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The auction market has become the latest, and probably most
exciting, venue for purchasing art. And in the Southeast Asian
region, there are at least 10 auctions that feature Filipino art.
The world’s two largest auction houses,
Sotheby’s and Christie’s, are now based in Hong Kong
(Sotheby’s transferred to Hong Kong from Singapore starting with
its Spring auction held on April 8,2008). Both these auction houses
include Filipino paintings and sculptures in its Southeast Asian art
category.
With the departure of Sotheby’s from
Singapore, the larger Indonesian auction houses have stepped up to
the plate. Borobudur, probably the largest in terms of volume and
value, opened in Singapore four years ago. Larasati was the earliest
among the Indonesian auction houses to make the move to the
city-state, opening its auctions five years ago. The third auction
house, Masterpiece, opened its doors in Singapore, in April this
year.
All three auctions feature Filipino paintings
twice a year. Masterpiece holds auctions in March and September,
Larasati in April and October, while Borobudur features their pieces
in May and November. Like Sotheby’s and Christie’s, Borobudur
and Masterpiece includes Filipino art in their Southeast Asian
Modern and Contemporary Art Category. In Larasati, Filipino pieces
are including in a category called Pictures of Asia.
Borobudur features Filipino art in two of its
auction categories. Works by the Masters, senior artists and
contemporary artists are included in its Southeast Asian Modern and
Contemporary Art category. Those deemed edgier are featured in its
Southeast Asian Contemporary art catalogue.
Large cache of Filipino paintings
This coming weekend is building up to be a very
exciting period for Philippine art in the auction market. Some 50
Filipino artworks are being included by Borobudur Auction in two of
its auction categories. Thirty paintings are included in the
Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art auction set for 2:30
p.m. on Saturday, May 17, 2008.
Unbelievable but true
Wire Tuazon, Geraldine Javier, Yasmin Sison,
Winner Jumalon, Ronald Ventura, Eufemio Rasco are among the young
artists whose works have fetched outstanding prices in Sothebys or
Christie’s recent auctions. The recent Sotheby’s auction last
April actually generated a total of some P38 million, with only 18
paintings from Filipino artists.
Unbelievably, perhaps reflecting the current
trend in the market where younger people have greater purchasing
power, works by young Filipino artists such as Nona Garcia, Ronald
Ventura have outpaced, if not equaled, the closing bids for masters
such as Fernando Amorsolo, Manansala or Fernando Zobel. Some
observers claim that this is probably because the people active in
the auction scene are the younger successful business entrepreneurs
or expats in the region.
Another factor is the growing convenience of
participating in auctions. One can be in Hong Kong, the United
States, or anywhere in the globe for that matter, and participate
actively through telephone or through earlier written bids.
Why buy?
Collectors have found buying at auctions a
pleasurable experience, and the reasons are multifold. One is that
the auction houses themselves undertake great effort to come up with
the better pieces of the featured artists. For the auction house to
select from anywhere from 200 to 300 works, we are told that they go
through four or five times the number of paintings before the
selection is narrowed down and finalized.
At auctions, collectors have a wider choice or
range of art to choose from. They not only choose from among
different subjects, styles, themes, but they also choose from a
roster sourced from all over Southeast Asia. One can find a good
Indonesian piece from a master like Affandi or Hendra Gunawan, or an
in-demand contemporary artist like Rudi Mantofani or Nyoman Masriadi.
Or, the collector can gravitate towards a young contemporary
Philippine artist like Geraldine Javier or Wire Tuazon, or a
Vietnamese master like Le Pho, or a Thai hyperrealist. To further
demonstrate the sheer range of regional works available at auctions,
Larasati’s recent Singapore auction featured a large collection of
Korean art.
Once an artwork is included in an auction, its
provenance becomes quite established. First is the auction catalogue
that prominently features the artwork with references and background
articles. Even from the point of view of investment, collectors
realize that the whole region’s eyes are on the specific auctions.
Because the auction house usually prints anywhere from 3,000 to as
many as 10,000 catalogues and the distribution is worldwide, the
buyer knows that the painting or the artist he is buying is, by its
mere inclusion in the auction, receiving worldwide attention. Should
he wish to unload or resell somewhere down the road, it becomes much
easier for him to do so in the future.
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