Free Market Capitalism
Forces of free market
capitalism should also be taken into consideration in reading contemporary art
in Malaysia.
As the world becomes one market, demands for artworks from Asia
are growing. The growth is further fueled by the shift from national to
multi-national capital. The ‘ecosystem’ of the global and regional economy
cannot be simply brushed aside. Art markets in China and Indonesia for
example, have been booming rapidly in recent years. In fact, the ‘reservoir’ of
Malaysian contemporary art market has to be seen in relation to the regional
and global market. The participants of the local ‘reservoir’ has to engage with
their ‘international counterpart; they can’t hide under the coconut shell
anymore.(64)
The economic setting
during the eighties until late nineties in Malaysia had created a competitive
contemporary art market in Malaysia - aggressive, progressive, innovative,
thriving, heated and never short of ironies and polemics (65) From
being marginal initiatives that rely on government funding, the Malaysian contemporary
art scene was gradually boosted into a thriving business enterprise before the
balloon burst in the late 1990s. Luckily, this was only a temporary setback. In
the past few years, the market has resumed its thriving disposition. Artists,
especially those who belong to the ‘cult of the young’ have increasingly been
taken as brands (superstars, cultural heroes) striving for a commercial success
and fledging career in the competitive art scene.
Nonetheless, the ‘ecosystem’
of international art scene in the era of globalization can also be ironic and
paradoxical. Often, the pros and cons
are entwined and partitioned by a very delicate veil. For example, even
‘leftist’, ‘non-commercial’ and ‘non-conformist’ stance can possibly be
exploited as a viable form of brand positioning (or ‘differentiation’) to
increase market value. Such stance can also be augmented by the tendencies of
the international art circle (and English-speaking discourses) in highlighting
artworks with socio-political bend.
Despite their
sometimes postmodern, alternative and critical stance, many local artists have
begun to turn into full-time professionals, thus entailing them to be highly
perceptive towards the forces of the market. Many have learnt to be fluent in
dwelling with the economics of income, earnings, revenue, proceeds, turnover,
profits and loss, as much as branding and promotional strategy. The act of
creating is not anymore contained within the contexts of idea, concept, form,
aesthetic, emotion and personal sentiment, but must also include perceptiveness
towards the engulfing market, and the ability to network or ‘get connected’ with
the ‘right cluster of people’. Even the notion of success itself is not anymore
dependent on the quality of the artworks, but also the ability to rapport with major
players and movers in the art market.
Several artists may have
even learned to look at their artworks (perhaps themselves too albeit
discreetly) as a commodity striving for a competitive market value, sometimes
at the expanse of personal sentiment and emotion. Spiritual, social, artistic,
cultural values and the general significance of critical knowledge might have
been subtly spread thin, or re-branded in order to be more hip and competitive for
the open market.
Consequently, several
artists and curators have established a close rapport with commercial galleries
and individual collectors, creating a matrix of players and movers that have
been at times intertwined or overlapped. Clusters of players and movers were
formed, most of the time by shared sentiment. Other than artists, the players
and movers include gallery owners and promoters, curators-writers, buyers or
collectors, and individuals in the media (editors of magazines, newspapers, websites,
etc). Initially the clusters were distinctively demarcated by institutional,
commercial and alternative fronts. Over the years, the clusters have been at
times fused, with players and movers moving in and out of these different
fronts. Academicians have sometimes been roped in if needed, to provide
additional validation, if not credibility. English-speaking foreign
curators-writers have also sometimes been invited, again to add more value and credence.
The matrix of
contemporary art in Malaysia
today is marked by contesting fronts and territorial forces, based on
combinations of different agendas and sentiments. At times, they may appear
elusive or obscured. At some other times, the agendas and sentiments may appear
explicit and obvious. Sometimes, common agendas have been set to allow
different clusters and fronts to work together for common causes. At some other
times, specific agendas have been set, creating a clear demarcation in terms of
preferred artists, type of art works, genre, style, themes, issue and
sentiment. Many sentiments and personalities may at times clash, creating a
thriving art scene that has never been short of drama and intrigue, as much as
gossips and petty talks. SMS and MMS have further fueled a more speculative
environment in which image, posture, impression, assumption and perception may
be taken as the basis of popular discourses on contemporary art in Malaysia.
Galleries such as
Petronas Gallery, Wei
Ling Gallery,
Valentine Willie Fine Art, Art Salon, Taksu Gallery, RA Fine Art, Artcase,12
Artspace, and Pelita Hati House of Art have been active in exposing and promoting
contemporary Malaysian art and artists. More new galleries have emerged in the
past few years, including in other cities such as Penang
and Johor Bharu. By working with several international partners such as
Australia High Commission and the British Council, these galleries have also
served as a bridge between artists and collectors and have been instrumental in
providing exposure and financial stability for contemporary artists.
In compliment,
private collectors such as Fatimah & Pakhruddin Sulaiman, Aliya &
Farouk Khan and Dr. Steve & Rosemary Wong have begun to build their own
substantial private collections of contemporary Malaysian art. In fact, private
collectors have at times influenced the
market too. In addition, it can be argued that some of the best contemporary
artworks (especially paintings) produced since the 1990s, can be found in the
private collections of private collectors rather than institutions. Other collectors
such as Ng Sek San & Carolyn Lau, Angela & Hijas Kasturi, Raja Ahmad
Aminullah and the late Rahimie Harun have (had) been quite influential in
augmenting the productivity of contemporary artists and playing a highly
pro-active role in enriching discourses as well. In recent years, more young
professionals are beginning to collect contemporary artworks.
As a result,
contemporary artists are no longer solely dependent upon government support. In
addition, they can also rely on corporate patronage, sponsorship and purchase
from corporations such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Petroliam Nasional Berhad
(Petronas), Sime Darby Berhad, Esso Malaysia Berhad, Shell Malaysia, the
Phillip Morris Group of Companies, Penjanabebas, as well as several commercial
banks such as Bank Negara of Malaysia, Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), Public
Bank, Bank Bumiputra (now CIMB), Oriental Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Hong Kong
& Shanghai Banking Corporations (HSBC) and ABN-AMRO.
In doing so, they
have to operate within an urban and international context as dictated by the
ebbs and flow of free market capitalism and the novelties of information and
communication technology. They also have to be media savvy and smart in
branding or positioning themselves. Even trans-national cosmopolitan lifestyle
itself has to be adopted since it can be perceived as a form of industry and a
money making business. Anything local may be perceived as parochial.
Gallery-oriented
trends of commercialization and corporate endorsement have also been at times
entwined with government validation as epitomized by several projects organised
by the National Art Gallery of Malaysia. Several exhibitions such as 12 ASEAN Artists (2000), and Identiti: Inilah Kami (Identities:Who We
Are) (2002) for examples, involved collaborations between Valentine Willie
Fine Art Gallery with the National
Art Gallery
and support from corporate sponsors. Interestingly, the National Art
Gallery had been used as
a venue for solo exhibitions of several artists who might have been labeled as
‘dissident’ or not conform to the so called government-prescribed notion of
national art.
Increasingly, it has
become more pressing to identify the clusters or constituents (groups of key
players and movers) within the matrix of Malaysian and Asian art markets. Even
the role of the National
Art Gallery
in ‘value-creation’, legitimizing or validating artists and art works has to be
seen in relation to this matrix. Perhaps, it is now pertinent for these
constituents to be looking at ways of working together in a more pro-active and
supporting manner in order to create a dynamic and thriving market for
Malaysian contemporary artists beyond the Malaysian border.
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