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01/24/2008: "The Aliya and Farouk Collection" by Rajinder Singh
I had my first ever solo exhibition in Malaysia on the 18th of April 2007. A preview of the paintings was held the day before, unannounced -for the select few revered nobles of the art world, the names of whom are mentioned in hushed reverence in galleries around Kuala Lumpur. It was a somber affair in a big airy gallery in the posher parts of Kuala Lumpur, the twin-tower capital city of Malaysia. I sat in my hotel away from the galley in tremulous prayer, not knowing what to expect.
I walked into my gallery the next day greeted by excited chatter. My stars had aligned. There were five paintings with red dots on them. I was overjoyed. And it was no less than Farouk Khan and his wife who had graced my soft opening with their presence and deigned to set their hearts on five of my larger pieces. The Khans are the most prominent collectors in town, as I came to find out. You cannot talk about the Malaysian art-world without referring to Farouk and Aliya who have, according to many accounts, singled-handedly, turned the fortunes of the Malaysian contemporary art scene around in the last few years.
How can two people have such an impact on a whole generation of artists in a country that rivals Indonesia for its output of great works of art? This was all new to me and I got interested. Farouk and Aliya invited me over to their plush home – a home which could put any gallery and any national art museum in South East Asia to shame. I wanted to be one of the first few to get a preview of Farouk’s much talked about but yet unpublished catalogue of his collection – a cool 600 pieces of the very best of Malaysian contemporary art – and to have a chat about The Khan’s stupendous influence in the Malaysian art world.
I am aware of what is going in Indonesia just now. Buying contemporary art is becoming fashionable. A similar sort of transition is taking place in Kuala Lumpur. The works of new contemporary artists all around Malaysia are gaining reputation and the prices are going up. No more are these artists scorned as they were for the past 10 years. No more is their art considered ‘unmarketable’. A quick review of the going ons in the galleries in Kuala Lumpur will highlight this trend. Whole exhibitions are selling out. Collectors are competing for the same few pieces of art long before exhibitions open.
This is very different from only a few years ago. There was a pressure from the Malaysian “old masters” and the curators and critics failed to recognize the changing face of Malaysian art. They hesitated for a long time to acknowledge the powerful phenomenon of contemporary art. Their position as mentors to public taste made them too cautions; their myopia made them cling for the unchanging and safe hold of the old. Farouk and Aliya lament this failed curatorial process as it inhibited the progress of art in the region. Says Farouk, “…. from the time we started collecting art, the emphasis in the Malaysian art scene amongst collectors was more on pioneer era art and heritage art. There was no movement out of this and, we, from the very beginning rejected the stereo type collecting. The more we got into it, the more we felt that that was the thing to do. Most interestingly was the fact that the contemporary art that was available was of the best art of the period. This was largely due to the fact that institution collections were trapped in the pioneer era and the curators of the day were for various reasons rejecting the contemporary art movement. As the institutions were not collecting, most of the corporate collectors who were very predominant in the Malaysian art scene were also therefore not able to follow the art movement and changes that were happening.”
It took the visionary outlook of the Khans to bring contemporary art in Malaysia to its full and true expression. “We actually felt a sense of deep commitment to ensure our collection became an important collection of the period. We became committed to the task of forming a contemporary collection of Malaysian art which was till then fairly non existent. It amazed us that such a great body of work was available for us to pick up at extremely affordable prices. We have always wondered if whether such an opportunity would have lent it self to us in any other country in the world.”
So what has caused this vacuum in the last ten years? Who has been tightening the noose around the life-energies of a whole era? “The state of art in Malaysia was in the doldrums. There were great artists doing great work but it was being unappreciated. We actually credit our collection to what we term the "failed curatorial process" in the country and in the region. Museum curators and art writers were more important than artists. They were obnoxious and arrogant and in our opinion lazy. In the 10 years of collecting Malaysian art it always amazed us that we never ran into the major curators of the day. It was clear to us that those who were spending their own money were in fact more diligent than those spending the public's money. I have never had any qualms about stating very openly that to a very large extent, the institutional collection of Malaysian art in Malaysia and in the region was not representative of the Malaysian art scene. It was a representation of the "failed curatorial process.”.”
I, for one, am glad for the changing landscape of tastes in Malaysia. I am indebted to The Khans especially for their commitment to the new and exciting art of my proud nation. I can understand what it must have been like for them, alone in their pursuits, hard-pressed perhaps at times in justifying their expensive purchases. It could have been but a fancy -an isolated manifestation of anomaly which might never have become a broad popular movement. Today they own the finest collection of Malaysian art anywhere. I am proud to be part of it.
