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