Media mediocrity
Media mediocrity
I was "fascinated" by mlt's review of our exhibition "Strokes of Genius" on Sunday, Dec. 10, but before I come to the "Balinese-sunset-over-your-uncles' bar" and "end-of-year-painting-sale" comments, I'd like to get some facts straight.
All the media including The Jakarta Post were sent a fax a week before the opening with an invitation to a special press conference to be held on Nov. 23, at 7 p.m., one hour before the opening. This was followed up with invitations to the opening sent by courier. Three faxes and three invitations were sent to the Post: one to the cultural desk, one to Ms. Claudine Frederik and a third to Ms. Margaret Agusta at the behest of Rashid Carre Midelti, head of the JIS art department (and whose paintings were included in the exhibition) as he knew Ms. Agusta had an art background.
At the opening Ms. Claudine Frederik signed in as representing the Post, and she heard the Japanese Ambassador's and the other short speeches, saw the Marc Chagall and the small van Gogh and the rest of the exhibition. I don't think she felt at all tricked. However later when we asked her when her review would come out, she informed us she was told not to write anything.
As the value of the Chagall was considerable, the hotel and Dharma Gallery decided not to continue having it displayed in the hotel lobby for security reasons. However if mlt really had wanted to see the Chagall mlt could have easily made a phone call to Dharma Gallery and arranged it -- but mlt didn't.
We do, by the way, appreciate that mlt liked The Tea Picker by Basuki Abdullah, the Lee Man Fong portrait of a young Chinese girl and the Willem Dooijewaard portrait of the Balinese freedom fighter. However that means paintings included in her "Balinese- sunset-over-your-uncle's-bar" and "end-of-the year-painting- sale" departments are works by following:
1. Raden Saleh
2. Roland Strasser
3. E. Dezentje
4. Hendra Gunawan
5. S. Sudjojono
6. Rashid Carre Midelti and many more.
'Yang benar saja' (come on), mlt!
At the same time one wonders if a review of an art exhibition (whether good or bad) is appropriate to print 17 days after the opening. This shows a rather irresponsible attitude to one's readers to his/her writing, the exhibition of Solichin's work held in Belgium was said to be "next year" when in fact it opened the day before mlt's review appeared, Dec. 9.
Facile phrases and clever cliches are not enough for intelligent criticism; childish put-downs are most unprofessional; and reviewing an exhibition 17 days after it opens is just plain irresponsible.
IAH
Dharma Gallery
Jakarta