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.