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