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With the recent publication of Aliya and Farouk Khan’s art collection in the definitively titled ‘Malaysian Contemporary Art’, art publishing in Malaysia is witnessing an ambition and scale that will set new industry benchmark for years to come. This is however not an isolated example of how private collectors and initiatives have been of late the driving force in the nascent, though much needed, field of publishing quality art-related books. The equally weighty book, Thirty Art Friends, a collaborative projected initiated by fifteen Singaporean and fifteen Malaysian collectors to highlight favourite works from all participating collectors, was launched in Singapore last month and will make its Malaysian debut in the months to come. Moreover, RogueArt’s two other major publication projects are in the works, not to mention having recently worked on Agus Suwage’s monograph.
This new surge of private driven publishing projects may have stemmed from decades long frustration and disillusionment with the weak support local institutions have shown towards the need to understand and create discourse for contemporary practices in Malaysia.
While we welcome the surge of publishing activity that will serve as both lasting document and useful references for future scholars, we also like to entertain the opinion (just to play the devil’s advocate) that at times big budgeted publishing projects can be a little too self-serving and perhaps to some extent antiquated in light of how technology has revolutionised the business of publishing internationally.
We feel it pertinent to highlight a recent diatribe by an anonymous commenter on the discussion thread about the state of art publishing in Malaysia and Southeast Asia (to open up the discussion on a regional level) and would like to invite responses from our readers. The comment is in relation to a review of ‘Malaysian Contemporary Art’ published in The Sunday Star. I have reproduced the comment below, which I would like as a springboard for us to delve into the issue of publication and art writing in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Given that ARTERI is in the business of publishing, albeit on an online platform, we want to bring up the issue to see how far we’ve come in terms of art publication: What are the pressing questions that need to be asked? What are answers that need to be shared? Happy debating! – SS
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The following comment is a response (found here) to Anurendra Jegadeva’s review of Malaysian Contemporary Art: Aliya and Farouk Khan Collection titled ‘Big and Beautiful‘, published in Sunday Star 6 June 2010.
Supersaiyan says
06/06/2010 12:38 PM
Just read in today’s paper that a private collector is publishing a 900 page book priced at RM1,500….
Seriously WTF!
The last few generation of Malaysian artist and their supporters are really so freaking oblivious to the digital revolution.
Please, if the desire to make art more accessible and relevant to the country and the world is sincere, please invest in digital documentation and platforms.
Should there be prestige and quality issues, there are web design solutions to it. Rethink the business modal for profitability concerns.
Look at how the online music industry and the press allow people to download and pay only for the things they really need. They have evolved.
If there’s only two articles and several images out of XXX page of info gathered that I truly need and appreciate, let me pay for that. Do not burden me with paying for the rest which I might not enjoy or find relevant to my research or needs.
Top universities, museums and entertainment producers are already offering so much of their treasured content online. I doubt people will have time for Malaysian art if they are going to keep everything chiseled onto old media or hung away in a few places.
Please realize, even for a small country like this, there are millions who do not live close to a good bookshops or galleries. Those who do are often very caught up with the daily grind of work and study can’t be holding up XXX page books to read in the loo or the bus stop k!
If art book publishers are really just concerned about pleasing nagging art collectors and artists with some coffee table book, fine.
Don’t delude yourself into thinking that publishing the book is an effort to reach the public.
It doesn’t.
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(SS)
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A lot of publishing done in Malaysia is just to indulge the vanity of the moneyed. You see these books being flogged to corporations who give them away to their clients. Or they are purchased by the few who can afford it to put on their coffee table (hence the name).
Publications like these and by-appointment-only galleries turn art into the province of a little closed circle of “aficionados” who view art as a symbol of their personal sophistication. I agree with Supersaiyan who says that digital formats are much more egalitarian. And I’d like to see more money being put into funding the arts and art education at the grassroots.
err The Cover…
Does that mean Malaysian Contemporary Art is a humongous HUGE ‘O’?
eh kacauer,
obvious its a design element, its a platinum coffee stain. rich pplez drink platinum coffee
eh designer,
phew thats a relief!
thought it was a massive boo boo in lateral thinking. signs & signifiers & all dat.
Platinum coffee drinkers should be more careful and stop leaving stains on Malaysian Art.
The ‘O’ could also be That Other ‘O’…
Which seems quite fitting…
‘O’ no! is the appropriate response!
Being a huge fan of dragonball, it is too easy to agree with super saiyan.
Without any decent support from our institutions or corporations, our art market has largely been driven by our private collectors, and it has been hugely advantageous for many of our artists. this 1500 book is no more indulgent than the 15000 piece of artwork they bought last month.
just some questions about the way our market work and the business model of it.
what if artists start to shift from serving this market, to being more internet/rakyat oriented. what if it is zero sum, since art is sort of an exclusive luxury item to the collectors and if you make it lot more easily available, will it cheap away its value to the collectors? Who will then support our industry? Is there even a mass market to support our content?
Perhaps go ahead with book, but also disseminate the information online, but taking a look at some of our malaysian artists websites/blogs, findars, lostgen, or even arteri(which are all pretty populist inclined), these sites aren’t really hotbeds of activity. (except arteri. hehe)
I do suspect that putting our content online require a huge paradigm shift in the way artists, the market, galleries, educational institutions etc work?
I also imagine that this discussion actually have more to do with the whole “populism vs elitism” in the art circle around the world, but as noted by another commentator in the previous thread, this debate will probably only come in 30 40 years when everyone has moved on.
Wow, what a gigantic book with a gigantic price tag.
Thats a way to get noticed.
Cataloging the Contemporary Art scene of Malaysia in book is a must but when the documentation is sold at RM 1500 per item, it becomes sort of an “elitist statement” and the collector is also trying to make a statement about his character as well as his collection. Though the data in the book could very well be transferred to an online platform by the publisher to make it more readily available to the public.
Documentation online should not be solely the responsibility of institutions or collectors but artists themselves have to take into their own hand of their career and create websites or blogs or their works for the public to easily gain access. Very few artists in Malaysia maintain a website of their works. I see this as the first step for the Malaysian artists to start thinking of their career professionally and in return, passively create a bulk of cultural content for the public.
No no no Nabila, you got it all wrong. It’s not a elitism vs. populism kind of binary at work here. In the case of art publishers who resort to much more conventional or if you really want to put it, so called ‘out-moded’, means of publishing, they too want art to become accessible to more people. The problem is their mentality. They are not educated about new media publishing, they don’t know how to use other technology.
To them a book is a way of reaching out to the public while for many of us who are internet savvy and are aware of how other first world institutions and indie organisations have used the web as a much more efficient way of dessiminating information (and this too appease and address the elite rich at the same time), solely concentrating and glamming up a book publication without an online counterpart to the project seems like a big waste of time, resources and money. We need to teach and talk to them. Not vilify them. After all the artworld is a one big family. We should take care of each other. If the father is makes mistake, we as children need to help him realise his errors. Peace!
Am glad the artworld is one big family, and am glad to be part of it. :)
I hope there is no incest though! LOL!
K so a bit of trolling/drama/sensationalism is necessary to grab attention for discussion.
Now lets share some really cool artist portfolio sites. Or really horrible ones.
GO!
lawlz. boing boing just posted this awesome link.
http://pinktentacle.com/2010/06/surrealistic-paintings-by-tetsuya-ishida/
the artis die oredi.
totally ridiculous! not many people can afford to buy this f,,,,,, book and ofcourse, the people involved in making this book sure dont have any intention of making any money with this project. the book are meant to be given away as souvenirs to their friends and presents to the people who somehow or rather could influence or in the position for decision making for bigger things to come ahead.
this book should be titled
‘art lobby’ or something like that. it is the most corrupted mind the way i see it and i am sorry to say that.
Baru balik dari press launch semalam. Boleh siapa tolong beritahu saya apa itu Jai-ism? Konon ertinya adalah stylistic trend yang bermula dengan Jailaini Abu Hassan.
Would this book still be a bad idea and a waste of resources if it actually gets other rich non collectors in Malaysia to be interested in arts? and consequently supporting a couple of artists’ career?
Besides platinum coffee, we also read big books and do not go online.
Besides the whole angle of glamming and pricing a huge book at one thousand five hundred is obviously a marketing gimmick for the millionaires and billionaires, rich people needs to be reached out to too, you know.
The glitzy title and the huge price-tag disguises one simple and somewhat unavoidable facet of the art-world: that to most of its biggest players, a significant portion of the works are essentially depreciateable assets…
Or, you know, freaking liabilities.
For every Latiff Muhyiddin and Ibrahim Hussein out there, there are hundreds of thousands of artists who suck, who can’t continue their work, who don’t suck and yet don’t get appreciated, or whatever it is that keeps the prices of their art low.
And the best of the best of contemporary artists? They farm out their work to a studio they own.
That shouldn’t be a surprise — after all, did you think Damien Hirst did the grunt-work for his diamond-encrusted skull? Or that the paintings done by Yue Minjun are painted by him and him alone? Come on; if the Great Renaissance Masters had their own studios with assistants, what makes you think that we don’t have that now?
Sure, we have nutters and iconoclasts like Latiff (who, as far as I know, did his work alone), but seriously? The respect and reverence (and associated huge price tags associated with “high” art) is frankly, bullshit.
It is with interest that I read the above comments.
When will people ever be gracious enough to acknowledge the amount of work, effort and expense that has gone into creating this book? Does every comment have to be framed negatively and in a embittered manner? It shows how small you are in not recognizing when a quality product is placed at your feet. There is no necessity to attempt to belittle this amazing book by comparing it to other recent publications (indeed there is simply no comparison)- it stands on its own and the AFK book is to be commended.
WRT the cost, it does cost a lot of money to publish a book of this quality and size. Why are there no comments on even more expensive books that can be found in virtually any of the leading bookstores? If you can’t afford to buy it then don’t but DO NOT expect it to be cheap simply because you want it to be so! There was an introductory offer at the launch for the book at RM900 per copy. This sounds like a reasonable way to get a visual record of some 800-900 Malaysian contemporary works as a reference book and with a hard cover.
It is undoubtedly the biggest and most comprehensive book on Malaysian Contemporary Art – that is simply A FACT whether you like the content, featured artists, publishers or text!! There is an extreme shortage of literature on Malaysian art and I believe that any publication which promotes the industry must be a good thing.
If you really believe that this is merely “vanity publishing”, then go ahead and put out your own book!
Also FYI for those who were not at the launch but are simply arm chair critics, plenty of books were presented to the Deputy PM for distribution via the ministry of education to schools and educational institutions! To the critics out there, what have you done for the general population and for our education system?? The book should be available at public libraries and educational establishments and please do go and look at it if you are unable to get your hands on one.
I assure you, you will be blown away by it!
This was a private initiative and as always there are the disgruntled, jealous and miserable losers who are just waiting to pick and poke at the publication. Get a life!
At least there are book with 80 over Malaysian Artist to be shared with the WORLD…as compare to only “30 Art Friends” sharing with “s#*p+d” Singapore friends…
From what I’ve read, it sounds like even at RM1500, the publisher is sponsoring part of the cost.
“plenty of books were presented to the Deputy PM for distribution via the ministry of education to schools and educational institutions!”
Lets say actual cost is RM 2,000 and 100 books were given out to schools. That comes to RM200,000.
With that sum, you can build really fantastic CD-ROMS (cough)/websites and share it with every school around the world that has a computer.
If there’s 30 computers for a school with 1000 students, 30 kids can be looking at it at the same time. Plus you have no fear that the book will be thorn or destroyed by the 970 kids too impatient to get their hands on the book on Malaysian art.
Sounds to me like the kids who did not receive the books in their school library are the real losers.
If things were ideal, you’ll have books and webpages to suit everyone but if public outreach is really the aim of these publications, the book should be made AFTER the website, or broken down into 3 volumes for affordability.
Primary funds should have gone into a website, CD-Rom, or other digital format that can hold multimedia content. All that money spent on colour separation, buying paper, stocking and delivering books, could easily make a simple video documentary with explanations direct from the artists and slides for sharing and discussions using projections in classroom.
Because of the poor choice in medium, all the hard work and resources poured into such bulky publications are poorly received by the majority of the public.
……………………………………..
If the book is intended to lure other rich Malaysians into investing in Malaysian art, such a bulky book is also a mistake because it encourages more publication of these bulky books, which are frankly, a mark of poor taste or a lack of refinement.
By printing everything into one book, you show that you have not curated your collection.
A real collector/artist should be humble enough to say, “oh dear, I’ve bought/made a lot of crap over the years, sorry I was learning, let me share with you the handful which I think are the real treasures.”
Scooping everything in one shot….is what a cinapek will do at Genting buffet table eventhough he was not paying for the meal himself. It shows that you have no sense of quality, everything feels important.
The rich have different needs and concern but I think it is also possible to have lots of glamour, prestige, and luxury without resorting to chopping acres forests.
Why not a platinum plated thumbdrive, stick that into your HD Megainch SamSonySung LED Flat Screen and have slide show galore, or maybe a password to access exclusive sections of a website.
There are lots of creative alternative to book and web designs which can please both the mass and the elite. In this instance, the most traditional and conservative approach was taken…sure a lot of money and energy went inside, but the thinking that was involved was lazy, ignorant, or arrogant.
PS. It’s because of discussions and critiques between different minds that art became modern.
Some thoughts:
1. Everyone here in the comments section has used a pseudomym. I wonder why? After all, the writers, sponsors and producers of this tome are powerful king makers.
2. Complicity and slipperiness is rife among artists, curators, writers, gallerists, collectors, glcs/multinationals, etc This has been made more apparent in this heightened neo-liberal economy which has permeated every endevour. A recent issue of national art gallery’s newsletter is full of advertorial writing from and on commercial galleries. And writers/curators need to churn out shows and texts to promote artists of commercial galleries to earn their daily bread and help brand and sell their works. Artists too have benefitted in this neo-liberal economy with prices rising to the heavens as powerful collectors, galleries and auction houses control the artists and market.
3. I wonder who the audience is for this publication? Obviously it is not for nuturing art writing or a fledging art community. Many young artists, not from the minority middle/upper class families, have to decide between spending on meals and buying paints/making art. And this is no exaggeration or romaticisation. rm50 is already a lot of money. (about 50% of malaysian households earn less than rm2000 a month)
4. As mentioned here, the internet/media is a powerful medium. But unforunately, it has not caught on. Magazines, academic journals have opted for pay per article download. That seems like a more practical cost-efficient approach. But perhaps the tangibility of a product is more luring.
5. I wonder if any of us are above these complicities, myself included…
Hey cheer up!
If it’s book-en, lets fix it together!
okay!!
for those of us not so rich, perhaps the book can be paper view.
Web-ever medium you chose, there’ll always be a set of advantages and disadvantages connected to it.
while i applaud another book on malaysian art available to us all, i can’t help but cringe at the huge price tag. as art students, we would like to lay our hands on hardcopy materials for reference purposes. yet how many can actually afford to pay such a hefty sum? (alternative choice i am aware, is to run to the nearest library, if there is one)
if such material is more accessible and cheaper, perhaps it may generate public interest and awareness of our vibrant local art scene.
in a more selfish tone, wouldn’t it be great if the book contain critical writing and seminal works of the artists? not just a compendium of malaysian artists from a to z
While using the web to reach the masses is all well and good, one can’t dispute the need to have at least some books of the highest printed quality to accurately represent our art as closely as possible,.. Short of seeing the actual work itself (in all it’s textural esthetic beauty) it would be the closes one could get to experiencing the artwork highlighted in all their tonal, hue, true to life colourful glory,..
Accurate colour printing like that is expensive but to have a tangible, and exact as possible representation of Malaysian Art documented thus is important as part of a solid cultural heritage and appreciation of Visual Arts…
The technological capabilities available to view such works on line is just not up to par(e.i. low resolution, variability of how colour is shown on screen ext… ) and makes this sort of true to the actual work (as possible) documentation and representation quite impossible on a computer screen,..
It would be great to incorporate the books contents on the web too, just for easy reference as well,.. but one, I feel should not vilify a compendium that is not just some expensive alternative to something one could get of the net..
It’s an important part of a still incomplete whole…. Peace..
Essayer, this is not directed at you or a personal attack, but who are you kidding when you say that this book accurately represent Malaysian art??? The last time I flipped through the book during the opening, I only chanced upon a very skewed vision of what Malaysian art should be. I have met the collectors before and I find him arrogant, obnoxious and loud mouth. He is keen to pontificate without actually wanting to listen to what artists have to say.
This book may easily duped the orang orang kampung into thinking that a big price and quality printing means excellent content. Come to think of it, after the initial oohs-ahhs, they probably wouldn’t give a second fuck.
You DO realise that this is a website that is read by people who travel overseas frequently and probably have studied and lived overseas? And you dare tell these educated bunch that there is quality to this book?
Does it not surprise you that most of the ‘big names’ championed by the book are completely ignored internationally while some of Malaysia’s most internationally recognised artists are not even part of this collection?
If I’m going to be honest, the book will merely exist as a mere footnote in the history of Malaysian art. No scholar would ever want to be near the book within a hundred foot barge pole, save perhaps to mention this embarrassing episode as a cautionary tale about the farcical follies of the ego in a period of Malaysian art where silly people through expensive means say silly things.
Forgive me anger & angst, when I was describing the quality I was referring to the printing quality that is expensive to produce,.. not the content for I have not viewed the contents as of yet,..
I would never suggest the content of any book to be the definitive hallmark of the subject matter, for it is always subjective to the writer or whoever put the publication together,.. That just means more of these types of books need to be put together by a larger variety of individuals… and it is also then up to them to produce it in a more affordable manner ( less quality print job )… which would serve another niche that validly needs to be filled,..
You very well may be right in that it’ll be a mere footnote in our art history,.. and I very honestly hope it will be for then that forebodes a bountiful collection on the subject in the future, some imperfect (as you say this one is) and others that built on that imperfection to be closer ( as possible )to the definitive outlook that best represents all parties in the Malaysian Art community…
wahh the malaysian contemporary art book :D !! cool stuff but 1500RM gilee mahal’ for graff kids laaa… ha:D
It was an effort nonetheless for the collector to put this big book together. Malaysians are to be reminded that we do have a history, the art scene started way back in the 1900s. This book cannot be said to represent a true survey of what the art scene contains, we have more to offer.
The intention is important in everything we do. We who are part of the visual art community must honestly promote the practice of the visual arts,to encourage creativity and innovation . It is not to be boastful about who has the biggest collection so that you can be seen as the One who will dictate what the practice of visual should be. When we really appreciate art , there is always a sense of awe of how art can reach to our hearts and not our heads only!
Wah, Malaysian art from the 1900s?
Unfortunately, no discussion of the content inside can happen if the medium is so inaccessible.
I hope the publisher is going to make some content available online.
hoo the book
found one at UiTM shah alam bookstore
mahai gile
the book was place on top of a bookshelves, dusty and lonely, bet nobody dared to request to take a look accept me haha, i want to buy it and was astound by the price hahahaha. guess i have to save up to get it, but then again is it really worth it, hmmmmm………
O for overpriced yay!