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Art Stage Jakarta’s ‘Expose’ exhibition: The gems of Indonesia’s private collections

On Time (2012) by Wisnu Auri (Courtesy of the private collection of Rudi Akil)Six esteemed Indonesian art collectors are giving the public a rare view of their pieces in a special exhibition, titled Expose, during the Art Stage Jakarta at the Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City in South Jakarta from Friday until Sunday

Yuliasri Perdani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, August 5, 2016

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Art Stage Jakarta’s ‘Expose’ exhibition:  The gems of Indonesia’s private collections

On Time (2012) by Wisnu Auri (Courtesy of the private collection of Rudi Akil)

Six esteemed Indonesian art collectors are giving the public a rare view of their pieces in a special exhibition, titled Expose, during the Art Stage Jakarta at the Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City in South Jakarta from Friday until Sunday.

The collectors’ exhibition is undoubtedly the most ambitious project of Art Stage Jakarta — Indonesia’s premium art fair, organized by Art Stage Singapore founder Lorenzo Rudolf.

Expose gathers together six leading Indonesian collectors and borrows 14 masterpieces from their collections to be shown to art lovers and the public for three days.

“Indonesia has plenty of art collectors and many of them have a significant presence in the art scenes of Southeast Asia and Asia,” Expose curator Enin Supriyanto said in a phone interview, adding that the collections were notably diverse.

Spread over 600 square meters, Expose presents the collectors’ key artworks, ranging from painting and sculpture to photography and installations.

Among the six, some are big names in the art collecting scene, such as Alex Tedja, Rudy Akili and Deddy Kusuma, who leads Art Stage Jakarta’s Board of Art Patrons.

Deddy, an architect and internationally recognized art collector, collaborated with Rudolf for a contemporary Indonesian art exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2010. Deddy coordinated the Indonesian artists and financed the exhibition.

“[That is when] I was really impressed by how Indonesian collectors live for their art and their artists,” Rudolf said in an interview with The Jakarta Post.

“It was really Deddy Kusuma who opened the door to Indonesia and to its art scene to me. And I must say, I am very glad that with Art Stage Jakarta, I can give him back something,” he added.

Conversation Unknown (2015) by Aditya Novali (Courtesy of the private collection of Melani Setiawan)

For the exhibition, Enin has selected three artworks from Deddy’s collection. They are the sculpture Child Sailor by Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang, the painting Serta Merta by acclaimed Indonesian artist I Nyoman Masriadi and Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo’s CMYK# 8, a work of resin and acrylic laid on canvas on wood panels.

The featured artworks, in some ways, reflect Deddy’s identity and taste. His collection are 60 percent Indonesian and 20 percent Chinese, while the remaining 20 percent are from the rest of the world.

“[I collect works from] China because my ethnicity is Chinese, and I know Chinese culture. My collection is 60 percent Indonesian, because I live here — I’m an Indonesian,” Deddy told Lorenzo in a Q&A session published by Art Stage Jakarta.

Deddy is not only a loyal collector of the works of Masriadi — one of the most commercially successful young artists in Indonesia; they have also been good friends for a long time.

“He is hardworking, and quite an introvert — not very open with people. I do my best to support him. We’ve even traveled together to China to visit the studios of his favorite artists, Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Minjun,” Deddy said of Masriadi.

“Today, Masriadi is known in China, Europe, Taiwan and the US and people are buying his works. Just last week, he had a solo show in New York where all his works were sold. And he’s only in his 40s!” he exclaimed.

Another avid collector, Alex Tedja — the chairman of property developer Pakuwon Group and the owner of the Art Stage Jakarta venue, the Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City, has lent three of his paintings for the exhibition: Di Kamar Hotel (In a Hotel Room) by Handiwirman Saputra, Selamat Pagi Kotaku (Good Morning, City of Mine) by Yunizar and Humanine by Filipino artist Ronald Ventura.

Three installations in Expose exhibition are drawn from the collection of Rudy Akili, a retired businessman who houses his eclectic art collection in his private museum, the Akili Museum of Art in Kedoya, West Jakarta.

The installations are Anusapati’s Size Don’t Matter, Wisnu Auri’s Wasting Time, Overtime, Last Minute, Survival, On Time and Teddy D.’s Viva La Muerte.

“I still love realism and modern art and the Old Masters, but contemporary art is what I enjoy now,” Rudy said in a Q&A published by Art Stage Jakarta.”In Bahasa Indonesia, we say it’s the jaman [zeitgeist]! It’s the dynamism of the time, and you can’t be stubborn and resist it, you should just enjoy life.”

Melani Setiawan, a collector known for her continuous support for young artists, has lent one installation, Conversation Unknown by Aditya Novali.

“Dr. Melani may not be a big collector, like Rudy Akili, Alex Tedja or Deddy Kusuma, but she knows the Indonesian art scene well and has a extensive network with people in the art world. Artists sometimes say that Bu Melani is the mother of all Indonesian artists. She opened her home to out-of-town artists visiting Jakarta, and from that point, she started collecting art,” Enin said.

“Because of her distinct background in terms of collecting art, I am interested in featuring her collection,” he added.

The installation consists of over 3,000 face sketches drawn on pieces of transparent Plexiglass sheets.

“The faces are derived from the people that I feature in my book, Dunia Seni Rupa Indonesia [The Indonesian Art World],” Melani told the Post of the book, which chronicles the development of Indonesian art over the last four decades.

Indonesian young collectors are well-represented in the exhibition by Tom Tandio and Wiyu Wahono.

“They [young collectors] are the big collectors of tomorrow and we have to foster them,” Rudolf said.

He said young collectors were important because they may have another view of the world and could share their differing experiences and attitudes.

“That means they are also important for the development, not only of the art fair, but also of art itself,” Rudolf said.

The featured artworks drawn from Tom and Wiyu’s collection reflect the young collectors’ growing interest in photography and high-tech installations.

Tom, who works in the automotive industry and started collecting art in 2007, shows his deep interest in collecting photography.

Expose features two photographs drawn from Tom’s collection, namely Melati Suryodarmo’s Alienation of the Stone at Kemlayan and Wimo Ambala Bayang’s High Hope Series.

“As a young collector, I feel a moral responsibility for my art collection to reflect attitudes and voices that are prevalent in my generation,” Tom said in a Q&A made available by Art Stage Jakarta.

“As for my collection, I always collect art that challenges my perspective and world view and gives me a different view of life,” says Tom, who cofounded IndoArtNow, a non-profit organization that works to promote and support Indonesian contemporary art.

Wiyu, a former industrial consultant and lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin, returned to Indonesia in 1998 and started collecting art in 2000. The first work he bought was a piece by renowned Indonesian artist Teguh Ostenrik.

Wiyu, described by Art Stage Jakarta as the most thorough and intellectually-driven young collector of Indonesian contemporary art, showcases two technology-driven installations by foreign artists.

First is Living Mirror, an interactive light installation titled by Howard Boland & Laura Cinti (C-LAB) from the UK, and data.tron, a single projector audiovisual by Paris-based Japanese sound artist Ryoji Ikeda.

Observing the 14 artworks featured in the exhibition, Enin said established and young collectors alike were keen on collecting the works of foreign artists. Enin attributed the trend to the influence of Sukarno, Indonesia’s founding father and the collector of 2,000 works of art by Indonesian and international artists.

“In the context of Indonesian art history and collecting culture, Sukarno was a pioneer and role model. He showed an extensive interest in foreign artists while prioritizing Indonesian artworks in his collection,” he said.

“This [collecting style] has been adapted by Indonesian collectors. Collectors open themselves up to artworks from Southeast Asia and beyond,” Enin said.

Aside from Expose, Art Stage Jakarta is slated to hold an exhibition on the paintings of the late Indonesian maestro Affandi.

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Art Stage Jakarta is open to invitees only on Friday, and is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday.

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