Art auctions important in the fine arts world

By Bodewijn Brands

JAKARTA (JP): In the past, art auctions in Indonesia were very much a matter of snobbism and definitely carried the smell of easy money. It seemed that prices were kept artificially high, and the high prices were confused with high status. This, ignoring the fact that the money might as well be gotten by collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN) and just "washed" by investing it in art.

Foreign auction houses were successfully kept out of the country by requiring them to pay ridiculous amounts for a license, above or under the table. Transparency was not a common practice.

Singapore, on the other hand, has an economic policy of trying to keep business costs as low as possible. It also tries to make it a pleasant place to live for investors and its own citizens alike and actively promotes art activities for recreation.

So, in spite of it being relatively small, Singapore has achieved a position in regional art trade that Indonesia, even if it had a larger populace and artists, could only achieve if the government really helped facilitate business, not hinder it.

This now seems to be the case. Besides "auctions" by the Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation (YSRI), local government owned auction house Balindo has also started to auction art. A private undertaking, Larasati, also started to organize auctions, first in collaboration with Sotheby's, now with Glerum South East Asia.

According to Larasati-Glerum's director Rob Mulders, all is done now with the full knowledge of the Indonesian government (e.g. import-export of the works) and runs smoothly. He admits though that his Indonesian partners handle these contacts.

Auctions are important for the art world of a country for at least two reasons: 1 They help create art history; 2 They facilitate trade in art thus helping artists to earn a living.

Why 'art history'? In order to appreciate art, it should be socialized and accessible. People should know who are the artists in their country, what is a style and how a country's art world is positioned in the larger context of the world.

There is thus the need for registering the artists, having documentation about his or her life, examples of work made etc. And more specifically to make art more understandable for a nonspecialized public, there should be writing about art.

If persons collect art, it is usually kept in the privacy of the home and is not accessible to a large public. If a work is sold through an auction, it is, even for a short time, visible for all. Therefore, if auction houses document their sales well, they become an important source for art historians and have an important educational role.

Experts at auction houses can also combine their knowledge and contribute to publications. An example is Drs Job Ubbens of Christie's Amsterdam. Christie's has auctioned many works of Belgian painter Le Mayeur de Merpres and the knowledge Mr. Ubbens acquired in the process was used to help publish a book about the master, making him even more popular and accessible for a larger public.

This, at the same time, popularizes Indonesia as an object and source for paintings. When there is a lot of information about the art world in a specific country, it will be the target of even more publications.

Indonesia is not doing well here. For example, Visiting Arts, an organization based in London, is producing arts directories. Visiting Arts is a nonprofit organization promoting positive cultural relations between the UK and countries around the world through facilitating international arts and cultural activities.

It so obviously helps when there is an art directory of a country as it facilitates contacts. Visiting Arts has already produced arts directories on Taiwan and Vietnam. It plans to produce more on Japan, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and Brunei. Unfortunately, Indonesia is missing from this list and it therefore misses out on many possibilities of cooperation. Also, art history is not really a subject in universities and academies in Indonesia.

The second reason why auctions are important for artists is explained by the fact that collecting art is a process. It is also a risk. If there is a well functioning art market, a collector will more readily put his money in a work when he can sell it, than when it would be quite impossible to sell it after acquisition.

Let us try to see where we are in Indonesia today. We will look at two recent auctions, one held by Balindo on March 25, 2001 and one by Larasati-Glerum S.E.A. on April 22, 2001. Both auction houses have offered a good number of works of high quality.

Balindo's catalog totaled 131 numbers and Larasati-Glerum 208.

Balindo still seems to be influenced by the way YSRI worked, at least partly. It divides the works for sale into an "exclusive" section and a "bazaar" section. The only difference seems to be that "bazaar" works are not registered in a catalog, even on a list made available.

This strange way of making a caste system in art does not do right by the artists. At the preview, we counted at least 125 in this section which were therefore lost to documentation.

Balindo's catalog has improved a lot over time, now mostly adopting international standards in describing the works.

However, the catalog is still not in English, making its auction less accessible for an international public and risking losing a captive market of expatriates that does not (yet) speak or read Indonesian. What is obviously positive is that the short biographies of the artists whose works are on offer are in Indonesian, thus allowing better access to the Indonesian public.

Further writing is however completely absent. But the price of the catalog is more affordable: Rp 80,000 whereas Larasati charges Rp 250,000.

Larasati-Glerum's catalog is much richer in information. It has an excellent introduction by Daniel Komala on The Joy of Collecting. As he rightly describes, there are hardly any rules in art appreciation. The appreciation also grows and changes his taste over time. And when one stops noticing the work when one enters the room where it is hanging, it is 'time to move on'.

There is a further piece by Amir Sidharta on 15 lots offered for sale by one collector. Described is how the gentleman concerned became infatuated with art, his relations with artists and how he sometimes experienced financial problems in getting the works he liked. Amir also devoted a full page to background information on lot 109, a painting by Sudjojono.

It gives valuable and sympathetic insight into how the artist worked: he used a painting he was not satisfied with as a base.

He also gave additional information on a work by Mochtar Apin. Furthermore, as an appendix to the catalog, Larasati-Glerum gives information on where the works have been acquired or about publications in which they have appeared and where the works were exhibited. Collectors and artists should learn from this.

If they provide full information on the back of the work, it will always be properly described. Collectors should administer their properties and note if "directly acquired from the artist" or "exhibited at Galeri so-and-so" or "reproduced in The Jakarta Post ..." It all gives more background, thus value, to the artwork.

Compared to a country like the Netherlands, from where Glerum originates, Indonesia is obviously just starting to develop this sector. With a population of 16 million, about 10 auctions of contemporary and modern art are organized annually by the well- known auctioneers.

There are also a number of lesser-known, local auction houses that offer good quality works for sale. Compared with the number of inhabitants, Indonesia should have hundreds of auctions every year and in many more cities.

This would also allow many more artists to live from their work. Indonesia would also do well to exploit its relatively low cost labor. It can produce catalogs relatively cheaply and turnover does not have to be as large as in Singapore to achieve a profit.

So many more auctions could be organized that cater to a less affluent group of collectors now hunting for art in Singapore and it would increase the base for budding collectors.

To finish, a few words on galleries. They may feel that auctions are in competition to them. This should not be the case. The first question they should ask themselves is if they would take a work back if their client wanted to dispose of the artwork he bought in their gallery? And can artists be blamed for offering their work to be auctioned if a gallery gives them only a small percentage of the sale price?

The second point is one of setting a price for a work. Foreigners may be willing to pay Rp 100,000 for a haircut as they are used to such prices in their own country. But is this a fair price in Indonesia? The art world is still a dual economy where many artists are happy to sell a drawing for Rp 30,000: it buys them two weeks of a rented room or 10 to 15 lunches.

These products cost much more in Western countries. But does that justify asking a million rupiah for the same work in a gallery? In the West, a painting by a good, academically trained artist, costs the equivalent of a net monthly income. What, in your opinion, should that be in Indonesia? If however, such prices are paid for the same works at an auction, they are justified. In the book Buy Art Smart (by Alan S. Bamberger, 1999, at Wallace-Homestead Book Company, Radnor, Pennsylvania, USA) it suggests that the gallery price may be double that achieved at auctions.

This might not work in Indonesia as there are not enough auctions and the prices are usually quite high. Price estimates here are obviously more influenced by a wish for a high turnover than the real value of the work.

The writer is a novice art collector based in the Netherlands