Forged art a a lucrative business

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.