Art auctions important in the fine arts world

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