Wednesday, May 9, 2012
“IBU SRI” THE INDONESIAN ART INFRASTRUCTURE, IDIOTS AND THE STATUS QUO / IBU SRI, ANAK IDIOT DAN STATUS QUO
“IBU SRI” THE INDONESIAN ART INFRASTRUCTURE, IDIOTS AND THE STATUS QUO
IBU SRI, ANAK IDIOT DAN STATUS QUO
hendrotan
Written on September, 20, 2011
This article has been published in the magazine of Visual Arts May - June, 2012
IN MY OPINION INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE MOTHER OF INDONESIAN ART (Note: “Ibu” is an Indonesian word for “mother”, and Indonesian Art is “Seni Rupa Indonesia”, or “SRI” for short, in Indonesian language.) AS A MOTHER HER FATE HASN’T BEEN VERY GOOD SO FAR. SHE EVEN HAS TO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT HER THREE CHILDREN ARE “IDIOTS” AND ONE MORE OF THEM GETS PERVERTED TO BECOME A PAINTING MAGICIAN. THIS ESSAY WAS WRITTEN AS REFLECTION, SELF-CRITICISM AND SHARED LEARNING IN ORDER FOR THE MOTHER TO BREAK FREE FROM THE DEADLY GRIP OF THE STATUS QUO.
As the story goes, it has been quite a long time since art community members wished to see the life of Mother SRI (SRI stands for Seni Rupa Indonesia, which is Indonesian Art and ‘Mother SRI’ refers to Indonesian art infrastructure) improve to be on a level with her counterparts in the USA, Germany and England. However such a wish is against the fact that not many people really care about improving art infrastructure; some even try to maintain its status quo of disorder. Consequently the disorder has generated three “idiotic” children.
The three “idiotic” children are contemporary artist, art gallery, and curator. Another child, which is “bright enough”, named collector, tends to be perverted into being a “painting magician”. Such situation further complicates the current condition of Indonesian art.
The question is what party should be held responsible for being the “father” of those poor children? I tend to put my finger on the higher learning institution for arts throughout the country that serves as the center for training prospective intellectuals in arts with sophisticated theories imported from around the globe. But why does the father let the three children become “idiotic” and the other one fall into being a “painting magician”? I will return to this topic after examining the fates of the three children based on facts and field observation.
The first “idiotic” child: artist. A contemporary artist is someone with ideas and ambitions for making artworks to display in some prestigious museum of art. As I see it, the artist is a central figure. He/she is the first person with authority to state that something is “art”. Having such authority, an artist carves his/her name and reinforces the authority through collaboration with another party that is art gallery. But the sad thing is that some Indonesian artists are not quite mature yet in terms of personal, not to say professional, attitudes. Not few of them tend to easily break their promises and deny spoken commitments and even written contracts. They do such things because of general ignorance, or ignorance in legal matters, ineptitude in distinguishing between good and bad relationships with other parties concerning their creative work, and, often, their idiosyncratic behaviors. Some of them are wanting in morality so that they are not ashamed to get involved in spurious pricing of their works at auctions. What’s more ridiculous, some will even offer their works for sale to one or two customers on whom the artists’ lives depend.
The second “idiotic” child: art gallery. Indonesia never, so far, has any professional or well-founded gallery with some sufficient capital. Here ‘sufficient capital’ excludes assets, premises, and the gallery owner’s private collections. Let us compare the situation to that found in the USA. There, a third-class gallery has at least 5 million US dollar as its capital. A second-class has it at US $20 million, and a first-class one over US $100 million (Business Week, October 2006). What’s the situation here? Forget the amount of US $5 million; you barely need all your fingers to count Indonesian galleries with capitals amounting to even just US $ 1 million.
Today, galleries in Indonesia generally still keep the mass-minded mentality and behavior, which resemble those of art shops. It is true that a few galleries were previously proper art galleries; but now, because of changes taking place in 2011, they turn into common artshops or galashops. They don’t managerially operate as art galleries. This is because of the incapacity of the owners to shift their paradigm from that of regular shop keeping to that of conducting an elegant and prestigious business. Aside from that, there is also the issue of undesirable attitude: paying lip service to super wealthy collectors but showing arrogance to young collectors and art-collecting beginners, for instance. In fact they are supposed to be willing to pay attention and appreciation to young collectors and beginners whose number is much bigger. Moreover, galleries should be able to develop enclaves of young collectors in all Indonesian cities and to consistently run discussions on the essence of art as well as matters concerning market, and provide information about latest significant events in the international art world (this will, in time, set the roles of such galleries on a par with those of the hitherto predominant auction houses of the Sotheby’s and Christie’s). Indonesian galleries must not only concern about inviting ‘hot’ artists to exhibit, or organizing collective exhibitions potential to generate successful sales, while shying away from signing exclusive contracts with young artists. Such conduct reflects shop-keeping mentality of safeguarding one’s own interests or unwillingness to help young artists in dealing with their “difficulties”.
Actually a gallery ought to be the main shield in protecting the dignity of artists, particularly those under the gallery’s management. That is what Charles Saatchi did when Damien Hirst was regarded by many (famous) art critics as being bereft of inspiration in 2008. Saatchi said, “He (Damien Hirst) is deeply an artist, a genius among us, but he’s had a bad run of shows over the past few years. All great artists have an off patch, and he’s having his. Usually when that happens, artists try too hard and the results look effortful and overblown. But I’m sure his next show will be a winner” (see My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am An Artoholic, 2009, p.70).
Such statement shows the integrity of a gallery owner cum dealer regarding an artist in his custody. Saatchi the gallery owner asserted the credibility of Hirst his artist although he was experiencing a hard time in creativity. Genuine galleries have the natural drive, passion and enthusiasm to make long-term investment that artshops do not seem to neither either have or need.
The third “idiotic” child: curator. The roles and tasks of art curators cover several issues; among them are selecting artworks for being museum pieces, researching works of young/new artists, and curating exhibitions at public as well as private art galleries. Besides, they will write about art, artworks, also artists, and present it through various means of information/communication, such as catalogs, brochures, newspapers, and magazines, to the public.
As far as I know there are two models or patterns of curatorial operation, namely the top-down curatorial and the bottom-up curatorial. Both are often used as the main reference everywhere, including Indonesia. However malperformance marks some Indonesian curators in carrying out their tasks. For example, in the curacy of solo exhibitions they do not intensely monitor the artists’ creative processes at studios. Anyway, and curiously, they are able to write very smoothly in exhibition catalogs based only on few brief visits.
How can it happen? Here are, I think, two among the reasons:
1. The curators are not knowledgeable enough about curacy and in fact the title of ‘curator’ is not really suitable for them. To improve curatorial capacity and professionalism it is now time to have a curator association in Indonesia.
2. Curators working for art galleries in Indonesia usually get paid around IDR 10 through 30 million per exhibition. Given the relatively meager fee, naturally they soon face problems in trying to perform their tasks professionally, to improve their dynamic knowledge about art, and to buy books and magazines on art published in the country and abroad. Traveling on their own resources to visit and take part in prestigious biennales, triennials and international seminars abroad is easily out of the question.
Magician and Patron
Another child of ‘Mother SRI’, which is “sharp enough”, is called collector. Unfortunately this kid often demonstrates over self-confidence in behaving, presuming that a good collector is one that can always afford for expensive artworks to collect.
It is all right to think that way, but there are still questions about the deepness of the collector’s insight into the value of artworks and the willingness to share it with others. Upper-level collectors should also philosophically understand art in that the beauty of the garden of art doesn’t lie on the emergence of one or two favored roses but on the sweet scents of the various flowers in the entire garden. This metaphor implies that collectors – particularly those of them wishing to be called “patrons” – are not “gardeners” that are able to tend just one or two roses inside their golden cages; they are also supposed to be “architects” that work conscientiously in the realms of beauty and thinking, and to formulate and implement the garden’s design as well. If only collectors have the willingness to contribute to the development of Indonesian art in its wholeness, and have the ability to actualize the philosophy into some sound infrastructure of art education and art business, so that works of Indonesian artists can have their standard values/prices in international market, they will be esteemed as real patrons.
Therefore it is only proper for collectors to avoid being “painting magicians”. “Painting magicians”, what are they? They are collectors who are actually art dealers by profession but are always in disguise as collectors when carrying out their business lest their identities get uncovered.
With the situation described above in mind, we can say that currently it seems improbable for Indonesian art to have any collector that is a (real) patron. In my opinion Indonesia has only collectors of the types described below.
(1). Collectors who develop collections based only on fondness of some specific kinds of painting. For instance, a collector will collect just Affandi’s paintings or drawings only. Collectors belonging to this type are pure collectors, you can call them genuine idealists if you like, because throughout their lives they only build collections without ever selling them again. This type, the “vertical-collector type”, has profound faith in art.
(2). Collectors who collect artworks of various media and genres – traditional, modern and contemporary – with some high idealism. They will not become art dealers; even if they sometimes sell paintings, they do it just to get enough money to buy pieces of some better quality than those they decide to let go. What’s more, they always do the buying at gallery exhibitions. They belong to the type of “horizontal collectors” that believe in values of works.
(3). Collectors who collect works of some specific genres, for instance Indonesian contemporary artworks, exclusively. Collectors of this type usually come from among young collectors that are highly critical and active in monitoring developments in Indonesian as well as international art while enthusiastically improving themselves by reading art theory books. That is why they will not hesitate to sell works that are “not on the line” (inconsistent with their concept of collection), or because of inconsistence in the artists’ attitudes. They then decide to replace the works in question with more proper and qualified pieces. They will say that they don’t sell paintings for the profit but because of their critical awareness. They represent the “young and smart type” of collectors.
(4). Collectors who collect artworks of various media and genres through cheap buys up. The purchased works will then be kept for some time to be later sold at some highest possible prices. To prevent people (particularly artists) from recognizing their being dealers, this kind of collectors make others do the actual selling and buying for them. They belong to the “painting-magician type” of collectors.
(5). Here I don’t discuss investors or art dealers as well as other art-market players, but I pay respect to those having clearly defined attitudes and who have helped Indonesian art market a lot by daringly buying paintings at high prices in auctions and supporting art activities by buying works at exhibitions by galleries.
Actually the issue of buying and selling artworks represents a crucial one that defines a collector’s genuineness. According to Sarah Thornton (2009: 30), there are traditionally only three reasons for a collector to dispose of a collection item. Thornton, the famous observer of art, formulates the reasons as “three D’s” that stand for death, debt, and divorce. I think we can add one more “d” to include “donation”.
The Need for Order versus the Status Quo
Most Indonesian art collectors still need to improve their philosophical knowledge. At this point we may find one major reason for the lack of collectors with ascetic character and willingness to struggle for developing Indonesian art while disregarding loss-and-gain matters. Some of them even “get perverted” so that they develop the attitude of being against Indonesian art infrastructure and trade order. They choose freeness without any regulation. This attitude may spring from:
One, sound infrastructure and trade order will increase the reputation of artists and the price of artworks, and this may just disturb the status quo in which a number of art collectors have hitherto been comfortable (they can have their will in picking artworks at lower prices directly from artists’ studios) and secure (being given blind privileges from artists) in the chaotic situation currently.
Two, sound art infrastructure and art trade order will help unmask the real interest of some collectors behind their inviting art practitioners from other countries to Indonesia. It will be uncovered that what they do is not for the sake of Indonesian artists and art but for their personal interest of showing-off with the next intention of – who knows? We know that “white” intellectuals and actors of international art market will not pay attention and appreciation to contemporary artworks produced by artists of a country that doesn’t have any proper art infrastructure. For example, even works by Affandi the maestro, S. Sudjojono, and Widayat, after years being in the collections of an ex-Brazilian ambassador for Indonesia, were sold at relatively low prices and sent back to Indonesia. The point is those works do not have any standard value/price at the international market (Tempo magazine, 16 April 2012, p. 68). The same thing will not happen to works by, say, Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and whoever else among artists from countries that have sound and solid art infrastructure.
Emphasis that should be given here include 1) a collector is not necessarily and automatically a patron of Indonesian art for the mere sake of his/her being wealthy. The attribution of the title of “patron” should be through examination, recognition and establishment by experts among Indonesian art community that includes academicians and even institutional elements of Indonesian artworld such as art foundations. 2) With sound Indonesian art infrastructure and art trade order, it will not be for Indonesian artists to strive towards “going-international”; reversely, the international community will come to you bros!
The Expected Role of Higher Learning Institution for Arts
Early in this writing I have mentioned that the father of the three “idiotic” children and the “perverted”-collector-turning-a-painting-magician is the higher learning institution for arts. If there were never any learning institution for the arts, or art, all artists would have been known as “drawing artisans” or “autodidactic painters”. We can imagine that those autodidacts would be selling paintings at their home-cum-studios, or displaying paintings by the roadside as well as modern markets, and at other somewhat more prestigious spots in the public space like shopping malls and hotels. In other words, sophisticated infrastructure wouldn’t have been necessary. When painter A painted the dragon or the koi carp and it sold well, then painters B through Z would be painting the dragon or the koi carp too, expecting similar good sales.
But facts have their say. Following the nation’s independence higher learning institutions for art emerge, which include ISI (Indonesian Institute of the Arts), Faculty of Art and Design of the Bandung Institute of Technology [ITB (FSRD)], and Jakarta Art Institute (IKJ). These institutions annually produce Stratum-1 graduates (bachelors in art), while some of the institutions produce also Stratum-2 (graduate program) and Stratum-3 (post-graduate program) graduates. These alumni become the backbone of our current “art producers” that include artists, curators and observers/critics. Not few of them now operate within different elements of art infrastructure and they play some roles in the realms of discourse as well as market.
That’s why I am sure that the improvement of “Ibu SRI” (meaning, again: the entire Indonesian art infrastructure) has to be through collective and simultaneous endeavors, which involve higher learning institutions for arts. In turn, such enterprise may reinforce collective awareness of the proper, dignified discourse and market orders of Indonesian art.
The collective and simultaneous improvements will have positive implications for the existence of Indonesian art in the eyes of actors and observers in the country and abroad. Furthermore, sound and orderly infrastructure will also stir young (new) collectors, new market players, and, especially, it will invite international market players in finance (stock exchange and money market). Such a situation is expected to generate new galleries with significant capital strength and professionalism and to invite art galleries in New York, Berlin and London, for example, to open their Jakarta branches (and to make Indonesian artists “go international” in the true sense of the words). Finally, Indonesian artwork will have its standard value/price at international market.
If it can really be, the Indonesian artworld will gain respect and recognition from the international artworld. For Indonesian higher learning institution for art, which has fathered the existing idiocies in Indonesian art, its now time to take measures, together with art practitioners and the government, to think about, formulate, and define the course to take for the better future of Indonesian art; it should begin with the codification of each of the elemental parts of our art infrastructure. Not less importance and less wished is the incorporation of the subjects of art infrastructure and art trade system in the regular syllabi of higher learning institutes for arts. That will make “Ibu SRI” – the Indonesian art infrastructure – healthy, released from the deadly grip of chaos and the status quo. Let’s hope so. [V]
Pull quotes
The collective and simultaneous improvements will have positive implications for the existence of Indonesian art in the eyes of actors and observers in the country and abroad.
-MAY, 07, 2012, 10.10-
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hendrotan
Artikel ini telah terbit di Majalah Visual Art edisi Mei - Juni 2012
DALAM PANDANGAN SAYA, INFRASTRUKTUR ADALAH IBU SENIRUPA INDONESIA (SAYA SINGKAT IBU SRI). SEBAGAI IBU SRI, NASIBNYA TAK KUNJUNG MEMBAIK, BAHKAN ANAK-ANAKNYA “IDIOT”, DAN ADA YANG JADI DUKUN LUKISAN.
ESAI INI SAYA TULIS DENGAN MAKSUD SEBAGAI REFLEKSI, AUTOKRITIK DAN PEMBELAJARAN BERSAMA, AGAR IBU SRI TERLEPAS DARI STATUS QUO.
Alkisah, sudah lama warga senirupa menginginkan kehidupan Ibu SRI membaik dan sehat, seperti di Amerika Serikat, Jerman dan Inggris. Akan tetapi, keinginan itu bertentangan dengan fakta, bahwa tidak banyak orang mau peduli pada perbaikan infrastruktur senirupa, bahkan ada pula yang berusaha menjadikan status quo dalam kecarut-marutan. Akibatnya, kecarut-marutan ini telah melahirkan -- sekaligus menjadi biang—tiga anak “idiot”.
Ketiga anak “idiot” itu, adalah perupa kontemporer, galeri, dan kurator. Sementara anak lainnya, yang “cukup cerdas”, bernama kolektor malah ada yang terjebak menjadi “dukun lukisan”. Suasana demikian semakin menambah keruwetan baru bagi senirupa Indonesia hari ini.
Persoalannya, siapakah pihak yang patut dituding dan betanggungjawab sebagai “bapak” bagi anak-anak yang bernasib malang itu? Si bapak, menurut hemat saya, adalah dunia perguruan tinggi seni, yang tersebar di berbagai tempat di republik ini, yang menjadi kawah candra dimuka para cerdik pandai dalam mempersiapkan dan menggembleng putra-putri seni dengan menggunakan teori-teori canggih dari berbagai penjuru mata angin. Tapi mengapa si bapak membiarkan ketiga putranya “idiot”, dan ada yang terjebak jadi “dukun lukisan” ? Nanti masalah ini akan saya kupas setelah menyimak nasib ketiga anak itu, berdasarkan fakta dan pengalaman lapangan.
Anak “idiot” kesatu : perupa. Perupa kontemporer adalah seorang yang bergagasan dan bercita – cita membuat karya yang akan dipajang di sebuah museum berwibawa. Bagi saya, perupa adalah sosok penting dan orang pertama yang memiliki otoritas untuk mendapuk sesuatu sebagai “seni”. Dengan otoritas itu, perupa menorehkan nama dan mengukuhkan wibawa lewat kerjasama dengan pihak lain, yaitu galeri. Disayangkan beberapa perupa Indonesia masih kesulitan bersikap dewasa dan matang, apalagi professional. Tidak sedikit dari mereka menggampangkan pelanggaran bahkan pengingkaran baik yang sudah terikat kontrak hitam putih maupun akad janji (ucapan). Hal ini selain karena keterbatasan pengetahuan umum dan hukum, juga tingkat kecerdasan memilah baik buruknya hubungan kerja kreatifnya dengan pihak lain, dan tidak jarang bergejala idiosyncrasy. Ada pula yang miskin moral, sehingga tidak malu melibatkan diri dalam goreng-menggoreng di pelelangan. Belum lagi kenyataan -- sungguh tidak bernalar -- bila perupa menjadi penjaja yang tergantung pada langganan satu-dua kolektor yang dimitoskan sebagai sumber kehidupan mereka.
Anak “idiot” kedua : galeri. Di Indonesia belum pernah muncul galeri yang professional atau bonafid, serta bermodal usaha cukup. Maksud modal usaha cukup adalah setoran kapital yang diperuntukkan modal perputaran, tidak termasuk aset, tanah dan bangunan, serta koleksi pribadi pemilik galeri. Mari kita bandingkan dengan di Amerika Serikat. Di sana, galeri kelas tiga saja, modal usahanya paling kurang 5 juta dolar. Sedangkan galeri kelas dua 20 juta dollar, dan galeri kelas satu di atas 100 juta dollar ( Business Week , October 2006 ). Bagaimana di sini? Jangankan bermodal usaha 5 juta dollar AS, galeri yang bermodal usaha satu juta dollar saja bisa dihitung dengan jari penderita kusta.
Sekarang ini, galeri di tanah air umumnya masih bermental dan berperilaku masif layaknya artshop. Bahkan beberapa galeri yang sebelumnya telah berperingkat galeries, dengan dinamika tahun 2011, balik menjadi artshop atau galashop. Pendek kata belum dapat dikatakan sudah bermanajemen kegalerian. Hal itu disebabkan oleh ketidakmampuan para pemiliknya mengubah paradigma dagang (toko) dijadikan bisnis secara elegan dan berwibawa. Selain itu juga soal sikap, misalnya inggah-inggih (selalu ya) pada kolektor super kaya, namun dihadapan kolektor muda dan pemula mereka bergaya arogan. Seharusnya mereka mau memperhatikan, dan menghargai yang muda dan pemula, yang jumlahnya jauh lebih banyak. Bahkan galeri harus mampu menciptakan kantong - kantong komunitas kolektor muda di seluruh kota besar, dengan konsistensinya mendiskusikan esensi kesenian berikut wacana pasar dan mewartakan kejadian penting terakhir medan sosial senirupa internasional ( metode ini nantinya yang akan membuat seimbang posisi-perannya galeri dengan dominasi Balai Lelang Sotheby’s dan Christie’s selama ini ). Jangan bisanya cuma mengundang pameran perupa yang lagi hot atau pameran beramai – ramai agar kans terjualnya besar, namun enggan membuat kontrak eksklusif dengan perupa muda. Hal itu merupakan gambaran dagang—toko “ cari selamat ” atau tidak mau berkorban membantu “ kesulitan “ perupa muda.
Seharusnyan galeri menjadi tameng utama bagi harkat dan martabat perupa, khususnya perupa yang berada di bawah manajemennya. Itulah yang dilakukan Charles Saatchi ketika Damien Hirst, yang menurut pandangan banyak kritikus senirupa ( kondang ), sedang kehilangan inspirasinya pada 2008. Kata Saatchi, “He (Damien Hirst) is deeply artist, a genius among us, but he’s had a bad run of shows over the past few years. All great artists have an off patch, and he’s having his. Usually when that happens, artists try too hard and the results look effortful and overblown. But I’m sure his next show will be a winner” (lihat My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am An Artoholic, 2009, hlm. 70).
Pernyataan tersebut, memperlihatkan integritas pemilik galeri dan seorang dealer terhadap kredibilitas seorang perupa ampuannya—betapa pun sang perupa tengah berada di masa – masa sulit dalam proses kreatifnya. Galeri tulen, memiliki karakter, passion dan semangat investasi jangka panjang, yang artshop tidak memerlukannya.
Anak “idiot” ketiga : kurator. Peran dan tugas kurator senirupa meliputi sejumlah hal, antara lain menyeleksi karya seni untuk museum, meneliti karya perupa muda/baru, dan mengampu pameran di galeri-galeri senirupa negeri atau swasta. Selain itu menulis perihal senirupa, karya senirupa, atau pun perupa, di berbagai sarana informasi/komunikasi dengan masyarakat, misalnya katalog, brosur, surat kabar, majalah, dan lainnya.
Sepanjang pengetahuan saya, sejauh ini dikenal dua model kerja kurator senirupa, yaitu top-down curatorial dan bottom-up curatorial. Dua model inilah yang sering menjadi rujukan di mana – mana, tak terkecuali di Indonesia. Namun ada beberapa kurator Indonesia dalam melakukan tugas kuratorialnya tidak selaras dengan peran yang harus di embannya. Misalnya, untuk mengkurasi pameran tunggal, sang kurator tidak mengikuti secara intens proses kreatif perupa di studio. Anehnya, dengan sekadar menjenguk saja, sang kurator sudah begitu lancar menulis di buku katalog.
Mengapa bisa terjadi seperti ini? Menurut hemat saya, disebabkan :
1. Pengetahuan ilmu kurasinya belum pantas menyandang titel kurator. Untuk meningkatkan kapasitas dan profesionalitas mereka, maka sudah saatnya perlu ada asosiasi kurator di Indonesia.
2. Fee atau bayaran kurator di galeri dalam negeri pada umumnya Rp. 10 juta sampai Rp. 30 juta/ pameran. Dengan bayaran relatif minim itu, tentu saja mereka mengalami hambatan untuk melakukan tugasnya secara professional, memperdalam pengetahuan senirupa yang dinamis, terkendala membeli buku-buku dan majalah senirupa terbitan dalam maupun luar negeri. Kalau untuk kebutuhan itu saja sudah kesulitan, bagaimana harus membiayai diri-sendiri datang ke biennale, triennale, seminar internasional yang bergengsi di luar negeri?
Dukun dan Patron
Anak Ibu SRI lainnya, “cukup cerdas” bernama kolektor. Sayangnya kerap berperilaku over confidence, dengan anggapan, bahwa kolektor yang baik adalah yang selalu bisa membeli dan mengumpulkan karya mahal.
Pendapat tersebut tidak salah, namun masih dibutuhkan pengetahuan seberapa dalam kolektor menghayati dan membagi keindahan nilai – nilai kepada orang lain. Dan kolektor kelas atas sebaiknya senantiasa mengerti filosofi seni rupa, bahwa keindahan taman senirupa tidak terletak pada munculnya satu-dua tangkai mawar unggulan, tapi pada semerbak ragam bunga seluruh taman. Kiasan ini, artinya seorang kolektor—apalagi yang ingin disebut “patron”—bukanlah seorang “tukang kebun” yang hanya bisa menyiangi satu-dua tangkai mawar di sangkar emasnya, melainkan seorang “arsitek” yang berjuang di wilayah keindahan, pemikiran, perumusan dan pelaksanaan desain taman itu. Bila saja kolektor mau andil dalam pembangunan senirupa Indonesia seutuhnya, dan mampu mewujudkan filosofi tersebut dalam infrastruktur pendidikan dan tatanan perniagaan senirupa yang rapi dan sehat, sehingga karya perupa anak bangsa memiliki standar nilai / harga di pasar internasional, maka ia akan dimuliakan sebagai patron sejati.
Oleh karena itu, sudah tepat jika seorang kolektor, bukan seorang “dukun lukisan”. Apa itu dukun lukisan? Dukun lukisan adalah kolektor yang berprofesi sebagai pedagang lukisan, namun selalu menggunakan topeng sewaktu berjualan, karena takut diketahui identitas sesungguhnya.
Dengan pemahaman seperti itu, maka untuk senirupa Indonesia sekarang ini, rasanya masih sulit menemukan kolektor dengan sosok patron (sejati). Menurut hemat saya, yang ada baru sebatas kolektor senirupa dengan kecenderungan tipe sebagai berikut.
(1). Mengoleksi berdasarkan rasa suka semata terhadap karya seni rupa dengan spesifikasi tertentu. Misalnya, mengoleksi lukisan-lukisan Affandi semata, atau mengoleksi karya drawing saja. Kolektor jenis ini adalah kolektor murni atau boleh dibilang idealis sejati, karena sepanjang hayat mereka hanya mengoleksi tanpa menjualnya kembali. Mereka ini tipe kolektor ber “iman seni” yang kokoh, atau tipe kolektor vertikal.
(2). Mengoleksi karya seni rupa berbagai medium dan genre -- tradisional, modern dan kontemporer – dengan idealismenya tinggi. Mereka tidak akan berdagang lukisan, kalau pun menjual, itu untuk membeli lagi karya yang lebih bermutu. Pembeliannya pun selalu dalam pameran galeri. Mereka ini tipe kolektor horizontal yang memiliki kepercayaan kepada nilai - nilai karya.
(3). Mengoleksi karya senirupa bergenre khusus. Misalnya, mengoleksi karya senirupa kontemporer Indonesia semata. Kolektor jenis ini rata-rata kolektor muda yang sangat kritis, aktif mengikuti perkembangan senirupa Indonesia maupun internasional, memacu dirinya dengan bacaan buku – buku art theory. Itu sebabnya, mereka tak akan ragu menjual kembali karya yang “tidak segaris” (di luar konsep pengkoleksian si kolektor), atau karena sikap perupanya yang tidak konsisten (berubah kacau), maka diganti dengan karya yang segaris dan bermutu. Alibinya, mereka menjual bukan karena memburu laba, melainkan lebih karena kesadaran kritis. Mereka ini tipe kolektor mudas (muda dan cerdas).
(4). Mengoleksi karya seni rupa berbagai medium dan genre, dengan cara beli mengijon persis seperti tengkulak buah mangga; yang murni berdasarkan prinsip dagang : beli semurahnya, simpan dulu, lalu jual semahalnya. Supaya mata publik ( khususnya para perupa) tidak tahu bahwa dia jualan, maka si kolektor, meminjam tangan atau mengatasnamakan hulubalangnya (modus operandinya seperti pedagang mobil bodong). Mereka inilah tipe kolektor dukun lukisan.
(5). Di sini saya tidak membahas investor atau art dealer dan pemain pasar karya senirupa lainnya, namun saya menaruh hormat pada mereka yang memiliki kejelasan sikap dan telah banyak membantu pasar Senirupa Indonesia dengan gaya letupan berani beli mahal dari pelelangan dan selalu mendukung kegiatan ( membeli karya ) di pameran galeri.
Sesungguhnya persoalan jual-menjual karya senirupa merupakan persoalan krusial yang menentukan kesejatian seorang kolektor. Sebab, menurut Sarah Thornton (2009: 30), hanya ada tiga alasan tradisional kolektor melepaskan karyanya. Dalam bahasa Inggris, pengamat seni rupa terkenal itu mengistilahkannya dengan “Three D’s”— death (wafat), debt (utang), divorce (cerai), dan menurut saya dapat ditambah donation (derma).
Perlu Tatanan Versus Status Quo
Pada umumnya, kolektor di Indonesia belum memiliki pengetahuan filosofis yang memadai. Di sini titik sebabnya mengapa kita sulit menemukan sosok kolektor yang berjiwa asketis ( asketisme ) dan rela berjuang untuk mengembangkan senirupa Indonesia tanpa pertimbangan untung-rugi. Bahkan ada kolektor yang “tersesat” sehingga bersikap anti infrastruktur, anti-tatanan perniagaan senirupa Indonesia, dan memilih bebas tanpa aturan. Sikap ini bisa saja disebabkan oleh :
Pertama, dengan adanya tatanan infrastruktur dan perniagaan senirupa yang sehat akan meningkatkan reputasi perupa dan peringkat harga karya, justru akan mengganggu status quo sejumlah kolektor seni rupa yang selama ini merasa nyaman (bisa pilih-pilih karya seenaknya dengan harga lebih murah di studio perupa), dan aman ( mendapat keistimewaan secara blindly privilege dari perupa ) dalam situasi carut-marut saat ini.
Kedua, dengan adanya tatanan infrastruktur dan perniagaan senirupa yang sehat, akan membuka kedok kepentingan sejumlah kolektor yang mengundang pelaku seni rupa luar negeri ke Indonesia. Ternyata, itu dilakukan bukan untuk kepentingan perupa dan senirupa Indonesia, melainkan untuk kepentingan pribadi mereka dalam ber-narsis ria memamerkan egonya, dengan maksud—tujuan selanjutnya, who know ? Sebagaimana diketahui bule intelektual dan pelaku pasar internasional tidak akan memberi penilaian dan penghargaan karya senirupa kontemporer yang dihasilkan oleh perupa sebuah negara tanpa infrastruktur yang benar. Sebagai contoh karya maestro Affandi, S. Sudjojono dan Widayat pun setelah sekian tahun di koleksi oleh bule mantan Dubes Brasil, toh akhirnya semua dijual kembali ke Indonesia dengan harga relatif murah. Ini disebabkan karya – karya tersebut tidak memiliki standar nilai / harga di pasar internasional ( majalah Tempo, tanggal 16 April 2012, hlm. 68 ). Sebaliknya, hal serupa tidak akan terjadi pada karya seniman Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), Francis Bacon (1909-1992), asal negara yang infrastruktur senirupanya baik dan mantap.
Yang perlu ditekankan di sini bahwa 1) Seorang kolektor tidak serta merta menjadi patron senirupa Indonesia karena kekayaan hartanya. Penobatan patron seyogyanya melewati pengujian, pengakuan dan pengukuhan dari pakar komunitas senirupa Indonesia dan akademisinya, bahkan melibatkan beberapa unsur medan sosial senirupa (artworld ) yang berbentuk kelembagaan, yayasan dan sebagainya. 2) Dengan infrastruktur dan tatanan perniagaan senirupa Indonesia yang baik, bukan perupa yang harus bingung dengan go-internasional, sebaliknya internasional community will come to you bro !
Peran Perguruan Tinggi Seni Ditunggu
Di awal tulisan, sudah saya sebutkan bahwa ayah ketiga anak “idiot” dan kolektor yang “tersesat” jadi dukun lukisan, itu adalah lembaga perguruan tinggi seni(rupa). Dan seandainya di Indonesia tidak pernah ada lembaga pendidikan kesenian atau senirupa, maka semua perupa akan dipanggil dengan nama tukang gambar atau pelukis otodidak. Bisa dibayangkan, para seniman otodidak itu akan menjual lukisan di rumah yang merangkap studio, atau menggelar lukisan di trotoar jalan atau di pinggiran pasar modern, hingga yang lebih gagah di ruang publik, seperti mall atau hotel. Alias tidak memerlukan infrastruktur yang canggih. Bila pelukis A menggambar naga atau ikan koi laku terjual, maka pelukis B sampai Z ikut menggambar naga dan koi, mengharap laris.
Namun kenyataan menentukan lain. Setelah Indonesia merdeka, berdiri lembaga pendidikan tinggi senirupa antara lain ISI, ITB (FSRD), dan IKJ. Lembaga pendidikan tersebut setiap tahun meluluskan para sarjana seni S1, dan beberapa perguruan tinggi seni juga meluluskan Sarjana Seni Strata 2 dan Strata 3. Para alumni itulah pada kenyataannya menjadi tulang punggung “produsen senirupa kita” dewasa ini, yakni para perupa, kurator dan pengamat. Dan tidak sedikit dari mereka yang bergerak di berbagai unsur infrastruktur senirupa, dan turut berperan serta bermain di ranah wacana maupun pasar.
Itu sebabnya mengapa saya yakin bahwa pembenahan Ibu SRI (baca infrastruktur senirupa pada umumnya) perlu dilakukan secara bersama dan simultan, termasuk didalamnya melibatkan perguruan tinggi seni. Hal tersebut dapat memperkuat kesadaran kolektif atas tata wacana dan tata niaga senirupa Indonesia yang baik dan bermartabat.
Pembenahan kolektif dan simultan seperti itu, pada gilirannya akan berimplikasi positif pada eksistensi seni rupa Indonesia, di mata pelaku dan pemerhati senirupa, di dalam negeri hingga internasional. Lebih dari itu, infrastruktur yang tertata baik dan sehat, juga akan menarik minat kolektor muda (baru), pemain pasar pemula (baru), terutama kedatangan pelaku (pemain) pasar internasional dari bidang financial (perdagangan saham dan mata uang). Situasi demikian diharapkan akan menumbuhkan galeri-galeri baru bermodal kuat dan professional, dan berdatangannya galeri dari New York, Berlin, London, misalnya, untuk membuka cabang di Jakarta (dan akan membawa perupa Indonesia go-internasional dalam arti sesungguhnya). Pada akhirnya karya senirupa Indonesia akan mendapatkan standar nilai / harga di pasar internasional.
Bila hal itu yang terjadi, maka manfaat yang akan diraih oleh medan sosial senirupa Indonesia adalah rasa hormat dan pengakuan dunia senirupa internasional. Dan lembaga pendidikan tinggi seni(rupa) sebagai sang ayah dari berbagai “keidiotan” senirupa yang ada, sudah waktunya turun tangan bersama para praktisi senirupa di lapangan – juga pemerintah -- untuk memikirkan, merumuskan dan menentukan arah masa depan senirupa kita, dimulai dari penataan bagian per bagian infrastruktur senirupa kita. Dan yang tak kalah penting dan menjadi harapan kita bersama, yaitu bagaimana perguruan tinggi seni bisa membawa pengetahuan infra struktur dan tata niaga senirupa Indonesia ini ke ranah kurikulum atau mata kuliah reguler. Sehingga Ibu SRI sehat, dan terbebas dari cengekraman carut-marut dan status quo. Semoga. [V]
Pullquotes
Pembenahan kolektif dan simultan seperti itu, pada gilirannya akan berimplikasi positif pada eksistensi seni rupa Indonesia, di mata pelaku dan pemerhati senirupa, di dalam negeri hingga internasional.
-07 MEI 2012, 10.10-
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Shall We Let Indonesian Art Run Free and Wild ? / SRI Akankah Dibebas-liarkan ?
Shall We Let Indonesian Art Run Free and Wild?
by hendrotan, owner of Emmitan Contemporary Art GalleryWrite on, march 25th, 2012
Aside from looking around the studios in the campus these market players were taken to Soemardja Gallery where the institute’s lecturers were exhibiting their works, and invited to a discussion session with the Faculty’s Dean, lecturers and alumni as well as artists, media on art, and auction houses in a famous restaurant in Bandung.
This seemingly small step taken by Aminuddin Th. Siregar, who is a lecturer and Soemardja Gallery director, and friends, can have significant effects on Indonesian contemporary art, particularly with regard to academicians’ insight of into art market from the viewpoint of their disciplines. Such insight into market on the academicians’ part can in turn inspire hope for some improved life of the Indonesian art world, keeping our art from being subjected to the conduct of irresponsible speculators.
Ethics vs. Wildness
Quite many issues were touched upon in the discussion, which were meant as input for the ITB’s Faculty of Art and Design. Among them was the issue of the need to have some rules or regulations for the trade in art that has recently been sloppy. Even the stock market has its rigid rules with all their sanctions; how come that art market has none! And this concerns a market with an annual circulation of money reaching billions of Indonesian rupiahs. This concern is in line with a discussion on art in Bali, weeks before, sparked by shared worries around the prolonged lethargy of art market at home that might well be drawn into a ”black hole” if nothing was done together in response.
A collector turned down the suggestion to develop an art trade ethic. He warns against wasting time for the matter; it would be too demanding to do and, besides, times have changed. Now trade in art must be free and we ought to let it run as freely as possible. This implies that collectors, galleries, art dealers and auction houses can buy works directly at artists’ studios. Collectors may organize exhibitions the way galleries do, in available exhibition spaces, while also selling the works on exhibition. It’s okay for artists to directly supply auction houses with their works. Curators are welcome to take the double jobs of curacy and sales, and so on and so forth.
I was taken aback! It is easy to imagine that if collectors can freely buy work directly from art studios, then exhibit/sell paintings and sculptures, or if artists make their products only for selling to auction houses, it will mean doomsday to art galleries. Following the crumbling of galleries, I think the major art market will be occupied and controlled by fat-cat predators of art works that are grabby, haughty, and pretentiously wise. Then, in such setting let’s imagine academicians, curators and art critics playing dual roles because at the same time they would, each of them, be acting as salespersons. I reckon we will then have an art market crowded by knowledgeable people equipped with sophisticated theories and clever theorizing that would be put to maximum use for merely promoting the sales of goods that are art works.
If what is described above does happen, what would Art Lovers Association (Asosiasi Pecinta Seni/ASPI); Indonesian Art Gallery Association (Asosiasi Galeri Seni Rupa Indonesia/AGSI), and artworld experts mean? And what would be the meaning of the professional ethic of artists, academicians, curators, and art critics?
It’s Not a Terra Incognita
I need to present those questions here because my brooding above actually concerns with the creation of an art market undistinguishable from a fair or a cattle market – and the transformation of the world of art into a terra incognita or no man’s land bereft of rule and regulation save the law of the jungle. The strong devour the weak’ the rich oppress the poor; the experienced abuse the naive.
Therefore it is now for us to prevent such dark shadows from reigning by solidifying our line for sustaining love, values, belief and trust, control and morals already existent in the realm of art. If our ties and association are believed to be still weak or loose, let us improve them by trying to elevate ourselves lest we be left behind in the current progress of global art.
That’s why I think that from educational viewpoint the improvement of art infrastructure is a cultural project. It involves dealing with ways of thinking as well as the understanding and appreciation of the existence of different stakeholders of art in Indonesia. So the idea and practice of letting the infrastructure of Indonesian art go wild and uncontrolled is against the core, ethic and spirit of advancing Indonesian Art; please note this, Sir !
hendrotan
Art lover, based in Surabaya
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SRI Akankah Dibebas-liarkan ?
Tertulis tanggal, 25 Maret 2012
Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain ITB, awal Maret lalu mengundang pelaku pasar seni rupa Indonesia masuk kampus. Hal ini istimewa, karena FSRD-ITB, mendahului institusi perguruan tinggi lainnya, dalam “merangkul” pelaku pasar.
Selain melihat-lihat studio, para pelaku pasar itu juga diajak melihat pameran karya dosen di Galeri Soemardja, dan berdiskusi bersama Dekan FRSD dosen, alumni, perupa, media seni rupa hingga balai lelang, bertempat di sebuah restoran ternama di Bandung.
Langkah kecil yang dilakukan Aminuddin Th. Siregar, dosen dan Direktur Galeri Soemardja, bersama kawan-kawannya ini, bukan tidak mungkin bakal berdampak besar bagi seni rupa kontemporer Tanah Air, khususnya dalam membuka cakrawala dan wawasan bagi para akademisi terhadap pasar seni rupa dari sudut keilmuan. Jika para akademisi memiliki wawasan wacana sekaligus pasar yang memadai, hal ini dapat kita harapkan bersama dunia seni rupa Indonesia ke depan bisa lebih baik, dan menghindarkan seni rupa kita dari para spekulan yang tidak pernah mau bertanggung jawab.
Etika vs Keliaran
Dalam diskusi, tepatnya untuk memberi masukan FSRD, cukup banyak hal yang dilontarkan. Di antaranya adalah ajakan untuk menata etika perniagaan seni rupa, yang belakangan ini amburadul. Pasar Modal saja punya aturan ketat, lengkap dengan sanksinya, masak seni rupa tidak punya sama sekali. Pada hal putaran uang di pasar seni rupa mencapai miliaran rupiah pertahun. Suara ini laras dengan diskusi seni rupa di Bali beberapa pekan lalu, yang bertolak dari kecemasan bersama terhadap lesunya pasar seni rupa di dalam negeri yang berlarut-larut belakangan ini, dan dikawatirkan masuk “lubang hitam” jika tidak ditangani bersama.
Ajakan menata etika perniagaan seni rupa itu, ditolak oleh seorang kolektor. Bahkan ia memperingatkan jangan buang-buang waktu untuk itu, sebab selain merepotkan, jamannya sudah berubah dibanding seni rupa Indonesia dahulu. Tata perniagaan seni rupa sekarang ini harus bebas, dan biarkan sebebas-bebasnya berjalan. Dalam arti, kolektor, galeri, art dealer, balai lelang bisa membeli karya langsung di studio perupa. Bahkan kolektor bisa menyelenggarakan pameran seperti galeri di ruang pamer yang disediakan, tentu sekaligus jualan. Perupa boleh saja sebagai pemasok auction house. Kurator juga bisa merangkap profesi agen pemasaran, dan seterusnya.
Saya terkesima! Dan sudah bisa dibayangkan, jika para kolektor bebas sebebas-bebasnya membeli karya seni rupa langsung dari studio perupa, lalu memamerkan/menjual lukisan dan patung itu; atau jika para perupa membuat karya hanya untuk dipasarkan ke balai lelang, maka malapetaka yang akan terjadi adalah kebangkrutan galeri-galeri. Setelah galeri-galeri bangkrut, saya kira pasar utama seni rupa akan diisi dan dikuasai oleh predator karya seni rupa berkantong tebal yang serakah, jumawa sok bijak. Dalam situasi seperti itu, bayangkanlah jika para akademisi, kurator, dan kritikus seni rupa berperan ganda sebagai agen-agen pemasaran? Saya kira medan pasar seni rupa akan dijejali oleh orang berilmu dengan teori-teori canggih sebagai jimat jualan karya seni rupa doang.
Jika bayangan dan perkiraan di atas benar-benar menjadi kenyataan, maka apa arti Asosiasi Pecinta Seni ( ASPI ), Asosiasi Galeri Seni rupa Indonesia ( AGSI ), pakar komunitas seni rupa dan medan sosialnya ( artworld ). Apa pula makna etika profesi perupa, akademisi, kurator, dan kritikus seni rupa?
Bukan Terra Incognito
Pertanyaan tersebut perlu saya ajukan di sini mengingat bayangan dan perkiraan di atas mengarah pada terciptanya pasar seni rupa layaknya pasar malam atau pasar blantik sapi—dan berubahnya dunia seni rupa sebagai terra incognito (daerah tak bertuan) yang tak memiliki aturan apa pun kecuali hukum rimba. Yang kuat memangsa yang lemah; yang kaya menindas yang miskin; dan yang berpengalaman mengakali yang awam.
Karena itu, sudah seharusnya kita menyingkirkan ( terjadinya ) bayangan kelam semacam itu dengan merapatkan barisan untuk memperkuat ikatan cinta, nilai, kepercayaan, kontrol dan moral senirupa yang sudah ada. Kalau ikatan itu dipandang masih lemah atau longgar, marilah kita perkuat lagi dengan mencoba berbenah secara lebih baik agar tak ketinggalan dalam percaturan seni rupa global saat ini.
Itu sebabnya, ditengok dari sudut pandang pendidikan, bagi saya, pembenahan infrastruktur seni rupa adalah suatu proyek kebudayaan, cara berpikir, cara memahami eksistensi, dan cara menghargai peran bersama setiap pelaku seni rupa di Indonesia. Maka dari itu, ide dan perbuatan yang membebas—liarkan tatanan ( infrastruktur ) Seni Rupa Indonesia adalah tindakan yang bertentangan dengan hakekat, etika dan semangat memajukan Seni Rupa Indonesia, ingat ya Tuan !
* SRI : Seni Rupa Indonesia
hendrotan
Pecinta Seni Rupa, tinggal di Surabaya
Friday, March 9, 2012
WHO DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF ARTWORK? / SIAPA PENENTU MUTU KARYA SENI RUPA?
WHO DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF ARTWORK?
by hendrotan, owner of Emmitan Contemporary Art Gallery
Write on February, 2th , 2012
Write on February, 2th , 2012
This article has been published in the magazine of Visual Arts on March - April 2012 (page 56 - 59)
* This article can be read also in the web of Visual Arts.
www.visualartsmagazine.info
Note :
RESULTS OF LATEST RESEARCH HAVE CHALLENGED THE PREVAILING OPINION THAT COLLECTORS ARE NO LONGER CRUCIAL IN DETERMINING THE QUALITY AND ORIENTATION OF CONTEMPORARY ART.
* This article can be read also in the web of Visual Arts.
www.visualartsmagazine.info
Note :
Having an utmost desire is being highly enthusiastic or ambitious; when the pursuit of it is for the sake of one’s love for family, fellow humans, improving human’s life in the world, and safeguarding the preservation of nature, so that it necessarily implies ethical control in doing things, it is virtuous. Eternity lies only in MOVEMENT: pushing to expand, pulling to contract, and circling to rotate. Dear friends, death does exist and it is actually beautiful; it changes the old and gives space to the young. This is philosophical; I bid you all to ponder on this.
From me, hendrotan
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The title above – an interrogative one – is itself questionable with regard to what the real issue is: quality of artwork already accomplished and shown to the public, or, artwork in process at artists’ studios or workshops?
Before answering it, clarification is in order: in today’s market-oriented art practice, determining the quality of an artwork doesn’t only take place once a work becomes public. It already begins when the work is still in process at the artist’s studio and is carried out by the artist (the doer) and “stimulating agents”. Different parties tend to play decisive roles in determining quality in the public realm and at artists’ studios.
In dealing with the question above I will give priority to talk about work to be processed at studios by “creative stimulators” that might include artists, galleries, curators and authoritative museums*1 (unfortunately we don’t have them in Indonesia yet) with their respective roles. It is very important for each of these stimulators or motivators to keep from making the claim that they are the most influential in determining the quality of work to be made by an artist. In fact each of them may offer ideas, language and different kinds of interpretations. The nature of the process, and questions on proportion, are points where constructive relationships among artists, curators, galleries and museums become significant in developing artists’ concepts and putting them into practice. As we know an artwork rests on three pillars that are form, technique and idea. Naturally, it is the artist establishes the three pillars in two- or three-dimensional, or any other creations. In these creations artists objectify value or anti-value, beautiful or not-beautiful (yet artistic), authenticity or copy, innovation or old-fashionedness, mere technical skills or perfected with profundity of ideas.
So one may see right away that it is artists (backed up by artisans and other assistants), galleries, art curators and authoritative museums play a significant role in shaping the quality of an artwork before going to an exhibition (i.e., in the initial creative process at artists’ studios).
An art collector is not necessarily the sole determiner of quality
Then what party plays the decisive role regarding the determination and judgment of the quality of an artwork in the public realm? Until today some have maintained that collectors are the most appropriate determiner of the quality of artworks. The reason is that collectors are end users; they spend money on artworks with the risk of spending it on wrong artworks.
We often hear and read that today it is collectors determine and dictate the direction and quality of contemporary art. This doesn’t only apply for Western countries; in developed and developing countries collectors have played an important role in the production and consumption of contemporary art.
Odd as the statement above might sound it is hard for us to ignore it, particularly in the consideration of recent reality prevailing in the world of art.
It is true that in the past, prior to the current contemporary era, there was the great collector by the name of Medici who became the patron for art in support of the developing Renaissance art. In the contemporary era we know Charles Saatchi, a gallery owner cum famous art market player in Europe and the US. By the touch of his golden hand Damien Hirst’s reputations, for instance, soar high. Hirst’s installation in the form of a preserved tiger shark in a glass container, called The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, is regarded “high quality” after it sold twelve million US dollars in 2004 thanks to Saatchi.
Yet what about Basquiat and his work? A graffiti artist in New York, Basquiat sees his name raise without, one may say, any collector’s help. Historically Basquiat’s fame springs from the prominent critic Rene Richard who “discovers” Basquiat as “the Radiant Child” as the critic puts it in his writing in the world’s most prestigious art magazine, Artforum, in its December 1981 issue. Later Basquiat reputations and his works become more widely known and discussed in the circles of collectors and market players*2 after Andy Warhol “baptizes” him.
As a result, the case of Basquiat and his works proves that the institutions of prominent critic, legendary artist and reliable media (art magazine in this regard) can also work together and provide power that enables the “baptism” of artists and their works as highly qualified. Here collectors merely follow them.
With the above examples I hope it is clear that the role to determine the quality of an artwork, more than that: to orientate the journey of contemporary art, is not fully in the hands of collectors; other institutions and stakeholders of art*3 also have their power. In fact determining the quality of a work is often a collaborative matter involving persons from different fields of expertise in the realm of art.
In the context of Indonesian art, artists whose personal qualities*4 and works get recognition from and through such collaborative experts (not just from one single preeminent collector) include, for example, Jumaldi Alfi, Entang Wiharso, Agus Suwage, Chusin Setiadikara, Heri Dono, Mangu Putra and Ay Tjoe Christine. With their individual backgrounds their works already get national and international recognition. The market as well as the world of discourse on art welcomes them.
Field Research
I’d like to inform here that what I have offered in this writing all comes from excerpts of field research I independently did during the period from the end of last year through the beginning of this year. I visited art communities in different parts of Java and Bali. I started with Denpasar. There I organized discussions in four consecutive evenings with the participation of top-rank artists, senior art collectors, prominent publishers and well-known authorities on culture. The prevailing answer, to the question put in the title of this writing, is: the art collector is not necessarily the sole authority in determining the quality of artwork; instead, it is determined by the community of experts in art*5 as well as the test of time.
I then went to Jakarta and Surabaya. This time my research made use of a sort of concatenated techniques: by means of the SMS (short message service), electronic mail, facebook, telephone conversation, but also face-to-face discussion with collectors, market players, journalists, and owners of influential magazines. In addition, I had some big art dealers and certain market players enthusiastically and actively giving remarks. By and large, their answers are similar to or even identical with those occurring in Denpasar. Frankly such result surprised me greatly, and delighted me at once; it was a long dream of mine to have a contemporary-art community getting smart together, and now the dream comes true.
Of course the overall smartness of an art-expert community and an artworld needs regular updating. This is in order to build up the soundness of our art while keeping some people from being too conceited to think that they have been playing the most important role in determining the quality of artwork and the orientation of Indonesian contemporary art development. You do agree, don’t you ?.
Notes:
*1 Authoritative museum = (a). Run by an administrator, professionally managed – as marked by the existence of a board of directors comprising reliable curators, critics, and historians. (b). In active connection with the Moma, Guggenheim Museum in New York and museums in Germany, Spain, France, England, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and other such places. (c). Having the backup of funding supporters or patrons contributing IDR 500,000,000,000 annually for obtaining artworks and covering administration and operational costs.
*2 Market players = art dealers, art investors, art traders and art shops.
*3 Stakeholders of art or artworld = artists, art galleries, art curators, critics, art collectors, market players, the media, museums, art lovers and academicians.
*4 Artist’s personal quality = credibility, integrity and historical roles.
*5 Art expert community = art galleries, art collectors, market players, critics, curators, and authoritative museums.
PULL-QUOTES
“THE QUALITY OF ARTWORK, AND, MOROVER, THE ORIENTATION OF CONTEMPORARY ART, IS NOT ENTIRELY DETERMINED BY ART COLLECTORS BECAUSE OTHER STAKEHOLDERS OF ART ALSO HAVE THEIR OWN POWER.”
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Catatan :
Berkeinginan yg berlebihan itu adalah semangat besar atau ambisi dan kalau ini dilakukan untuk Cinta pada Keluarga , untuk Kasih pada Umat sesamanya , untuk Memperbaiki kualitas hidup manusia di dunia dan untuk mengAyomi Kelestarian Alam , maka keinginan berlebihan itu diwujubkan dgn kontrol berEtika , sesungguhnya dia sangat Mulia ! keAbadian hanya ada pada GERAKAN : dorongan mengembang, tarikan mengkerut atau sirklus berputar , Wahai teman , kematian itu ada dan indah sejatinya , akan merubah yg tua dan memberi ruang bagi yg muda , ini adalah filsafat , selamat memaknainya.
hendrotan.
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SIAPA PENENTU MUTU KARYA SENI RUPA?
Berkeinginan yg berlebihan itu adalah semangat besar atau ambisi dan kalau ini dilakukan untuk Cinta pada Keluarga , untuk Kasih pada Umat sesamanya , untuk Memperbaiki kualitas hidup manusia di dunia dan untuk mengAyomi Kelestarian Alam , maka keinginan berlebihan itu diwujubkan dgn kontrol berEtika , sesungguhnya dia sangat Mulia ! keAbadian hanya ada pada GERAKAN : dorongan mengembang, tarikan mengkerut atau sirklus berputar , Wahai teman , kematian itu ada dan indah sejatinya , akan merubah yg tua dan memberi ruang bagi yg muda , ini adalah filsafat , selamat memaknainya.
hendrotan.
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SIAPA PENENTU MUTU KARYA SENI RUPA?
oleh hendrotan , pemilik Emmitan Contemporary Art Galeri
Tertulis tanggal, 02 Februari 2012
Artikel ini telah terbit di Majalah Visual Art pada Maret - April 2012 (hal. 56 -59)
* Tulisan ini bisa di baca juga di web Visual Arts.
www.visualartsmagazine.info
HASIL RISET TERBARU TELAH MEMBANTAH PENDAPAT SELAMA INI, BAHWA KOLEKTOR TIDAK LAGI MUTLAK SEBAGAI PENENTU MUTU DAN ARAH SENIRUPA KONTEMPORER.
* Tulisan ini bisa di baca juga di web Visual Arts.
www.visualartsmagazine.info
HASIL RISET TERBARU TELAH MEMBANTAH PENDAPAT SELAMA INI, BAHWA KOLEKTOR TIDAK LAGI MUTLAK SEBAGAI PENENTU MUTU DAN ARAH SENIRUPA KONTEMPORER.
Judul tulisan yang saya ajukan -- bernada pertanyaan -- ini, jelas dapat dipertanyakan kembali, apakah yang dipersoalkan itu : mutu karya senirupa yang sudah jadi dan dipamerkan di ranah publik, atau yang baru dalam tahap proses di studio/ bengkel kerja perupa.
Sebelum menjawab, kiranya dapat dijelaskan terlebih dahulu, bahwa dalam perilaku praktik senirupa berorientasi pasar dewasa ini, yang namanya mutu karya tidak hanya ditentukan pada saat karya itu sudah beredar di tengah masyarakat, namun sudah dimulai sejak tahap proses di studio oleh pelaku dan “penggerak”. Adapun pihak yang berperan menentukan mutu di ranah publik dan dalam studio cenderung berbeda.
Dalam menggali jawaban atas pertanyaan di atas, saya mendahulukan pembahasan karya yang bakal diproses di studio oleh “ para penggerak cipta”. Adapun penggerak cipta itu adalah perupa, galeri, kurator dan museum berwibawa*1 (sayang diIndonesia
Karena itu sudah dapat disimpulkan jawabanan atas pertanyaan siapa yang berperan menentukan mutu karya seni rupa yang belum dipamerkan ( awal proses penciptaan di studio) adalah perupa (lengkap dengan artisan dan tenaga pembantu yang lain), galeri, kurator dan museum berwibawa.
Kolektor tidak Mutlak Jadi Penentu
Lalu siapa pihak yang berperan menentukan mutu karya senirupa yang ada di ranah publik? Hingga saat ini masih ada yang mengukuhkan pendapatnya sendiri bahwa kolektorlah yang paling pantas sebagai penentu mutu karya. Dalihnya, kolektor lah yang mengeluarkan uang (end user ), dengan risiko jika salah beli kolektor jualah yang menanggung bebannya.
Lalu siapa pihak yang berperan menentukan mutu karya senirupa yang ada di ranah publik? Hingga saat ini masih ada yang mengukuhkan pendapatnya sendiri bahwa kolektorlah yang paling pantas sebagai penentu mutu karya. Dalihnya, kolektor lah yang mengeluarkan uang (end user ), dengan risiko jika salah beli kolektor jualah yang menanggung bebannya.
Bahkan, sering kita dengar dan baca bahwa pada saat ini kolektorlah yang menentukan arah dan kwalitas seni rupa kontemporer. Tak hanya di Barat, negara – negara maju dan negara berkembang pun, kolektor telah memainkan peran penting dalam praktik produksi dan konsumsi seni rupa kontemporer.
Sekalipun hal tersebut terkesan janggal -- kalau bukan aneh -- sulit rasanya untuk mengabaikan pernyataan ini, terutama jika kita mengingat realitas belakangan yang terjadi di dunia seni rupa.
Memang harus diakui, dulu, sebelum era kontemporer telah tercatat jasa seorang kolektor besar bernama Medici, yang menjadi patron seni dalam menyokong perkembangan seni Renesans. Atau di era kontemporer kita kenal Charles Saatchi, pemilik galeri merangkap pemain pasar senirupa ternama di Eropa dan Amerika Serikat. Lewat sentuhan tangan dingin Saatchi, misalnya, reputasi Damien Hirst melambung tinggi. Karya instalasi Hirst berupa seekor hiu macan yang di awetkan di tabung kaca, yang berjudul The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, dianggap “bermutu” setelah terjual seharga 12 juta dolar AS pada 2004 melalui jasa Saatchi.
Tapi bagaimana dengan Basquiat dan karyanya? Seorang pelukis grafiti jalanan New York
Walhasil “kasus” Basquiat dan karyanya ini, dapat menjadi bukti bahwa institusi kritikus terkemuka, perupa legendaris, dan media massa (majalah senirupa) yang terpercaya, juga bisa berkolaborasi menciptakan kekuatan “membaptis” perupa dan karyanya, sebagai yang bermutu. Kemudian posisi kolektor dalam kaitan ini, tinggal “mengamini” saja.
Dari contoh-contoh di atas jelas sudah, bahwa peran yang menentukan mutu karya senirupa, apalagi arah senirupa kontemporer tidak berada secara mutlak di tangan kolektor, sebab institusi maupun para pemangku kepentingan senirupa*3yang lain juga punya kekuatan. Bahkan dalam menentukan mutu karya senirupa, tidak jarang dilakukan secara kolaboratif, oleh para pakar senirupa di bidangnya masing-masing.
Dalam konteks senirupa Indonesia, para perupa yang mendapat pengakuan secara kolaboratif (tidak semata-mata atas peran mutlak kolektor) atas mutu diri*4 dan karyanya antara lain adalah Jumaldi Alfi, Entang Wiharso, Agus Suwage, Chusin Setiadikara, Heri Dono, Mangu Putra dan Ay Tjoe Christine. Dengan latar belakang masing-masing, karya mereka diakui ditingkat nasional maupun internasional. Mereka diterima pasar, juga diterima di dunia wacana.
Riset Lapangan
Sekedar tahu, semua jawaban dalam tulisan ini, saya sarikan dari hasil riset lapangan dalam rentang waktu akhir tahun lalu hingga awal tahun ini, yang saya lakukan secara indepen. Saya berkeliling ke komunitas-komunitas seni rupa seantero Jawa-Bali. Bermula dari Denpasar. Di sana
Kemudian saya lanjutkan di Jakarta dan Surabaya
Tentu saja, kecerdasan komunitas para pakar dan artworld senirupa pada umumnya harus terus di up-date. Selain supaya senirupa kita makin sehat, jangan sampai ada pihak yang ge-er (gedhe rumangsa) berkepanjangan, karena “didapuk” oleh mitranya, dan merasa paling berperan sebagai penentu mutu karya dan arah perkembangan senirupa kontemporer Indonesia kan
Catatan kaki :
*1 Museum berwibawa = (a). Yang dikelola oleh administrator dan
bermanajerial profesional–antara lain board director berisi
kurator, kritikus dan sejarawan yang handal. (b). Berjejaring
aktif dengan Moma, Guggenheim museum New York
museum di Jerman, Spanyol, Perancis, Inggris , China
tahunnya sebanyak Rp.500 milyar untuk pembelian karya seni rupa,
biaya administrasi dan operasional.
*2 Pemain pasar = Art dealer, Art investor, Art trader dan Art shop.
*3 Pemangku kepentingan Seni Rupa = Perupa, Galeri, Kurator,
Kritikus, Kolektor, Pemain Pasar, Media, Museum, Balai
lelang, Pencinta Seni Rupa dan Akademisi.
*4 Mutu diri perupa = Kredibilitas, Integritas dan Eksistensi peran sejarah.
*5 Komunitas Pakar Seni Rupa = Galeri, Kolektor, Pemain Pasar, Kritikus, Kurator
PULQUOTES
“ YANG MENENTUKAN MUTU KARYA SENIRUPA, APALAGI ARAH SENIRUPA KONTEMPORER, TIDAK MUTLAK DI TANGAN KOLEKTOR, SEBAB PARA PEMANGKU KEPENTINGAN SENIRUPA JUGA PUNYA KEKUATAN.”
