Fine Arts Foundation's auction goes well
Fine Arts Foundation's auction goes well
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's art market is stretching it wings. The first auction organized by the Indonesia Fine Arts Foundation, held at the Regent Hotel on Thursday, sold more than two-thirds of the 137 paintings on sale.
Dutch artist Arie Smit's oil on canvas Landscape with Hill and Rising Moon fetched the evening's highest price of Rp 76 million (US$33,333), Rp 1 million more than the expected price.
The Rp 76 million Ngaben, an oil painting by I Wayan Bendi, however, received no bids.
With a few exceptions, prices also did not escalate beyond reason, with most paintings being sold at the asking price. Among the paintings which exceeded expectations were Idran Yusuf's oil landscape Nuansa Pagi, bought by Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana for Rp 31 million (asking price was Rp 20 million), and Rudolf Usman's watercolor Fantasy Tree, which sold for Rp 22 million instead of the expected Rp 8 million.
"It was a very good sale," said organizer Astari Rasjid. "Especially since it's our first time and it's been such a long time since the last auction."
Many excellent works, however, attracted no buyers, especially mixed-media and less traditional compositions. The imposing and intense Kuda, by Redha S., had no bids for its Rp 15 million asking price. Both Salim M.'s colorfully lyrical acrylics on canvas, at Rp 7.5 million each, found no buyers.
And although realistic paintings portraying traditional dancers and idyllic landscapes were popular, similar works with less glamorous images proved unsalable. For example, Melodia's Hari-Hari Menjelang Tutup Tahun, a photo-realist painting of motorcycles and a sidewalk stall, Suprobo's Di Depan Kamar Ganti, about a little boy standing by the toilet, and Lie Tjoen Tjay's market scene Metawahan, did not sell.
Astari Rasjid says that art auctions don't represent the entire art market.
"The art market is like any other market, it's commercial. This is not about pure fine arts," she said.
The patronage of pure fine arts, however, is closely tied to the overall support of art. The popularity of "traditional" paintings may deter talented artists from exploring less lucrative art forms.
Current Indonesian art patrons respond best to realistic nature paintings or the ubiquitous portraits of Bali's legong and barong dancers. Colleagues Anti Suroso and Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the auction's biggest buyers, both bought many such paintings, including Rudy Pranadjaya's Tiga Penari Legong for Rp 20 million, and Probo's Rp 8 million Kuda Berpacaran.
-- Dini S. Djalal