CAN Singapore become the hub for South-east Asian (SEA) art? It's almost a redundant question. Many regional auction houses already view Singapore as the key centre for contemporary SEA art, and are setting up auctions here. The bullish sentiment is bolstered by this weekend's art offerings, when Jakarta-based Masterpiece Auction House will hold its inaugural SEA art auctions in Singapore. It is one of three contemporary art auctions being held here by Masterpiece - the others being Indonesian and Chinese - where about 400 artworks will go under the hammer, with an estimated $10 million to $20 million worth of sales.
Masterpiece follows in the footsteps of two other auction houses which have set up offices here, Larasati Auctioneers (2003) and Borobudur Auction (2005). 'Today, Singapore is not just the marketplace for SEA art, it's also the market,' says Valentine Willie, adviser to Borobudur. He put together one of Singapore's largest auctions of SEA contemporary art last year for Borobudur; it included new media like photography, and netted about $2.8 million in sales.
'The market in Singapore has changed,' asserts Benny Oenardi Raharjo, Masterpiece president and director. 'I have been studying the SEA art auction market here for the past four years. Initially, the interest was in the old Dutch and Indonesian masters, and 70 per cent of the buyers were from Indonesia. Today, around 60 per cent of the buyers are from Singapore - and includes Indonesians based here, expats and Singaporeans.'
Daniel Komala, Larasati president-director, puts it this way: 'For contemporary SEA art auctions, Singapore is the stage, and the region is the audience - just like a Michael Jackson concert that is staged here, with ticket buyers from countries round the region.'
Big boys' exit
All of which suggests a healthy market here, but clouding the rosy picture is the fact that the big boys have stopped holding their SEA art auctions in Singapore. Sotheby's and Christie's have consolidated their sales of SEA contemporary and modern art with their other Asian sales in Hong Kong. Both, however, continue to have offices and previews in Singapore. But 'we aren't moving to Hong Kong because there aren't enough collectors here, but because it fits with our corporate strategy', says Hong Kong-based Quek Chin Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia. He points to how well sales have grown since SEA contemporary art was first introduced in their Singapore auctions, from $75,000 in 1996 to $1.1 million in 2005 to $3 million in 2007.
The move to Hong Kong gives SEA contemporary art a global platform, and allows for more cross-selling opportunities. 'Our slogan is that we source globally and sell centrally,' says Mr Quek, giving an example from the 1980s, when the Japanese were the largest buyers of Impressionist art but the auctions stayed in New York and London. Globalisation is so prevalent that Mr Quek is 'sure the serious Singapore-based buyers of South-east Asian art will come to Hong Kong for the auctions'. The litmus test will be Sotheby's first SEA pictures auction there - the Spring Sale in April 2008 - where the contemporary SEA paintings account for 94 lots, and is expected to fetch more than HK$7.81 million (S$1.4 million).
As for Christie's, specialist of SEA pictures Keong Ruoh Ling says that since the move to Hong Kong, sales for the SEA category has appreciated steadily and the market expanded beyond its immediate region.
For the larger cause of contemporary SEA art, the move to Hong Kong by the big players is no bad thing, for it introduces the art to a very different clientele. As Mr Willie observes, these collectors may have come to look at Chinese contemporary or jewels or watches, but could pop into the SEA auctions and think, 'Not bad lah - and quite cheap also!'
Meanwhile, back in Singapore, Ms Keong says that the influx of regional houses conducting SEA contemporary auctions 'is a direct result of the vacuum that resulted' with the exit of Christie's six years ago and Sotheby's last year.
Sophisticated market
Ironically, it was Christie's and Sotheby's that educated the market here about auctions and SEA art. When they left, they left behind a sophisticated market. And let's face it, says Mr Willie, 'their moving out has freed up the market here'. Mr Komala sees in this situation an opportunity to take on the big boys for a healthy slice of the market. He grins: 'You can't win the war but you can win some battles.'
SEA art collectors here such as Ong Say How are delighted that more contemporary SEA art auctions will happen locally. Dr Ong - who has been buying contemporary Indonesian art from regional auction houses since 2006 - says that the entry of Masterpiece into the SEA contemporary art market here will 'inject healthy and positive competition in the local auction scene'.
Henry Nangoy, a Singapore-based businessman in the chemical industry, says: 'With auction houses like Masterpiece coming to Singapore, it is easier and more accessible for us Singapore-based collectors to see the artworks and attend the auctions first-hand. It's definitely preferable to bidding over the phone.'
It is because he has found similar grassroots support in Singapore that Mr Komala set up offices here. 'Initially, I needed the Indonesian buyers here, but the past few auctions have seen only 30 per cent Indonesians in my sales rooms.'
But it's not just Singapore collectors, 'the growing expat community makes Singapore more interesting, especially as a gateway to a bigger market'.
Mr Willie says that, at their inaugural SEA contemporary art auction last year, the most expensive lot was bought by a Singaporean collector, and that overall, 35 per cent of the buyers were Singaporean.
With the arts infrastructure here improving, thanks to specialist art storage facilities and art movers, not to mention Singapore's moves to increase its population, or initiatives such as the F1 races and the integrated resorts, the market can only get bigger.
SEA contemporary art is a late entrant to the booming market that has grown for Asian contemporary art, with the Chinese and Indians already achieving high price points. But the latter could work well for SEA contemporary, as collectors are always looking for other, cheaper entry points into the market. 'It will be our time soon,' says Mr Willie confidently.
For sure, the SEA market is catching up. I Nyoman Masriadi's Jangan Tanya Saya Tanya Presiden set a world auction record for a contemporary SEA painting, when it sold for $360,000 at the Sotheby's auction here in September 2007.
Borobudur director John Andreas says that in the immediate future, 'the SEA contemporary scene will be dominated by artists like Agus Suwage, Handiwirman, Putu Sutawijaya and Masriadi from Indonesia; Nona Garcia and Winner Jumalon from Philippines, and Ahmad Zaki Anwar from Malaysia'.
So how do contemporary Singapore artists fare in the auctions? They have yet to become a dominant force, though the upcoming Masterpiece auction does feature a few such as Jensen Ee, Chua Boon Kee and Yeo Chee Kiong. Mr Komala says: 'The problem that Singapore artists face is that they get too little exposure. You have to be seen, to get a following and collector base.' In this respect, the greater number of SEA auctions here might well provide a platform for local artists.
As for the auction houses themselves, the increasing competition is good for business, say the players, in a mixture of truth and diplomacy. Mr Komala's dream, for example, is to build Larasati into an Asian equivalent of Christie's and Sotheby's, and he already has expansion plans into Amsterdam, Australia and Hong Kong. 'I can't do it alone. For the industry to become a strong one, you need good healthy competition and more people coming into the industry.'
The auction houses do try and differentiate themselves, based on the connoisseurship of their panel of experts in selecting the works for auctions. Mr Willie, for instance, says that he curated last year's auction in a way that was 'thematic, that gave audiences a sense of the issues that artists are dealing with here'. 'In our auctions, we don't emphasise the specific SEA country that the artist comes from, collectors focus on the art, and in this way, we encourage cross-buying.'
Increasing value
Sub-prime and liquidity crises don't appear to faze the auctioneers. Irrespective of how Masterpiece's debut auctions fare, then, all three auction houses currently conducting SEA contemporary art auctions here, plan to continue with two auctions each over the course of the year. Mr Raharjo says: 'Investors here now have diversified portfolios to include art. The value of SEA contemporary is only going up. Take, say, a Ugo Untoro work that sold for $5,000 two months ago; now - within a span of two months - it is fetching 10 times that amount in the auctions.'
Mr Komala says that in terms of market sustainability in tighter financial conditions, 'it's not the number of auction houses entering the market that matters, it's the number of sales you do'. 'You have to be realistic, and not exhaust the market beyond its capacity.'
As Singapore-based collector Dr Ong sums it up, art is increasingly seen here as an investment opportunity and a viable option to stocks. With SEA art riding on the wave of global popularity for contemporary Asian art, and given Singapore's fantastic economic infrastructure, it seems likely that the market here for SEA contemporary can only grow.
