Dealer aims at European market

Dealer aims at European market

By Chandra Johan

BANDUNG (JP): In September last year, art dealer Jais
Dargawidjaja created a stir in the local art world by exhibiting
works of world class maestros.

It was near the end of the country's art boom but she still
went on with the show, Modern Masters of Indonesia and Europe, at
Darga Gallery in Sanur, Bali. Art lovers, including those with no
intention of buying, could thus satisfy their hunger for the
masters.

Among exhibits were originals of Picasso and Matisse, and
pieces by local artists Hendra Gunawan, Jeihan, Srihadi
Soedarsono and Nashar. Jais did not disclose how many were
actually sold and who bought them, except that one Picasso
considered of "average" quality was purchased for over Rp 100
million.

Now, as buyers are understandably thin on the ground here,
local artists may have more hope if they can make it to Jais' new
gallery in Paris.

She announced on May 9 in Bandung that she was attempting a
breakthrough into the European market by opening the Darga &
Lansberg Gallery in Paris.

Her aim is to market Indonesian painters' works to European
society in a city, renowned for its development of modern art,
where hundreds of galleries are found.

This is a major challenge -- not a single Indonesian painter
has penetrated the market continuously like the Chinese painter
Zao Wu Ki or Indian Anish Kapoor, for example.

Bali-based French art observer Jean Couteau said Jais' effort
was daring.

"Not a single star shines abroad, there are only participants
of official international activities in several forums," he said,
"Nobody has systematically examined the big markets in Europe,
America and Japan."

Jais admitted she was taking a gamble as she had yet to
conduct a representative market survey and was acting mainly on
her senses.

"Perhaps we have considered so far that exoticism could be
sold in Europe. But it is not true. We don't have to rely on
'exotic' works, but on works of quality," Jais said.

Therein lies the complication -- does a contemporary work
using the charcoal medium, for instance, constitute inferior
quality compared to an oil painting?

Is a painting of simple figure lesser than one on a grand
scale?

These are areas of endless debate in the art world. As an art
dealer, Jais has her own parameters.

"If we talk about market, we must first value physical
quality. How an artist makes a work of art from a simple medium
which looks elegant, attractive and valuable. ... An installation
work could unique, but there are installations which are worked
on seriously enough, so that they also look elegant, attractive
and mysterious ..."

Jais became known as a professional art dealer at the end of
the 1980s when she was still cooperating with the Duta Fine Arts
gallery. Aiming for the upper market, she had already promoted
works of maestros such as Jeihan, Popo Iskandar, Arie Smit and
Lee Mam Fong.

In the last two years, she began to work on her own and then
set up the Darga Gallery. Jais, a former theater actor in Bandung
who also acted in a few films, has worked with other artists
including Daryono, Ivan Sagito and Faizal.

Her business acumen has taken the works of artists such as
Jeihan, Made Wianta, Chusin, Nyoman Erawan and Herry Dim to
Europe.

According to plans, Darga & Lansberg Gallery will start
exhibiting works next month. In her own pioneering and
independent way, Jais shows the art community that they cannot
wait for the government to put their works on the international
stage.