\/p>\n
Diversity and visual splendor is not all; depth, sincerity and
\nseriousness of purpose are harder to attain but of greater and
\nlasting value in visual art.<\/p>\n
While patronage of modern artists took a particular shape
\nduring the era of the late president Sukarno, and evolved into
\nanother equally particular form under the New Order, it would
\nappear that current national and international sponsorship is
\nsetting the table for an unprecedented broad range of acceptable
\nexpressions, both formal-aesthetic and thematic, in contemporary
\nart.<\/p>\n
It is to be hoped that the requirement that all submissions be
\nin the medium of painting, a retrogressive requirement, will not
\ncontinue to hold sway in future competitions.<\/p>\n
If this continues to be the case, then the Philip Morris Art
\nAwards will, in the end, be labeled the "economic establishment's
\nart competition".<\/p>\n
Essentially, it will be viewed as promoting a narrow
\nconception of fine art, dominated by a conservative western
\nethic. However inaccurate the view may be, it will be seen as
\ncompeting with the more experimental regional art exhibitions,
\nwhere installation performance art and aesthetic experimentation
\nhave dominated in the last few years.<\/p>",
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