Move It or Lose It

Justin Lim

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
2009, Acylic on Canvas
-Sold-

I tried to go see with some intent to buy from the Fab 4 show featuring Justin Lim, Wong Chee Meng, Fauzulyusri and Samsudin Wahab @ Taksu today and somehow got the dates wrong in my head ~need to seriously start writing things down. Missed that boat! All of Fazul, Justin & Shamsudin's awesomely quirky, edgy & very contemporary pieces were completely snapped up! Shamsudin's weren't even there anymore... this was the one time I wished the staff anywhere were less efficient! I'm so mad at myself right now. The upside? Art flying off the walls like hot-cakes despite supposed trying economic times... What recession?

The World's Best Selling Contemporary Artists List ~Chinese Rank Most

Yue Minjun, known works depicting himself laughing in various settings

According to the 2008 survey of the global art market by Artprice, a report listing the 500 top-selling contemporary artists, based on results from 2,900 auctions between July 2007 and June 2008. 11 out of the the world's top 20 best-selling artists, are Chinese. The four cornerstones of contemporary Chinese art, an elite which includes Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Minjun are amongst the world's most sought-after artists. Art experts see this as an indication that Asian art will dominate art sales around the globe soon.

Listing of the top 20 most popular artists (based on auction records) from July 2007-July 2008, as compiled by Artprice.

1. Jeff Koons (b.1955)
Type of art: sculpture, mixed-media
Nationality: American
Sales at auction (07-08): £69.4 million

2. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88)
Type of art: Painting (ex-graffiti artist)
Nationality: American
Sales at auction (07-08): £54.3 million

3. Damien Hirst (b.1965)
Type of art: Sculpture, mixed-media, Turner Prize-winner
Nationality: British
Sales at auction (07-08): £45.8 million.
Note: The survey excludes Hirst's Sept 2008 auction of £100 million.

4. Richard Prince (b.1949)
Type of art: painting, fine art photography
Nationality: American
Sales at auction (07-08): £33 million

5. Zhang Xiaogang (b.1958)
Type of art: surrealism, portraiture
Nationality: Chinese (Yunnan)
Sales at auction (07-08): £32.3 million

6. Zeng Fanzhi (b.1964)
Type of art: figure painting, portraits
Nationality: Chinese (Wuhan)
Sales at auction (07-08): £27.8 million

7. Yue Minjun (b.1962)
Type of art: figurative paintings
Nationality: Chinese (Heilongjiang)
Sales at auction (07-08): £27.5 million

8. Takashi Murakami (b.1962) ~my favorite!!!
Type of art: Sculpture, painting, installation
Nationality: Japanese
Sales at auction (07-08): £15.5 million

9. Wang Guangyi (b.1957)
Type of art: Mixed-media, painting
Nationality: Chinese (Heilongjiang)
Sales at auction (07-08): £11.7 million

10. Liu Xiaodong (b.1963)
Type of art: Painting, fine art photography
Nationality: Chinese (Liaoning)
Sales at auction (07-08): £10.5 million

11. Cai Guo-Qiang (b.1957)
Type of artwork: performance art (explosive events)
Nationality: Chinese
Sales at auction (07-08): £10.1 million

12. Yan Pei-Ming (b.1960)
Type of art: Portraitist
Nationality: Chinese (Shanghai)
Sales at auction (07-08): £9.9 million

13. Chen Yifei (b.1946)
Type of art: Painting
Nationality: Chinese (Zhejing)
Sales at auction (07-08): £9.7 million

14. Fang Lijun (b.1963)
Type of art: Painting
Nationality: Chinese (Hebei)
Sales at auction (07-08): £9.6 million

15. Liu Ye (b.1964)
Type of art: Avant-garde artist
Nationality: Chinese
Sales at auction (07-08): £8.8 million

17. Zhou Chunya (b.1955)
Type of art: Portrait paintings
Nationality: Chinese (Sichuan)
Sales at auction (07-08): £8.3 million

18. Anish Kapoor (b.1954) ~yusof went to school with him
Type of art: abstract, sculpture, Turner Prize-winner
Nationality: British (born in India)
Sales at auction (07-08): £6.7 million

19. Peter Doig (b.1959)
Type of art: landscape pictures
Nationality: British
Sales at auction (07-08): £6.7 million

20. Rudolf Stingel (b.1956)
Type of art: installation and conceptual art
Nationality: German
Sales at auction (07-08): £6.5 million

According to ARTnews who interviewed dealers, consulted auction specialists, and surveyed auction results. Artists were considered based on the sum paid for a single work of art -regardless of how many works have sold at that level, the production costs involved in creating the work, or how prices for new works measure up.

The top ten, in alphabetical order, are Lucian Freud, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Brice Marden, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Frank Stella, and Cy Twombly. All of them have achieved single-work sales of US$5 million or more, while some have multiplied that figure many times over.

Malaysian contemporary art has been spotted at international auctions, fetching prices to the tune of RM117,000 to RM215,000 last year so maybe one of our guys will make this list soon. Fingers crossed.

Why It's Time To... -Buy! Buy! Buy!

The Mei Moses index, shows art prices falling 35 per cent in the first quarter following the financial crisis. The overall index fell 4.8 per cent last year. What's a collector to do?

The over-inflated bubble in the years preceding September 2008 in the art market, particularly in 2006 was bound to pop. With works of some (living) artists' quadrupling at scary rates without any real justification and instead fueled largely by speculation -the worst enemy of sustainable growth in any market. Non-speculative reasons for investment in art is key, because most people who have made money have not made it by purchasing art as a short-term investment.

The art bubble bursting means the end of speculative flipping. Sotheby's Spring Auction last week brought in a conservative US$8.9 million compared to US$51.77 million last year for contemporary art. Like the stock and property markets, a return to fundamentals, following a period of readjustment before prices stabilize is much needed in order for good work that can weather the test of time to once again start to appreciate.

Prices have yet to bottom out in our region as much as in the west and China, with works by star contemporary artists, notably Chinese Zhang Xiogang and Indonesian I Nyoman Masradi, selling at Sotheby's last week for a fraction of the prices they fetched last year. However, auctiongoers, art investors and art collectors will be faced with great opportunities in the coming months as quality works by masters will be more realistic if not at an all time low. Or maybe just buy something you like.

Art Facts & Figures

Total global revenue from Contemporary Art sales over the July 2007-June 2008 amounted to € 980m, up 50% on the previous year, with almost the same volume of transactions according to Artprice, a Paris-based art market index. More than a third of these figures were attributed to the Chinese/Asian art markets.

Ahmad Zakii Anwar made it to the top 500 contemporary artists list published in that same index.

The 2nd International Art Expo Malaysia 2008

Art Galore

The 2nd International Art Expo Malaysia 2008 at the Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) in Kuala Lumpur which promises to be bigger and better yet is on next week (26-30th November, 2008). And best of all, admission is free!

This year's expo, is expected to host galleries and artists from more than 20 countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Spain, Hungary, Iran, Britain, France, Ireland,Macedonia and South America.

The Malaysian galleries participating this year include Galeri Tangsi Contemporary Art, artseni Gallery and EDI.A Art Gallery, ArtCase Galleries, Kai Boon Art Gallery, Pelita Hati House of Art, The Art Commune, City Art Gallery, Yahong Gallery, Peter Liew Atelier, Ido Gallery, Kim Hai Shih Wen Gallery, Zhan Gallery, Simon Tan Art Gallery, Art & Art Gallery, PY Art Workshop, Chong Gallery, FongYongKong.com, The Art Room, Gallery Nayantara, G&G Arts, CHT Network and Miao Da Art Centre.

Some of the exciting highlights of this year's Expo include a blockbuster art charity auction, Living Art Legend Tribute to 79 year-old Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal , a Zao Wou Ki Special, a Koi painting world record bid and a special booth featuring the art of the gifted and disabled.

Rogue Art Debuts with Zakii Sell Out Show

Art it girls; Beverly Yong, Rachel Ng and Adeline Ooi have left Valentine Willie and taken their skills, contacts and experience in Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art to form RogueArt, an art consultancy group specialising in the creative, strategic and organisational management of art projects, exhibitions, collections and publications.

Rogue Art's anticipated maiden show was no let-down... Gimme Shelter, a special (pre-sold at RM12K a piece!) fundraising exhibition featured twelve portrait drawings by the renowned Johore-born Ahmad Zakii Anwar organized in aid of Intan LIfe Zone Welfare Society in Johor Bahru. Full proceeds from the sale went to building an after-care centre for former residents to provide basic skills training and support to help residents re-integrate into society. Ahmad Zakii Anwar is the co-founder and head of this welfare society.

The exhibition featured works in charcoal on paper, portraying residents currently undergoing Life Zone’s shelter programme.

-I think the girls will do very well on their own.

Singapore: Prime Locations at Lower Rent for Private Museum & Art Facilities

A total of three State properties in prime sites will be made available at lower rent to art collectors who are interested to open private museums through a Request-for-Interest exercise by The National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

The properties at 222 Queen Street, 27A and 27B Loewen Road will complement existing museum and art facilities to help make Singapore the arts and tourism hub of the region. The three properties have fixed rents below commercial rates ranging between S$5,159(406.2sqm) - S$42,516(5,248.9sqm) renewable for up to 9 years. Each building is allowed to use up to 20 percent of the space for retail or dining.

Contact for details: Joanna Han at +65 6332 4419 or joanna_han@nhb.gov.sg
The submission form is available at: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/aim

Application closes: November 15, 2008.

Ahmad Fuad Osman -ABPF Signature Art Juror's Prize

Recollections of Long Lost Memories
Ahmad Fuad Osman

39 year-old Ahmad Fuad Osman, founder of the Matahati group of artists received the Juror’s Choice Award at the inaugural Asia Pacific Breweries (ABP) Foundation Signature Art Prize of S$10,000 last week for prints titled Recollections of Long Lost Memories. ~They kinda remind me of Where's Waldo but grown-up~

Ahmad Fuad, was among the top 10 finalists for the awards organised by the APB Foundation and Singapore Art Museum (SAM), whose work had been shortlisted as one of the 34 nominated from 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The other shortlisted artists were from Cambodia, China, India, Mongolia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Yee I-Lann and Noor Azizan Rahman Paiman were also nominated. The 10 shortlisted works are on view at the Singapore Art Museum until Nov. 16.

The Challenger
Noor Azizan Rahman Paiman

Kerbau
Yee I-Lann

Picture Source: -APBF Signature Art Prize website

Portrait : Rajinder Singh

The Shabbiness of Certainty

"I invite my audience to view my paintings through a sieve – a sieve made of mathematical objects that pack a substantial amount of information on the way we might view beauty.

I invite my viewers to engage not analytically, neither synthetically, but in a way that combines both modes and feel/intuit the correspondence in the aesthetics of the combined beauty of my mathematics and the underlying beauty of my faces.

But most of all I want my audience to evaluate mathematics and its place in our lives. Is mathematics something necessary for life as “art” and not just “fact” and does its value lie in, as Polkinghorne said, as an 'abstract key which turns the lock of the physical universe', or is it the most self-flattering, self-aggrandizing trivia game ever invented?"
-Rajinder Singh

Aged Wisdom

Rajinder Singh born in Ipoh in 1964, was recently selected as one of 20 emerging artists to represent Asia by a juried competition in Hong Kong. He also recently become the first South East Asian artist to be invited to the famous Mourlot studios (now IDEM) in Montparnasse, Paris to make two lithographs of his work for a private collection. To date he has had shows in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris and Argentina. He will be showing in London, India, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Korea and New York later this year.

Major patrons of the artist are Farouk Khan, Baron Gonzalve Bich (of BIC conglomerate) and Franck Duboeuf (of George Duboeuf wines. He is represented by PACE gallery in PJ.~Now you know which gallery Yusof owns!~ Rajinder who has lived in United Kingdom for most of his life now lives and works in Singapore was tutored by a veteran English abstract expressionist, James Holdsworth, in 2002.

Rajinder’s extensive background in Mathematics is the driving force behind his successful art practice. His work has seen worldwide acclaim and has been described as modern and carries a message of change. Rajinder is the artist ambassador for the superpremium wine from Tuscany, Capannelle and his art is promoted by art agents internationally.

He also hosts a popular Singapore art blog with running commentary on the Southeast Asia art scene and was the unofficial site for the Singapore Biennale 2006.

Solo Exhibitions
June 25th, 2008, " Number-Trance-Face", PACE Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
May 27th, 2008, " Number-Trance-Face", Hong Kong Expo Centre, Hong Kong
March 29th, 2008," Number-Trance-Face", O.Fournier Galleries, Argentina
Dec 11th,2007, "Faces 2008", Calender launch, The Universal, Singapore
Nov 11th, 2007, “Faces”, Tower Club, Singapore
July 11th 2007, "Faces", ArtSpace@The Universal, Singapore
June 20th 2007, "Faces", Cellar Galleries@Chateau De Taillan, Bordeaux, France
April 18th 2007, "source_code", Darling Muse Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Dec 9th 2005, "I coME from over tHERE", PPH Public Art Space, Singapore
Aug 2005, "I can SMELL your BAD breath", Merbau Gallery, Singapore
April 2005, "Anthro", Anthropology Gallery, Singapore
Jan 2005, "Gridlocked", Block43 Art Gallery, Singapore

Group exhibitions
August 22nd 2008, "PACE Anniversary Show", PACE Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

June 14th 2008, " Singapore Street Arts Festival", Clarke Quay, Singapore

Oct 10th 2007, “ Shanghai Seduction”, Auction, Grand Shanghai, Singapore

August 22nd 2007
"Pace Gallery: The Opening", group exhibition of paintings with Ahmad Zaki Anwar, Jaliani Abu Hassan, Yusof Majid, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Ivan Lam, Dr Rajinder Singh, Aswad Ameir, Ahmad Shukri Mohamed, Umibaizurah Mahir Ismail, Daud Rahim, Ernesto Pujazon, Hamir Shoaib, Nelson Dominquez, joel couloigner, PACE Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

July 18th 2007, "Aceh Livelihood Project" , Auction, UE Square, Singapore

June 4th 2007, "What else is there?", with Disney animator Chris Shaw, Royal Plaza on Scott, Art Space, Singapore

Aug 22nd 2006, "Symbiosis" ,group Exhibition with Artists Donna Ong and Chng Nai Wee- Marina galleries, Marina Mandarin Hotel, Singapore

Oct 2005, "A prettier picture" , Auction, Your Mother's Gallery, Singapore

July 2005, "Racial Harmony", Bradell Heights CC Art Room, Singapore

April 2005, "Project Relief" , Auction, Seton Close Residences, Singapore

March 2005, "Chip Bee Artist Boheme", Michi Gallery, Singapore

Feb 2005, "Cotton Tree" , Auction , Cotton Tree, Singapore

November 2004, "Batch No 3" , Block 43 Art Gallery, Singapore

June 2004, "Singapore Art Festival 2004 "Vision and Illusion- Reconstruction of a city" , St James Power Station, Singapore

May 2004, "Malcolm` s Chicken" , Block 43 Art Gallery, Singapore

Nov 2003, "Nascent: Beginning to be" , Block 43 Art Gallery, Singapore

Residencies
IDEM ( former Mourlot Studios), Paris, France - july 2008 - three lithographs on plate & stone

Catching Up

YEE I-LANN
Kinabalu Series: Huminodun
Picture Source -Christie's

When it comes to Southeast Asian art at international auctions, Malaysian works seem to lag behind those of Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. But recent auction figures at three major sales in Hong Kong -- i.e. Sotheby’s in April 2008 as well as Christie’s in Nov 2007 and May 2008 -- suggest that contemporary Malaysian art is catching up.

Examples of Malaysian artists whose works sold relatively well, included:

· Ahmad Zakii Anwar (HK$427,400 / RM179,891; Nov 2007)

· Latiff Mohidin (HK$391,500 / RM164,781; Nov 2007)

· Jailani Abu Hassan (HK$391,500 / RM164,781; Nov 2007)

· Yee I-Lann (HK$295,500 / RM124,170; May 2008)

· Chang Fee Ming (HK$137,500 / RM57,850; Nov 2007)

· Ivan Lam (HK$125,000 / RM52,524; May 2008)

But such Malaysian works are “cheap” compared to contemporary works by other regional artists, as shown below. However, works by top Malaysian artists like Latiff Mohidin and Datuk Ibrahim Hussein sell at a much higher price domestically than at international auctions, as yet.

Source -Southeast Asian Art At Auctions by Johnni Wong, The Star Online

IVAN LAM
3 Buses
Picture Source -artlease

Singapore Biennale 2008 Throws Us a Bone

Malaysian Artists at Singapore Biennale 2008

Beyond Recognition

Nadiah Bamadhaj, 2006

Click here to see highlights from Bamadhaj's Single Channel video installation of scenery with words from Joseph Conrad's The Lagoon appearing to be slowly carved onto the landscape.

Excellence, Glory, Distinction
Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang
Liew Kung Yu, 2008

The proportion of regional art to the rest of the world stands at around 30... says Ngui. Doing the math one discovers that Ngui is correct, but because a good portion of the Southeast Asian quota is filled by Singapore artists, the section does not go far into giving viewers a balanced picture of Southeast Asia's creative wealth and breadth. This is an opportunity wasted, especially since though there are other similar art events in asia, the Singapore Biennale is the regions's most internationally-promoted and biggest.
- Iola Lenzi, Wonder: Is it Art or Commerce, C Arts Magazine -Volume 5

The 2nd Singapore Biennale, an international contemporary visual arts event, organised by the National Arts Council, is going on now until 16 November 2008 at City Hall and South Beach Development. Led by Artistic Director Fumio Nanjo and curators Joselina Cruz and Matthew Ngui, the Biennale features 137 artworks by 66 artists and art collectives from over 36 countries and regions including Malaysia.

The artist list include Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Deborah Kelly, Isak Berbic, Hans Op de Beeck, Anthony McCall, Isaac Montoya, Faisal Samra, Fujiko Nakaya, Ki-bong Rhee, and Felice Varini, to Southeast Asia and Singapore, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Heman Chong, Shubigi Rao, Tang Ling Nah, Willy Koh and Sherman Ong.

Singapore Regional art makes up about 30% so we're oh so grateful 2 of ours, namely Liew Kung Yu and Nadiah Bamadhaj made the cut. Not too sure if the other 3 Malaysian born artists (Heman Chong, Joshua Yang, Sherman Ong) are considered Malaysian or Singaporean. (?) Thailand, Phillipines and Indonesia only got 5 combined! Considering how important those countries are in the art world they were quite nice to us-lah.