Visual modern art market all shaken up

Visual modern art market all shaken up

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian modern art entered the commercial
field more than 10 years ago. Commercial galleries have
mushroomed in big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and
Surabaya, as well as in Bali.

Modern art exhibitions have proliferated in art centers office
buildings, hotels and the so-called "art houses" that are open
for the art community. More people -- from housewives to
celebrities -- have become painters. All these people want to
exhibit "themselves" to be watched, sold. They want to be
popular, although not all want to be real artists.

The commercial era is also an era of showing and
commercialization. In this case, making money, self expression
and communication a commodity is not taboo. On the contrary, all
commodities strive to be valued and communicated. This reality
cannot be avoided, as global capitalism cannot be rejected.

In the field of Indonesian modern painting, we find several
interesting phenomena within this global trend.

First, the fact that the exhibitions are held in atypical
locations, not just in art centers, indicates there is "glasnost"
and democratization of exhibition space. People no longer see
Jakarta as an art center and barometer of modernity, along with
the fading image of Taman Ismail Art Center as an art barometer.

Nowadays one does not make an effort to uphold his/her
existence as a painter through "arrogant" art centers. Instead,
they display their works in cafes, hotels, and small galleries or
art houses.

Second, art exhibitions are no longer perceived as a "sacred
cultural event," as was the case from the 1960s to the 1980s. The
sanctity of painting exhibitions has been lost because a painting
is not considered to be merely a tool to support something with a
more symbolic or oligarchical meaning. In the eyes of an art
marketer, a painting is money. Understanding the concept, content
and the meaning of the painting, is the problem of the artist or
art critics. While in the eyes of the artists, success is
measured from the nominal values they get from the work, and this
will automatically decide their choice of style, theme or
technique.

Third, the myth of an artist as the creator has faded along
with the change from creative value to re-creative value.
De-mystification of an artist as a poor prophet looking for
truth, and originality has happened because the law of the market
easily makes new myths and taboos acceptable. Many painters
become successful and popular not because their works bring new
value to the art world, but more because they re-create the ideas
and style of the past which was a legend in the beginning of the
20th century. Many art dealers or galleries also demand certain
styles from the past from today's painters.

Fourth, in accordance with the change of values in the market,
the world of the art critic has begun to decline, disappearing
from the public discourse. Potential and independent art critics
start to be absorbed in commercial galleries, in which they can
apply their profession and talent for a more suitable payment
than merely writing for the mass media or art journals. This
means art-critics, who controlled art discourse between the 1960s
and 1980s, are no longer the authority on structure, content,
style and talent. They are now replaced by the subjectivity of
the consumers, collectors or other influencing figures.

In the past ten years the Indonesia art critic has sunk from
his once respected pedestal. Writing about fine art is limited to
a review or a report that is not deeply analytical. If there is a
serious art critic who writes seriously in the media, art lovers
and members of the art community pay no attention, not only
because the language of the critic is hard to understand, but
also because the artists nowadays prefer to learn from the
marketing manager. Therefore, it is no wonder that there is a
confusion of roles between the curator and the sales manager.

In this commercial era there are of course many positive
things which directly influence the prosperity of the artist
individually. However, the market spirit that flares up too much
has effects that are worrying.

First, with the expansion of the exhibition spaces, the
activities of exhibitions proceed almost without brakes. The
exhibitions are not treated as an appreciation arena but more as
an art market and bazaar. The painters are racing and hunting for
exhibition places which can bring them a lot of money. They do
not care if the works are hung in a narrow space in hotels or
office buildings where viewers can only see them at a glance.
Forget about appreciation. As long as they can be sold, it is
fine with them.

In Jakarta, it seems there are almost continual exhibitions,
although the number of visitors decrease day by day, not to
mention the buyers. The painting world seems to be sinking in the
exhibition euphoria. So what will happen then, or what has not
happened, is the saturation market. Serious art lovers really do
not want to be fed up with art works which are over-produced and
are easily available anywhere. The artist as well as the
organizer of the exhibition should anticipate the market
saturation.

Next, over production of paintings does not fit with the law
of supply and demand. The painters nowadays easily make paintings
whether it is to meet the target of exhibition or the market and
industry. If this is what is happening, so now fractal values are
spread: values are produced fully and freely, but this only
result in regularities, causing an emptiness of value. Of course,
further consequence of this is that there are no parameters and
values. Whereas the art world can live when it has to deal with
values, whether merely the aesthetic, technique or thematic
problems. While those values can only be built through critical
debates against them, starting from small communities to bigger
and wider communities. That is the reason why the tradition of
dialogue, the study of discourse and discussion is an inherent
part in each modern art. From that tradition, there will be
acceptance or refusal of its values. And that critical tradition
has become a characteristic of modern art itself, wherever art is
born.

It is really a concern when the duration of fine art
exhibitions become faster and wider in its space, the tradition
of art discourse and criticism is decreasing and disappearing. We
not only need infrastructure, but also superstructure to back-up
ideas which make it possible to observe ideas to spread, examine,
discuss and analyze. It is absurd if a painting which consists
only of paint and canvas can suddenly have a high value and is
highly praised, without people knowing the aspect of value inside
it. A study, debate and continuous dialog are needed to
understand the values before we agree upon it. That is the why in
developed countries, books on arts and maestro painters are
always produced by several writers with several points of view.