Forged art a a lucrative business
The Indonesian art market is saturated with forged paintings, and members of the local art community have tried in vain to combat the crime. The Jakarta Post's Rita A Widiadana, along with contributors Putu Wirata, Yusuf Susilo and Reita I. Malaon, examine the business of fake artworks. Art critic Agus Dermawan T. also contributes his opinion.
JAKARTA (JP): Sorry may seem to be the hardest word for Amana Inc. 2000, the organizer of an art show and planned auction of more than 100 paintings, attributed to Indonesian and international masters, in Jakarta last November.
In a fax sent to several local media on Friday, the company finally expressed its apologies to the Indonesian art community, art lovers and the public.
"After months of consideration, we decided to totally cancel all activities regarding the auction of paintings displayed at our exhibition, The Old Painting Pre-World War II," wrote chairwoman of the organizing committee Adelia Rangkuti.
"We deeply regret (the incident), and we would like to express our appreciation to those who have given their support, advice and criticism."
For many in the local art community, the event, with the auction advertising "recently discovered" works attributed to Picasso, Van Gogh, Marc Chagall and other masters, was an unforgettable -- and unforgivable -- art scandal.
Although some initially took the event's promotion at face value, others in the art community were quick to express their doubts about the authenticity of the works.
Amid the ensuing uproar, the auction was canceled.
Merwan Yusuf, curator of the National Gallery, commented: "We were made to feel like fools. It was like a slap in the face for us from the (organizing) committee."
Art critic Jim Supangkat laughed at the claim of the owner of the paintings, antique dealer Julman Syahdam, that he found the works at different places around the country.
"It was pointless (to claim) that these masterpieces were found in a cornfield in Sukabumi and Cianjur (West Java), or in Riau in Sumatra," Supangkat told The Jakarta Post at the height of the furor.
The discovery of a masterpiece anywhere in the world would have immediately attracted attention from the international art community, he added.
For others, the scandal was a sad reflection on the widespread problem of art forgery in the country.
Art critic Agus Dermawan T. said the event was yet more confirmation of Indonesia's label of the "land of art counterfeiters".
He said that international exhibition and auction houses often complained that paintings from the country were the most difficult to select for authenticity.
"It really hurts to hear this label frequently mentioned by art observers from many countries," said Agus.
Business
But the canceled auction, which some dubbed "Van Gogh Gate", was only a minor blip in the otherwise flourishing business of counterfeit art.
Visitors to particular art shops in Ciputat in the capital, famous Jl. Malioboro in Yogyakarta or Sanur and Ubud in Bali are likely to come across "imitations" of famous paintings of both Indonesian and international artists.
The fake painting business is believed to have started in the 1950s after the country's independence, but took off in the late 1980s in the wake of the 1987 art boom.
The business reportedly involves artists, art dealers, galleries as well as "strong and powerful" financiers, in what one artist compared to a "mafia".
Those counterfeiting works could involve art students, amateur artists and renowned painters using simple to high-tech instruments.
"This business flourishes in response to the market demand," said Agus.
He said paintings by famous artists like Hendra Gunawan, Basoeki Abdullah, S. Sudjojono, Trubus and Arie Smit are most frequently subject to forgery. Also popular are paintings by Lee Man-Fong, Affandi, Anton Kustiawijaya and Popo Iskandar. Occasional forgeries are reported for Jeihan, Kartono Yudhokusumo, Widayat, Djoko Pekik and Srihadi Soedarsono.
Works of foreign painters based in Indonesia most often forged are those by W.G. Hofker, Rudolf Bonnet and Le Mayeur.
"The genuine paintings of the painters mentioned above are marketable at very high prices and only paintings with an extraordinary level of prestige are generally selected for forgery," Agus explained.
A local auction house estimated one of Basoeki Abdullah's works at between Rp 200 million and Rp 300 million. A work of Le Mayeur titled Balinese Girls in the Gardens, for instance, has an estimated value of between Singapore $380,000 and $450,000 at the coming Christie's Singapore auction of Southeast Asian and Indian art in April.
"The high market price for such a master work has encouraged people to take a shortcut, namely to forge the masters' works for mostly economic reasons," he said.
It is unfortunate that many Indonesian art lovers and collectors have inadequate knowledge and information on how to determine the authenticity of a work.
Agus said forged paintings are usually offered to novice art collectors and art lovers who are too apathetic to learn about the subject -- or those who believe they are really knowledgeable in art and do not need to see expert advice.
Prestige
Art forgers also find easy targets in art enthusiasts who are only concerned about the prestige value of the works they acquire rather than a genuine appreciation of an artwork, Agus added.
A Canadian-based art historian specializing in Southeast Asian art, Astri Wright, wrote in The Jakarta Post recently that forgery ventures were doomed to fail after a short period of time, because the choices made by people attempting to copy the work of another, no matter how skilled they are, are always somewhat different than those of original creators.
The difference between the fake and the original may be a matter of a nuance of color; the brand of the paint used; the type of canvas used; the way the canvas was assembled or other details and features.
The experienced eye of someone trained in art history can pick up these signs and read them like a kind of script, Astri said.
"Traveling around Jakarta alone, some time in 1994, I believed I saw as many fake Hendra Gunawan paintings as real, authentic ones," she recalled.
She concluded that what Indonesian art needs is many trained art experts, strong art and legal infrastructure and a healthy market condition in order to deal with the more sophisticated art forgery and art crimes.
Unfortunately, the country still has almost none of the above.
Watie Moerani, head of the National Gallery, admitted: "We feel like soldiers without weapons in fighting art forgery."
But, an effort, however small, has started.
A number of art curators have registered works of several Indonesian masters and young artists as references to avoid copies and reproductions circulating in the market.
Watie and her colleagues initiated a meeting involving artists, art experts, art and legal institutions, the police and the government to establish a special agency dealing with art- related issues.
In facing the rapid changes in the fine arts world, the Indonesian art community is indeed less prepared compared to the country's music industry which has YKCI, an agency dealing with intellectual property rights of music composers and singers.
YKCI chairman Chandra Darusman said the agency was born out of urgent need.
"At first, nobody in the music industry paid attention or understood our existence, but we kept on working to fight copyright violations," Chandra recalled.
YKCI is now working hand in hand with the police and music industry in dealing with copyright infringement.
Such an agency, with the art community joining forces with the authorities to police its ranks, may be what is needed. Yet the question remains about who will be brave enough to make the first move.