OCT 31 — The Malaysian art scene has been opening up to many new vistas in the last few years. There are many more art galleries in Kuala Lumpur and in other towns, especially in Malacca and Penang. 

One of the big stories in Kuala Lumpur was auctioneer Henry Butcher’s first art auction in August. Then there is the fourth International Art Expo Malaysia 2010. This art fair is on at the Matrade Exhibition & Convention Centre till tomorrow. 

Sim Tiak Choo is the organising chairman, and his son, Sim Pojinn, is the project director of this art sale. The Sim family and their associates are the prime mover behind these two art marketing events (of course with the support of the National Art Gallery and other related agencies). 

He is no stranger to the local art market. He and his wife, Mary Tang, have been buying and selling art for over 38 years and they operate through their City Art Gallery, in Kuala Lumpur. Their main area of interest is in dealing with older Chinese brush paintings from China and some from Malaysian artists. However, they are now into a wider range of art products and other commercial opportunities from the region. 

Sim’s family background is in the real estate construction business. He may not actively be involved in his family enterprise now, which is under his other sibling’s care. This also explains his close working relationship with the property and real estate valuers, Henry Butcher Auctioneers. 

Henry Butcher Auctioneers, probably with British colonial roots, is an international franchise brand, operating worldwide.  In Malaysia this company had recently added the auctioneering of artworks into their portfolio. 

They carried out the first successful auction of Malaysian modern and contemporary art this year with a record of RM1.7million sales. (Of course they profit both from the sellers and the buyers.) 

At this art bazaar there are 2,000 pieces of artworks from 16 countries, including Malaysia. Most of the artists are from this region, especially from China, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines. 

There is also a small representation from India, Pakistan, Hungary, Germany and Japan. If you were to look at each art piece for one minute, it will probably take you 33 hours. However, you may just be lucky and can find one or two art pieces that may fit your taste and your budget. 

This is certainly an art trade fair not to be missed, if you are into collecting, investing, exploring, learning and art market watching. What is more this public exhibition has no entrance fee except for the car parking charges. 

In the art arena, art fairs take place all over the world, all the time. But the Asian art fair circuit and auctions, with the strong buying power of the Chinese from China, has experienced exponential growth in recent years in Asia. 

The event here followed close to the Singapore art fair in early October. Many of the galleries were from the Singapore art fair which probably would have been to the one in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tokyo, and Shanghai. Nevertheless, Malaysian art and their players are slowly but surely emerging into this multi-million ringgit industry. 

Malaysian artist, Hoe Say Yong, 55, through his own art gallery, Artfolio, is showcasing his own paintings. He and his wife have been a successful business/artist team for many years. His main artistic preoccupation is in painting the reflections of the different patterns of the water surfaces. 

His signature style and composition, arranged at a 45 degree angle, with deep blue colours contrasting with red patterns, makes the viewer "rock about" as if they were on a boat looking out at the surrounding water. 

There are those who say that by just blowing up a photograph of the same scene to a wall size photo print will also do the job, like that of Say Yong’s work. But this debate, which is an important artistic issue for artists, may not be in the agenda of a sale promotion. 

Credit must go to all those involved in bringing this show to the city which the public can enjoy under one roof, the great variety of art production, from different parts of the world. All the different companies involved in this are motivated primarily by profit. It is their function; each of the artists, dealers, brokers, writers, collectors etc. depends on their profits. It is important to the country’s economy to produce wealth. We all need wealth and can anyone of us refuse too much of it? 

But besides personal wealth, perhaps we also need to consider other issues relating to the art world. What about basic morality? What about the lack of financial transparency (which is one of the key to the current world financial crisis) in not revealing, who the legitimate sellers and buyers behind each sale transaction? What is there to hide? 

The Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers make claims about "open platform and increased transparency in the market" but I wonder what they mean by those words? If there was real transparency then it will check unscrupulous price inflation and price fixing etc. It will also lead to a more sustainable art market in the long run instead of the hugely inflated and fluctuating market that it is at the moment. This would eventually lead to less exploitative relationship between the artists and their dealers. 

On the artists’ side, why don’t they too show some initiative in coming together, not because they are a friendly crowd, but because they have a common livelihood  problem, that of the need for a fairer and more open deal with their sales agents? Needless to say, the Art Expo provider is not going to speak for the artists. The artist may need to come together in solidarity sooner than they think.