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Singapore Really Really Free Market, organised by Post-Museum. Photo by Jennifer Teo
Happy New Year and we like to admit we can’t keep up already! Last week saw seven gallery openings, as the commercial arm of our ever-growing culture industry returns from their Christmas and New Year break. While we are excited with this strong display of market force (perhaps signaling a time of greater economic growth in the coming year?), we can’t help but wonder if this show of number is by any means indicative that we’re getting better art? Is this BANG or *whimper*?
In a country that is virtually impossible to gallery hop (the most I have done in one afternoon is four galleries), one hope that the trip to experience art is bloody well worth it. Thankfully, we have the internet these days as a teaser of some sort and while it is by no means the best way to assess works of art, it can at least provide you with a clue on what you might encounter on your gallery visit.
We all know the dangers of having a market. It’s not that it stifles creativity, it just redefines what creativity is to mean a spectacle. Large canvases, vague political statements, gimmicky conceptual tinkering, self-portraits (urgh!), you get the drift. Don’t we have enough of these, are we right to demand for more?
But I’m no marxist curmudgeon and I value what market gives us – incentive! – and an economy to keep our middle class artist with a roof over their head so that they can go on to produce works that incite, inspire and excite us. There is unfortunately a tendency for the art market in Malaysia to become a conservative force that repeatedly generate demand for a particular style that an artist is known for and thereby restricting artists the opportunity to explore in new directions.
This is not entirely the case in other countries where galleries actually spend effort providing proper representation for their artists. Artist representation, done professionally, allows gallerists to spend more time understanding their artits because they are actually investing in each and every artist they represent. In this instance, whenever there is a significant artistic shift, gallerists are more able to defend, persuade and convince collectors regarding the value behind the changes. Together with collectors, they collective invest in an artist’s career and more readily provide him/her with the opportunity to improve and progress to the next stage of artistic development. And to some extent, perhaps even expect it.
It is hard to imagine a supportive community of this nature in Malaysia where the market forces is driven largely by a lack of curiosity towards art practices that do fall into the conventional collectible categories. Market for installation, video or performance documentation is still largely non-existent while these are staple mediums through which contemporary artists have more effectively (this is of course arguable since we have entered the digital age) reflect on the ethos of our day and age.
The past decade saw a local art boom that have generated and shaped a particular coming of age narrative in regards to the growth, expansion and concerns in Malaysian contemporary art. If the local market has played such a crucial role for the past ten years, its future as an influence on the creative direction of the country remains uncertain. This is not to say it will fail to continue driving its own specific aesthetic agenda.
As we enter a new decade, we need to ask, ‘Can the market remain relevant to contemporary art?’ Can it support the creative output of our younger generation? Will art that is supported by the market be consigned to the footnote of our art history or can it step up and play a more active role in shaping our cultural landscape? If so, how? We like to hear from you.
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(SS)
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Narrow your sense of art to a traditional and national level..you have a an inbred old dog dying from cancer whimper.
Extend your boundaries, & BANG,
modernity means that that human imagination is now so democritized and appreciated by so many that even in global economic collaps, there’s be art art art everywhere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DStDo0fkYR4&feature=player_embedded
…if you are seeking quality, you have to resign to the fact that genius and excellence is always a rarity anywhere, anytime.
Is our educatuonal institutes more responsible for responding to the market by churning out all these painters year after year ah?
the way you mentioned how a gallery sticks with an artist seems to emphasize on the growth of artists and nurutring of artists, but isnt that what these educational institutes should be doing at the start to young artists already?
Give them the chance or push them to do farout mindf@cking stuff instead of just copying and hoping to outdo or catch up.
资本有资金要投资
画廊会投机用资金来投资找资本
艺术家有机会来投机找金钱
观众没资本要机会学投机找资金来投资
Hi Simon,
There is a lot of issues you are trying to say in your “Bang or whimper”. Sorry I could not quite understand your concern. Are you trying to tell us that in your view all the galleries in KL have not been doing their job or they do not know their job in promoting Malaysian Contempory artists?
How do you define market or contemporary art?
As someone who has been involved in the art market I strongly feel that the article lacks clarity in what you are trying to get at.
May I suggest that some research to be done before tackling such a big “subject” as Malaysian art market.As you know,your readers are mainly very young in art, you may be misleading them.
Hello true,
You are right. There are a lot of issues that Bang and Whimper could lead into and I wish the blog format was more conducive to allow for elaboration. Thankfully that’s where the comments section come in for further discussion.
I think you might have misread me a little. Contrary to what you have suggested, I don’t think galleries in KL today are doing a bad job promoting Malaysian contemporary artists. I do however think that the range of artists they promote are severely limited (painting being the only thing most galleries are willing to show) and do not represent the diversity, range and depth of arts practice that can be currently found in Malaysia.
To be honest, how many painters painting today do you think will make it into the history of art? Already, the picture that is painted about contemporary art in Malaysia by curators, writers and historians places more emphasis in artistic practice and development in other mediums. The market (the local one) on the whole still refuses to acknowledge this.
By art market, I refer to the private patronage of artist, achieved largely through buying their artworks from commercial gallery. This has largely shaped and validated the BIG WHOS, especially since the art boom a few years ago. ARTERI was primarily founded at the end of this boom to redress the over-emphasis on the market’s tastes and whims. we are not anti-commercialism. Nor is this a diatribe against artists whose sole interest is to pursue a career within the boundaries of sell-able art.
What we want is for our audience to know there’s a bigger scene out there, in which the market is only a subset of. And there are other institutions, organisations, initiatives, mechanism out there that provide the healthy check and balance we require for a flourishing culture industry. Most importantly, the market should never become the sole validating institution for creativity and intelligence.
I do however agree with you that more research needs to be done in this area. And I will continue to look into this issue. But I certainly hope that by ‘misleading’ our young readers at ARTERI, we would be asking them to consider their artistic career beyond the dictates of the market and encourage them to experiment and play a little more. It’s not that hard to get by in KL, artists being creative individuals are resourceful enough to do so in many many ways. ‘Cari makan’ justifications are just lame and lazy excuses.
艺术与艺术市场
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当代艺术与艺术市场
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艺术与当代艺术市场
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当代艺术与当代艺术市场
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伪艺术与艺术市场
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伪艺术与当代艺术市场
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伪当代艺术与艺术市场
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伪当代艺术与当代艺术市场
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艺术与伪艺术市场
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艺术与伪当代艺术市场
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当代艺术与伪艺术市场
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当代艺术与伪当代艺术市场
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伪艺术与伪艺术市场
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伪艺术与伪当代艺术市场
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伪当代艺术与伪艺术市场
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伪当艺术与伪当代艺术市场
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伪艺术伪当代艺术伪艺术市场伪当代艺术市场
《真无能伪力当代画廊》开张囖！！我们要找真的无能伪力的无谓无畏无伪的真正伪当代艺术家。