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03/06/2005: "And the Cheshire Cat smiled…"
Apart from a few reactions to other blogs and comments, I realise I haven’t contributed so far with much food for thought. Somehow the enclave is not the most conducive environment for higher thoughts and the few that find their way into my little black note-books for future digestion I am weary to share with you until such a time when I have returned to more favourable pastures and have been able to revise them and assessed their [my] sanity. The enclave has been more of a place for physical work and keeping busy than for deep thinking, perhaps because there is such a shortage of people to think deeply with and for [I thought for a nanosecond to introduce a footnote here but it’s really beyond hope so I’ll leave it as it is!]. I hope you don’t mind if I keep to News from the Enclave for a while longer.
Still in 004, the Alliance Française – the French Cultural Centre in the enclave – responded to the art forum’s call for greater interaction and cooperation and launched its own initiative staging monthly exhibitions in its premises with selected artists [both local and foreign] from the group we had brought together. These have been very sought-after events; the premises are not too big, the invitations limited and the news has spread that they are a promising beginning to what comes closest to a good night out in the otherwise culturally dead enclave. The current exhibition is one of my favourites to date: ‘Mindscapes’ featuring Chew Lean Im’s punctured surfaces started Feb. 25.
Following the success of the art forum exhibition and recognizing that art could indeed attract the masses, the enclave’s foremost hotel – the Empire Hotel and Country Club, second only to the Burj al-Arab in Dubai – handed over to Amanda Malpas (another art forum co-founder and artist) one of its most interestingly designed spaces in the arcade in exchange for keeping the space alive as an art gallery. Amanda felt more comfortable in charge of administrative matters and wanted to know whether I could help out as an artistic director/curator of sorts before giving the hotel her final OK. Even though I would have been happier not having to organize any further events and simply concentrate on my painting it did not take long to make up my mind. A touch of ego? The foretaste of power the art forum had given me? I won’t be foolish and deny that there was a bit of both smiling at me in the equation, but honestly, above all, I did see the potential of such a venture, even if, as the hotel was cautious to remind us, it could not be a permanent arrangement and would only last for as long as nobody came up with a more profitable prospect. In a nutshell we would have to keep the space alive with works of art in the hope of attracting new clientele for the Empire whilst keeping the existing one entertained and happy. Could one live with that? I had only to look at it from another perspective to understand that it was all that we had set out to achieve and had worked so damn hard to make real – it is a collective accomplishment. I really had no choice but to accept. Call me a workaholic!
And this is how, for the past 8 months, I have come to spend two days of the week in the surreal surroundings of the Empire Hotel overlooking the South China Sea. Surreal in more ways than one, for when I first came upon this very space three years ago and secretly wished that it were a gallery and not an oriental-carpet shop I had no way of knowing things would turn out this way… or had I? The mysterious functioning of this great machinery we are all part of eludes me.
The arrangement is close to perfection. We are not required to pay rent and by no means is there pressure from above for us to sell a certain amount of works to justify our presence in this place. What we must do, and clearly falls within the scope of my responsibilities, is to maintain a certain standard of quality in conformity with the expectations the guests of a 7 star hotel are accustomed to see fulfilled [our next-door neighbour is a Jim Thompson’s Thai Silk Factory outlet] – a tall order in a place where only a few years ago ‘nothing ever happened’. Our running costs are minimal and limited to the payment of exhibition fees to the government authorities for every show we put up and the printing of invitations, etc. is done in collaboration with the Hotel’s public relations department. The trick we found to keep costs close to zero was to convince the artists themselves to man the gallery on a rotation basis. Thus the artists are exposed regularly to a flow of public and the hotel is happy to have a space that is always alive and not simply a repository of paintings. Electricity and other costs are covered by the hotel and we chip in by agreeing to the hotel charging a 15% commission on each sale that takes place through the gallery [10% off those artists who help run the gallery].
When I mentioned the taste for power I did not mean the power to decide who does and who does not get to show in the gallery. I have no taste for such decisions; they give me no satisfaction whatsoever. What I have discovered I do enjoy is the power to create projects, bring certain artists together, convince sponsors to back them up, see things grow and watch the effects the finished result has on people. Indeed the one aspect I most dislike about this new ‘job’ is having to decide who stays out and who stays in, especially when there is so little to choose from and so much still to be done to encourage the few who are truly keen to get on with their Art. For one, not all the people who took part in the art forum have been called to the gallery. The art forum is one project – an educational experience, so to speak, an opportunity open to all to join and learn – empireArt an altogether different thing. Some measure of quality must be ensured and therefore selection is a necessity. How do I go about the task? Well, I concede that I have no formal training, but I’ve been dragged to openings and museums since an early age, I’ve been fortunate to be around people who know and to see spaces and environments they’ve created – I guess that should count as a certain degree of education. At least I believe [but don’t we all?] that I’ve learnt to discern what can be there and what should definitely not be there. But I’m also guided by the feed-back I get from the occasional visitor to the gallery. I will place a particular work in a certain part of the gallery and observe people’s reactions and observations and act upon them. In the end – and I hate being on this side of the fence and hearing myself say this – many don’t make it onto the walls. I get some comfort from the thought that I am able to redirect artists to the Rain Forest gallery where workshops are held and they are always welcome to return to empireArt to show how they are developing, and there’s always the possibility of joining the next art forum exhibition. When I’m on duty no one is treated with disdain. No one leaves the gallery with that hollow feeling in the gut so many of us are left with when we decide to take that step beyond the doors of the gallery we have been psyching ourselves up to talk to.
Programme-wise 004 didn’t see much activity. We juggled around the work we had on consignment to keep things looking good and we organized one exhibition to coincide with the Crown Prince’s wedding. This last was definitely a low point and the work of the few good local artists we managed to round up [it was an exclusively-enclavian affair] was insufficient to make up for the lack of quality of the rest… but the Queen did will it thus and if I wanted to be able to complete the projects I had in mind for 005 I had best stomach it and feign my insignificance [or had I not mentioned that the hotel belongs to the Royal family?]. The final days of 004 and the first of 005 were spent getting things back to the standard I wanted and the hotel management was overjoyed to recover. The all-enclavian affair, however, had one positive consequence that must not be overlooked: along with much unwanted stuff we finally reached the hard-core of the better artists of the enclave who had thus far managed to avoid coming forth. Such is the power of the Queen’s Cheshire-Cat-like-smile.
At this end if you seek variety you either go to Singapore, KL or Jakarta for a two night/three day breather or you are stuck with mostly the same stuff by the same artists over and over… Overkill is a very real hazard in the enclave and even though there are those who would argue that the more you are seen the better, I prefer to retract from time to time and cash in on the element of surprise. On the other hand to bring Art from Singapore or KL requires well-oiled logistics and a certain guaranty that you’ll get the numbers in to justify the costs. To bring it from further afield… well?
[a note on the side: someone asked me a few weeks ago if I thought it would be interesting and reasonable to bring in a collection of German Expressionist paintings from a certain gallery in Germany which was very keen on displaying it in the enclave - I can’t fathom why. Interesting, I replied, it was indeed, but it would also be the riskiest and most unreasonable undertaking. When I asked how much the project would cost (300.000 euro, which I would have been expected to help raise within the enclave) I waived them off. Not that the sum is unrealistic, but the public’s response and need for such a, shall we call it diversion, simply does not justify the cost and effort that would have to go into it. There simply is no response beyond the opening night and therefore no reason for anyone in their right mind to sponsor such a venture… Oh, but how it would have befitted the megalomania of the enclave wonderfully!]
Nevertheless, things can be done on a more reasonable and saner scale and the first of the projects I had envisioned for the gallery is currently underway: an exhibition of recent works by two artists from Salzburg, Austria [a couple], inspired by the prospect of a visit to Borneo. Now, how does something like that come about? Well, it all started eighteen months ago when I had an interesting encounter with one of the Sultan’s many private pilots, Hubertus Powroslo. Aside from flying 747’s Hubertus is an Art collector, so I learnt, and collects almost exclusively the work of his artist friends Herwig Bayerl and Lena Bosch. When I went by his house to see a sample of their work I felt like I had reached an oasis. But the plot thickens. Hubertus’ interest is by no means static. He buys the artists’ work, surrounds himself with it for a few years but goes on to promote his friends’ talent privately. If a piece from his collection is sold the money goes into buying new works and the process is kept in constant flux with benefits both for the collector and the artists [he makes no financial gain from his transactions]. Hubertus too, like the distinguished gentleman who approached me weeks ago, asked whether it would be interesting and reasonable to organise something in the enclave for his artist friends, but unlike him had all the angles covered and reassured me that the artwork could be flown in and that he would pay for all other costs. His enthusiasm was contagious and genuine and I pledged him my support. At the time there was neither an art forum nor the remotest prospect of there being a gallery but we both convinced each other that we’d pull it off. To cut a long story short everything has come together and Herwig and Lena’s show ‘The Fruits of the Rainbow Tree – a vision of borneo’ opened at empireArt gallery on 15 February to the sound of a gamelan ensemble I called in at the last minute. All this, if you’re curious, for less than 1.500 euro, including catalogue, posters, invitations, postage and catering… the ensemble was on me – a thank-you note to the artists and Hubertus for the hint of fresh air they’ve breathed into the bubble.
[Here is an extract from the press-release the gallery sent to the only newspaper in the enclave:
EmpireArt Gallery at the Empire Hotel and Country Club will be showing the work of artist couple Herwig Bayerl (Austria) and Lena Bosch (Germany) from February 15 to March 13. Never having visited Borneo before, the landscapes – or Geotopes, as Herwig Bayerl prefers to label them - and the figures on show represent each artist’s imaginary view of Borneo. To paraphrase the artists’ own words in the catalogue to the exhibition:
‘What images and ideas might cross the minds of an artist couple upon being invited to exhibit their work on the island of Borneo, in the Sultanate of [the enclave] to be more precise? A fairy-tale island straight out of the ‘One-Thousand-And-One-Nights’? A tropical island inhabited by mysterious creatures, men and women bearing colourful tribal markings, head hunters and shamans? A Rainbow-Tree? A beach-walker – an image of light and movement ? What might the art of Borneo look like? Is it ornamental, figurative, expressive?’
For Herwig Bayerl, Professor of Graphic Arts at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg this will be the first foray into the tropics. His present selection of paintings, for the greater part acrylic on canvas, gives us a glimpse of what he has come to label ‘GEOTOPES’. “A ‘GEOTOPE’ is a world [painted world] that has emerged and grown from a serial work-process and reflects my artistic interpretation of the places and landscapes I have lived in or experienced.” (Herwig Bayerl). The main criteria for these works are Form, Colour, Structure and Space.
Lena Bosch travelled throughout South East Asia whilst on a working trip to the Philippines in 1993, having exhibited her work on the neighbouring island of Mindanao. At first impressed and influenced by the intense colours of German Expressionism and the French Fauvist movement – in other words, the ‘wild painting’ of 20th century Europe – Lena Bosch later came to find her own personal artistic expression through the medium of collage. In her selection of paintings for the Borneo exhibition she has sought to establish links to human figures as well as head- and animal figures. 
This is a call to embark on a journey – ein ‘Sehreisen’ [in the words of Bayerl]: a journey to see – to discover new worlds, new painted worlds and GEOTOPES. A journey in which the imagination is freed of all limitations.
Unlike the painter Henri (le Douanier) Rousseau who never left his native France to create his imaginary landscapes Herwig Bayerl and Lena Bosch will be in [the enclave] to assess for themselves how far their imagination has brought them. Their greatest hope is to meet some of the local artists of the sultanate and learn from them the deeper insights the naked eye sometimes fails to detect. Time and conditions permitting Bayerl and Bosch will be working on location in the gallery and these new works will be revealed at empireArt during a closing ceremony (open to the general public)… ]
By the time you read this Herwig and Lena will have left but you will be up to speed with what is happening on the artistic front. During their stay they managed to paint and we organized a few meetings and workshops in the gallery for the artists of the enclave. Sadly, once again, the local artists did not turn up in the numbers I had hoped for [word has reached me that they are resentful for having been asked to retrieve their paintings to give way for this exhibition… and it seems the Queen had no reason to interfere] and so it appears that the roller-coaster ride is still running after all [if this last bit sounded like gibberish read my previous blogs]. For those who came, however, I believe we all felt the same sense of elation: from our side it was a chance to see new work and exchange views with experienced artists from a world that could well be on a different planet, and for Herwig and Lena it meant that this was not simply a matter of having their paintings on a wall. It was alive. So much alive, that I decided to bring up the idea for the second project and invite them both to join in the boat… but I’ll leave that for some other time.
