You are right. There are a lot of issues that Bang and Whimper could lead into and I wish the blog format was more conducive to allow for elaboration. Thankfully that’s where the comments section come in for further discussion.

I think you might have misread me a little. Contrary to what you have suggested, I don’t think galleries in KL today are doing a bad job promoting Malaysian contemporary artists. I do however think that the range of artists they promote are severely limited (painting being the only thing most galleries are willing to show) and do not represent the diversity, range and depth of arts practice that can be currently found in Malaysia.

To be honest, how many painters painting today do you think will make it into the history of art? Already, the picture that is painted about contemporary art in Malaysia by curators, writers and historians places more emphasis in artistic practice and development in other mediums. The market (the local one) on the whole still refuses to acknowledge this.

By art market, I refer to the private patronage of artist, achieved largely through buying their artworks from commercial gallery. This has largely shaped and validated the BIG WHOS, especially since the art boom a few years ago. ARTERI was primarily founded at the end of this boom to redress the over-emphasis on the market’s tastes and whims. we are not anti-commercialism. Nor is this a diatribe against artists whose sole interest is to pursue a career within the boundaries of sell-able art.

What we want is for our audience to know there’s a bigger scene out there, in which the market is only a subset of. And there are other institutions, organisations, initiatives, mechanism out there that provide the healthy check and balance we require for a flourishing culture industry. Most importantly, the market should never become the sole validating institution for creativity and intelligence.

I do however agree with you that more research needs to be done in this area. And I will continue to look into this issue. But I certainly hope that by ‘misleading’ our young readers at ARTERI, we would be asking them to consider their artistic career beyond the dictates of the market and encourage them to experiment and play a little more. It’s not that hard to get by in KL, artists being creative individuals are resourceful enough to do so in many many ways. ‘Cari makan’ justifications are just lame and lazy excuses.

the way you mentioned how a gallery sticks with an artist seems to emphasize on the growth of artists and nurutring of artists, but isnt that what these educational institutes should be doing at the start to young artists already?
Give them the chance or push them to do farout mindf@cking stuff instead of just copying and hoping to outdo or catch up.

Extend your boundaries, & BANG,

modernity means that that human imagination is now so democritized and appreciated by so many that even in global economic collaps, there’s be art art art everywhere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DStDo0fkYR4&feature=player_embedded

…if you are seeking quality, you have to resign to the fact that genius and excellence is always a rarity anywhere, anytime.