TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
ART PARIS+GUESTS: going global
Petruk can do anything Superman can do, an installation by Sri Astari
Change Size
Petruk can do anything Superman can do, an installation by Sri Astari. JP/Carla Bianpoen
The first of its kind, the groundbreaking fair of ARTPARIS+GUESTS attracted 15,000 visitors on March 17, the night of its soft opening, with art aficionados still queuing to get in until closing time.
Indeed, what this art fair offered was worth the long queue. A revolution, or evolution in the marketing of Art, a new model conceived by Lorenzo Rudolf whose fame includes strategies in Art Basel and ShContemporary in Shanghai.
In this new concept, participating galleries were allowed to invite other galleries as partners. Thus Galerie Lahumière’s stand included the Museum im Kulturspeicher from Würzburg, while Antoine de Galbert, founder of La Maison Rouge had some of his art brut collection in the stand of Strasbourg-based Ritsch-Fisch gallery — and more of such combinations could be detected. For those unfamiliar with the European art scene, this was somewhat confusing as these were all mixed with the usual kind of stands.
The greatest change noticeable in ARTPARIS+GUESTS, however was in the participation of continents, countries and private collectors or curators, as seen in the central space where not stands but platforms, geographic and cultural, prevailed. In this artistic event, the four platforms offered to collectors or curators presented the art works of their country or continent. Besides Finland and Ukraine, there was the spectacular yellow colored African platform curated by André Magnin, the well-known curator and specialist of African contemporary art.
But even more prominent was the Indonesian platform with 20 participating Indonesian artists brought together by Deddy Kusuma, one of Indonesia’s most important collectors.
Already in front of the entrance of the Grand Palais, the venue of the fair, the importance given to Indonesia was tangible. Here the image of one of Agus Suwage’s works — an emaciated skeleton in a pail filled with rice titled Luxury Crime — featured next to the large billboard of the fair that carried the words “ARTPARIS+GUESTS JUST ART”.
Inside the central space, the project managed by Suprajitno Sutomo and Inge Santoso, Canna Gallery, reveals modern and contemporary art practices that completely deviate from the canons of Western aesthetics, putting an accent on a fascinating character of their own.
As visitors flowed into the space, their attention was particularly drawn to the painting Free Us by Suraji, with his painstakingly painted details reflecting our society: A cat, a dog and a rat pulling at each other, while trampling away the little powerless humans and smaller rats watching behind bars.
Sri Astari’s work, in which she paints herself as Petruk carrying Superman, was a remarkable eye catcher, evoking even a sense of the evolution of humanity, remarked Ines Brisset, a therapist visiting the art event, while Professor Aart van Zoest appreciated the light humor in these locally charged works tackling issues of the present time.
Similarly, he loved Heri Dono’s works for its critique brought with humor and a touch of the playful.
Indonesians have a fantastic metaphoric feature, said one visitor, who looked at Masriadi’s painting featuring a man standing as if saying “I am the greatest”, while the earth under his feet was falling apart.
Putu Sutawijaja’s painting of ascetic figures dancing in communal trance evoked a sense of prehistory. Meanwhile, the row of bent guitars by Rudi Mantofani titled The Lost Note saw streams of admirers and music lovers watching it in awe.
With an overwhelming interest in the works of Indonesian artists that featured for the first time at an international European art fair, many visitors were eager to know more.
A brief text of introduction would have given many works the accent they deserved. The incredible F1 steel sculpture by Pintor Sirait might have evoked an interesting discourse on democracy, a word written on the sculpture, and Ay Tjoe Christine’s work — that won a prize in Art Hong Kong and was supposed to be interactive — would have provided yet another interesting feature of Indonesia’s diverse creative colors.
“The Grass Is Greener Where You Water It” was the motto of this exhibition. It is hoped that Deddy Kusuma keeps watering the grass of contemporary art and that many other collectors may follow.
