ASEAN masters' works not ruled by uniformity of style
By Amir Sidharta
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had a surprise in store when he opened an exhibition of works of ASEAN masters in Selangor in conjunction with the informal 30th ASEAN Summit 1997.
Mahathir, in the presence of heads of state and government from the seven member countries, unveiled a small drawing, Amorous Couple, by none other than Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai.
Most surprised of all was Chuan himself, who quipped he would have lent a bigger and better painting if he had known it was to be used for the opening.
Organizers had borrowed the drawing from Silpakorn University in Bangkok.
All ASEAN foreign and economic ministers, 300 media representatives and 150 invited guests also attended the Dec. 15 event.
During his tour, Mahathir recognized Suteja Neka of the Neka Museum, which had loaned several paintings in the exhibition. Mahathir told Neka that he had visited the Neka Museum in Ubud and he thanked him for the loan of his paintings.
The room was too crowded for leaders to view the exhibition comfortably. However, together with the Chinese president and Japanese prime minister, they toured the exhibition once again in the evening, prior to and after dinner.
Philippine President Fidel Ramos was seen looking intently at Head of A Lion by Raden Saleh (1807-1880), on loan from the Lippo Art Foundation, after dinner.
Other works from Indonesia included Man with Fighting Cock (oil on canvas, 1980) by Affandi (1907-1990), Aunt Missi (1979) by S. Sudjojono (1914-1986), Two Dancers (1975) by Srihadi Soedarsono (b. 1931), and War of Independence (1986) by I Wayan Bendi.
The guests-only exhibition, which was held at the Mines Resort for only a couple of days, included half of the selection of 60 works borrowed from art museums, collectors and artists from the member countries.
The full exhibition will open for general public viewing at Malaysia's National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur from Jan. 15 to Jan. 30.
The Malaysian National Art Gallery is an important source not only for works of its artists, but also for paintings by Singaporeans Georgette Chen and Cheong Soo-pieng. The Myanmar collection came from the National Museum in Yangon and Singapore's private art gallery Art-2.
Other institutions loaning works include the Singapore Art Museum, the Silpa Bhirasri Memorial Museum in Bangkok, Neka Museum and Pelita Harapan University Museum/Lippo Art Foundation, Lippo Karawaci. Some works in the Vietnamese section were sourced from Nguyen Van Lam, a cafe owner in Hanoi. Apparently, in the early days, in exchange for food and drinks, artists paid pay the cafe owner with their paintings.
Co-curator Karim Raslan, who helped source some of the works, identified a number of common themes in Southeast Asian art. "I discovered that there were common themes, themes which would emerge in one country only to pop up again in another," he wrote in his curatorial essay.
"Among the most noteworthy of themes were the limiting and reductive definition of contemporary art employed by the art establishment or art versus handicraft; the Western tradition and its absorption; the ongoing conflict between nationalism and modernism in art; a sense of place and rootedness; the role of religious faith and devotion; the shock of the new; the art of collecting and, finally, the emergence of a Southeast Asian aesthetic ..."
Therefore, curator Valentine Willie has purposely avoided a nation-by-nation organization and has arranged the exhibition according to those themes. The curatorial selection also offers an eclectic mix of artistic styles, subjects and media, as well as gender and generation.
The exhibition, supported by the ASEAN Secretariat and Wisma Putra and sponsored by the Yayasan Al Bukhary, is also held in conjunction with ASEAN's 30th anniversary celebrations which run until August next year. A book on the exhibition, written by Karim Raslan, is due to be published in June.