ASEAN masters' works not ruled by uniformity of style
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.