Chapter1015

Premises for
Critical Studies ofModern Art inSoutheast Asia
T.K. Sabapathy
T.K.Sabapathy is an art historian andart critic. He has published extensively
on art and artists in Southeast Asia.
His writing has inaugurated importantart historical trajectories for appraising
the modern and the contemporary
in Southeast Asia. His monographic
studies of artists-especially on thosein Singapore and Malaysia-and.essays in exhibition catalogues haveestablished significant benchmarks indeveloping the critical literature on art
and artists in the region. He is currently
Adjunct Associate Professor in the
Department of Architecture, National
University of Singapore, where heteaches the history of art.

This essay was presented at the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN)Exhibition and
Art Symposium held in Kuala Lumpur in 1982. The
occasion offered the author the opportunity to respondto the "curatorial strategies" and "critical purposes"of the exhibition, "Landscapes in Contemporary Art
Forms:· He believes that exhibitions can provide"acuity in critical discussion:· From this perspective,
he sets out to reflect on the way modem art inSoutheast Asia is studied. He begins by stating that"chronologies, inventories, styles and influences" haveto be situated in a state of tension with the "intelligencecrystallized in the work of art:'In other words, the said
methods have to be processed and seen in the context
that is proposed by the event, the instantiation and thecondition of art, which he describes as both a "subtle
activity" and, quoting Arnold Hauser, a "nodal pointof several causal lines:' In assessing such a complex
moment of sensible life, he critiques the assumptionthat modern art in Southeast Asia conforms to thepremises of the Western avant-garde that anchor thevalue of modernism in the "self-consciousness towards
the history of art:·This self-consciousness persistently
requires challenge and subversion. Sabapathy
contends that this is not the sole basis of modernism.
In light of thfs idea, he advances two propositions
that underlie the production of art in the region:
the relationship between existence and expression
and the relationship between environment andexpression. These propositions can only be elaborated
upon and cendered productive by "comprehensive
interdisciplinary approaches:·[PF]

Source: Architecture Journal 1983
(Singapore: School of Architecture,
National University of Singapore): 1-6.

Shaping the History of Art

016

InSoutheutAsla

Exhibitions publicize productions and solicit for
patronage . These are operatives functioning at a
primary level. At a secondary and other related
levels, they prospect for stakes on uncharted terrain,
persuade support for such stakes and propose new
methods for prospecting. Perhaps an improper
scenario, but one which allows for a convenient
entry into our situation. For the purpose of this occasion is to induce fresh approaches to expositions
for art activity in Southeast Asia, to inject direction
and focus in presentation, and acuity in critical
discussion . The expectation has been that ASEAN
exhibitions are institutional endeavors seeking toprovide overviews of varied and shared conceptions
shaping modern art practices in the countries of theregion . In these regards, the current exhibition, titled"Landscape in Contemporary Art Forms;' generates
satisfaction and provocation.
Satisfaction stems from witnessing a shift fromhabitual one-dimensional presentations framed byamorphous readings of history to those which set
out to explore, in detail, a single idea or conception:
an emphasis which can highlight and discriminate
enduring assumptions related to art activity in theregion . The present approach is geared towards aclear, purposeful and structured realization of theaims underlying the ASEAN exhibition . The shiftreflects the adoption of new curatorial strategies, aswell as fresh critical purposes. Some brief remarks
concerning preceding exhibitions will be useful insetting a scene for my discussion.
In the past, mobile exhibitions have offered
desultory histories of art in capsule form, basedon selective, condensed schemes of chronology.
They have aimed at compacting a varied range of
pictorial accomplishments in the respective ASEAN
countries . Invariably, the packaging unrolls as aparade of the top ten .
In these respects, earlier presentations point toattitudes wrapped around essentialist assumptions .
That is to say, the productions have been selected
for display because they embody a singular essence
in which aesthetic and historical values coincide. A
work of art is claimed to be significant in relation to
its revealed, aesthetic qualities as well as its marking
a moment of generative consequence, around whichperceptions and contexts regarding importance andinfluences can be suggested .
There is nothing new or surprising in theseclaims; indeed, they constitute the core that sustains
critical impulses . The received traditions of the history, criticism and appreciation of art are rooted insuch assumptions . In this connection, earlier mobile
exhibitions have, potentially, useful functions; they
are nuclei for plausible, generalized accounts ofmodern art practices in Southeast Asia.
I say potentially, because their implications
continue to lie dormant. The contents have notreceived sufficient exposure . The interpretation ofthese exhibitions in terms of issues and aspirations
collectively shaping modern art practices have yet to

T.K.Sabapathy

Art Studies_03

be suggested. Had these been cultivated, two of thethree aims framing ASEAN exhibitions-namely, thepromotion of a regional consciousness, and the provision of a basis for the comparative study of trends
and developments-would
have been articulated
and tested, and have gained possible currency . For
consciousness has to be made concrete and palpable to have impact . Comparative bases for study
have to be structured and continually submitted for
discussion and revision to be vital and purposeful.
Creative performance and critical enterprise would
only have gained from such eventualities.
It is with an optimistic view of such possible
gains that I direct my remarks to the present occasion . I began with the claim that the current exhibition generates satisfaction as well as provocation.
The cause for satisfaction has been remarked upon,briefly. We who are participating in the symposium
are the provocateurs. Our licenses have been issued
and the arena marked out . The guidelines to thesymposium state aims that are comprehensive
and, admittedly, ambitious. And they should be! If
worked upon with enthusiasm and vigor, they canlead to provoking inputs and germinating results .
In summary, they call for the provision of contexts
that can suggest and generate sufficiently invigorating insights into an aspect of pictorial expression
selected for this occasion-landscape . Suchprovisions will entail more than narratives fleshingout skeletal chronologies, tiresome inventories ofnames, dates and productions, and the facile readingof styles and influences. They will require more thana parade of aesthetic idiosyncrasies .
Let me not be misunderstood . I am not intolerant of idiosyncrasies . The mystique enveloping
creativity as such embraces this notion, and the recognition of such entities jolts discussion into creative
dimensions . The bureaucracy of critical systems,
however , seeks to tame and domesticate suchprecocious existences .
Chronologies , inventories, styles and influences
are primary apparatus for critical perceptions. Entire
disciplines and supporting ideologies concerning theconservation, display, publicity and cultural persuasion of art objects are anchored in them. They will,undoubtedly, feature in varying degrees of prominence in the papers scheduled for delivery at thisplatform. They have their uses in raw conditions, butthey need not be offered for consumption in a perpetually uncooked state. All of these elements haveto be internalized, pressed into serviceable form, andthen employed with discretion, with proper stressand harmony in order to tease out the intelligencecrystallized in the work of art.
The provision of contexts I referred to a little
earlier is an endeavor to set up approach roads .
The focal point at which all such approach roads
must converge is the image the artist projects, its
content, its form and style of expression-criteria
which make up the conventions guiding thehistory and criticism of art. They are based on

Chapter1017

the understanding that there is a discernible link
between expression and existence; in other words,
there is a discernible relationship between the styleof the aesthetic object and the style of the creator's
existence . The elaboration of contexts at the surface
level pursues these aims .
Elaboration at a deeper level involves factorsof greater, interlocking complexities . For in as muchas there is a link between existence and expression,
there is a link between environment and expression .
The aesthetic object is pressed into shape by the values, ideologies and exigencies of a given place andtime . One cannot remind oneself too often that thecreative process is an infinitely subtle activity ; thatthe work of art is a compound of the most unexpected elements; that it is, in the words of one writer(Arnold Hauser), the "nodal point of several causal
lines: psychological, sociological and stylistic." Ql
For a complete apprehension of its significance,
therefore, all three factors have to be simultaneously
considered in a logical exegesis.
There is something unnerving about all of
this. On the one hand, these are familiar conditions
which have percolated to levels of commonsense
application. No doubt, aspects related to them will
surface in the country reports. On the other hand,declared with strident formality, they appear daunting and fraught with uncontrollable difficulties. To
activate these considerations entails comprehensive, fully worked-out methodologies requiring
inputs from various disciplines . They are available
for adoption and transformation, to suit particularsituations . The urgency for such approaches andlevels of consideration cannot be overstated.
For if art activity as such is to stake claims in areas
which forge identities, shape values, and crystallize
processes by which choices are made, then its
study must embrace factors as those mentioned
by Hauser as formative criteria . Their adoption iscompelling, particularly in the discussion of modern
art activity in Southeast Asia.
It is axiomatic that the emergence of modern
art implies the existence of parent traditions.
Accordingly, one of the identifying characteristics ofthis kind of activity is its self-consciousness towards
the history of art, of all art-a self-consciousness
realized by strategies that challenge and subvert thestructures and ideals of existing practices, thereby
provoking fresh values and directions. The conception of the avant-garde, its inexorable advance,is dramatized in these terms . Critical accounts ofmodern art are anchored in these assumptions .
The development of modern art in Southeast
Asia does not necessarily conform to criteria basedon such assumptions. Its development is linked withprocesses related to the attainment of political independence, self-determination in structuring newstates, securing a semblance of harmony between
the old and the new, and safeguarding of cultural
identity. These processes exert enormous pressures,
explicitly and implicitly, on the purpose and meaning

1983

of modern art activity .
Conceptions regarding identity , individuality,
art as the expression of private as well as public
values are conditioned by them . Consequently, thesensibilities with which traditions are viewed, thechoices that have to be made between contending
ideological or philosophical positions and competing stylistic models are contingent not only on therealization of formal transgressions but also on
the production of images that symbolize sharedaspirations and meanings . Notions of individuality,of innovation and expressiveness, whilst earnestly
sought for, defended and cherished , are actualized
not exclusively in personalized journeys but hedged
with the need to image a collective spirit .
Let me illustrate some of these assertions; theexamples are taken from the great debate that raged
throughout Indonesia regarding the future of art andculture . Glimpses into it provide vivid testimony of its
passionate conduct and the scale of the issues.
Writing in the late 1930s, Sudjojono makes
an impassioned plea to his fellow artists to depict"reality," "truth" and "life now," and not to seek"beauty in antiquity-Majapahit or Mataram,... because art is work based on our daily lifetransmuted by the artist himself who is immersed
in it ." ~ For Sudjojono, the past is truly dead; theartist should not be encumbered by it . Other voices
counselled differently, for it was necessary not only
to look forward but to look back .
In addition to conflicting views concerning
the past, positions were clearly drawn regarding the choices that had to be made between
indigenous traditions and modernity-the
latterunderstood as Westernization, and translated interms of individualism and materialism . In theserespects, Sanusi Pane, the poet and playwright,
offers the following diagnosis :European culture flourishes on materialism,
intellectualism and individualism ...
Individualism breeds boundless competition in
the economic sphere . In art, the goal is art pour!'art.
and conclusion :In the East ... , materialism, intellectualism andindividualism are not needed so much. Man is
not forced to combat nature in trying to masterit. He feels in unity with the world around him .
In a riveting simile, Pane likens the West to Faust andthe East to Arjuna "meditating on Mt. lndrakila:·
Takdir Alisjahbana, in his attempts to demystify
the tired cliches about East and West, supported bya recognition for the need for modernization, began
by espousing a holistic view . "The Western technology and science that they want," he admonished,"cannot be separated from Western philosophy, artand customs-in short , from the Western way andPremises forCrttlcal Studies of Modem Art In Southeast Asia

01

Arnold Hauser, ThePhdosophy of Art
History (New York: Knopf, 1958), 13.

02
Claire Holt.Art m Indonesia Contmutt,es
and Change (Ithaca & London: Cornell
University Press, 1967). This and all quotations regarding the debate are from thispublicallon.

Shaping the History of Art
lnsoutheutAsla

018

view of life." In a swift, cleaving stroke he dispels
Pane's mystic vision of the East.
It is not likely that airplanes, well equipped
hospitals, efficient banks and rationalized
agriculture would spring from spirits as
Gandhi's or Tagore's.
Alisjahbana gradually assumes a conciliatory andaccommodating stance, and calls for a reinterpretation of traditional heritage in ways that can be relevant to the modern age. About art he says,
If traditional arts and crafts can be taught in theschools alongside the scientific knowledge andthe values and mental categories developed bymodern culture, there is every reason to hopethat the two cultural elements will produce inthe talented and gifted student a synthesis of
the artistic trends of our times flavored withsomething peculiarly Indonesian.
This is a paean to the humanistic vision in whichcraft and industry, tradition and modernity,
the universal and the particular attain a grandsynthesis through the disinterested intervention of
the genius incarnate.
The proclamations and positional statements
culled from the debate in Indonesia are not peculiar to that country. They allude to abiding preoccupations in the countries of Asia, particularly in thiscentury when the pace towards the creation of newstates accelerated. At first glance the statements I
have quoted may well appear, in turns , simplistic andna·ive, dogmatic , ambiguous and mystifying, and yet,they clue us into conceptions which are of pointed
significance today, such as: attitudes toward traditions, understanding of the idea of the modern, anxieties concerning the role and status of the artist, thepurpose of art activity, and the relationship between
the audience and the work of art . It is not, however, my intention for this occasion to engage in a
detailed reading of these statements. I present themin order to indicate the scope of the issues, the flavorof the discussion, and the potential inherent in themto enrich the interpretation of art. Needless to say,they are available for purposeful, critical readings.
Material such as this need to be sought, secured andpublicized; their application and codification need tobe continually tested in order to expand the contexts
for the discussion of art .
The parameters for plausible contexts havebeen suggested in terms of two propositions : onthe one hand a relationship between existence andexpression, and on the other hand a relationshipbetween environment and expression . The linkconnecting the two is the notion of expression,in other words, the work of art . It is vital thatthe focus on this notion is safeguarded . Criticalmethodologies, of whatever persuasion, however
lofty and subtle in structure, are useful as long as

T.K.Sabapathy

Art Studies_03

they advance and enrich the apprehension of thework of art .
Critical accounts of modern art in Southeast
Asia are rooted in the first proposition, which I havetranslated as interpretation at the surface level. The
controlling idea is style . Used with varying degrees
of proficiency and discretion, the idea is elaborated
by adducing a number of descriptive formulations .
The more important amongst these are delineating
schemes of chronology, identifying picture categories and discerning influences . Yet others include
determining shifts in aesthetic positions, claiming
and defending significance for specific productions,and analyzing individual works in order to ascertain
attitudes toward medium, material, processes andtechniques of production. Art activity as a phenom enon which is available for discussion as well as fordiscursive formulations is based on these features.
They make up the grammar of critical structures .
It is of vital importance that histories andcriticisms at this level continue to be practiced andpublicized. Admittedly, current practices are heavily
indebted to received traditions, conceptions andvalues institutional ized in the USA and in Europe,and there is disquiet regarding such dependence.
In this connection, it might well be worthwhile toremember that critical activity, as much as creative
performance, is subject to processes of acculturation . ( It is an issue that can be formalized as a theme for aseparate symposium-one that is eminently compatible
with the declared aims underlining ASEAN exhibitions.)

Acquired traditions, conceptions and values
pertaining to critical enterprises require revisionand domestication; they need to be controlled andinclined toward positions that suggest and clarify
contexts for modern art activity in Southeast Asia .
Procedures such as these are plausible with the
adoption of the second proposition : namely, the link
between expression and environment. In addition
to the grammar of style, a comprehensive criticalaccount of a work of art needs inputs from sociological and psychological causes . Admittedly thisis a formidable demand in terms of the precision of
information needed, and the comprehensive interdisciplinary approaches required. Nevertheless, a
conscientiousness towards such causes can bringout the sense of the authentic in modern art activity
in Southeast Asia, a sensibility that can be directed
towards eradicating cynical and apologetic attitudes
regarding such activity. We all share in the tumult of
the complex and interlocking processes that used
to and that continue to affect perceptions as to whatsociety has been, is and should be. Inputs from sociology and psychology can suggest that modern art
as practiced in the countries of this region reflects
and participates in these processes; it has a rightful
claim as a particular expression of these processes.
The choice of a single art idea or conception is
ideally suited for the exploration of the kinds of contexts I have outlined . Landscape, as such, proposesparticular challenges to the artist regarding time,

019

Chapter1

place and style. It crystallizes content in ways thatare not so starkly available with other art ideas. For
these reasons, it is eminently suitable for discussionof and approaches to the issues I have mentioned .
The respective country reports will, I dare say, be
principally based on interpretation at the surface
level; in other words, fleshing out the link between
expression and existence. This is useful. It is hopedthat observations regarding interpretation at the
deeper level, i.e., the link between expression andenvironment, will receive adequate attention in theensuing discussion.
In conclusion, I offer you a provocative principle

1983

enunciated by the late Ananda Coomaraswamy.
In an oration delivered at Boston College in 1936,
Coomaraswamy declared, unequivocally :It is only when we understand the raisond'etreof iconography that we can be said to havegone back to first principles .
Iconography, properly understood and given acomprehensive range, will allow for surprising andyet clarifying understanding and interpretation of
the causal links connecting existence, expression
and the environment .

PremlnsforCrttlcaJStudlH of Modem Art In Southeast Asia

03
Ananda K.Coomaraswamy, Chris&anandOr,enta/ Philosophy of M ( New York:
Dover Publicattons , 1956), 41

020

Art Studies_03

Shaping the History of Art
in Southeast Asia.

.

Modern Art inSoutheast Asia
John Clark
John Clark is Professor Emeritus in Art
History at the University of Sydney. He
is the author of five books and editor
or co-editor of another five . In 2011,
Asian Mod11mities:
Chinese and Thai
Art of the 1980s and 1990s (Sydney :Power Publications, 2010) won the BestArt Book Prize of the Art Associationof Australia and New Zealand. The
recently completed draft of a twovolume study, The Asian Modern, 1850s1990s, includes detailed comparative
studies of five generations of modern
Asian artists between the 1850s andthe 1990s. His Contemporary Asian Art
at Biennials is scheduled for publica tion by National University of Singapore
Pressn mid-2017.

In trying to discuss the practice and place referenced
by the terms "modern art" and "Southeast Asia ,"the author insists on the impossibility of neatly
characterizing both , John Clark draws attention to
the social condition of Southeast Asia in terms of a"severehistorical disjunction ." The region is a highly
differentiated formation, and therefore resists facile
attempts to describe it as a singular geography of art.
He asks:"What could possibly link, or what structuralparallels could possibly be valid for, such disparate
histories?" This disparity is not only a condition of theregion; it constitutes the character of modern art itself.
The region and the modern, therefore, are not to beviewed as preconceived norms; these categories arethemselves problems to be probed in intellectual andartistic work . According to him, the disparity is partly
overcome by a common element: "the simultaneous
absence of articulated indigenous academic painting
discourses and the presence of the representational
power of European mid- and late 19th-century salon
realism." This involves a complex process. For instance,
he imagines oil painting to be a source of status andprestige for the "colonial or self-colonizing aristocrats
and their successors-colonial and postcolonialeducated members of the literate middle classes ." This
seems to suggest a situation of acceptance . But, on
the other hand, he underscores the tricky nature of thetransfer of knowledge of the discourse of painting as atransformation of its form "outside Euramerica" and avehicle for a postcolonial sign system marking identity
within modern nation-states. The appropriation of theWestern form , therefore, was extremely complicated :a means to express critique of the Western origin
but no longer in formalist terms within the modernist
continuum, on the one hand, and a turn of thepostcolonial creative intelligence to issues that trouble
the world , many of which could be traced to colonial
history, on the other .
[PF]
Source : Originally published as"Modern Art in South-East As ia;· in
Art and AsiaPacifi c Sample Issue (1993):
35-38.

Chapter1

021

Modern art in Southeast Asia exists in a context ofsevere historical disjunction between the different
linguistic and cultural situations inherited from colonialism or neocolonialism. Let us take art schools as
one direct indicator. Some countries had a colonialart academy . In Vietnam this was followed by a variety of overseas "attachments"-theNorth with theformer Soviet Union and China, the South with the
USA and France, until reunification in 1975. Russian
and Chinese replaced French as the language ofart discourse for North Vietnamese, and English
for some South Vietnamese. Others countries, likeThailand, experienced a kind of self-colonialism . The
Thai court and nobility imported Italian art and artists
wholesale in the 1890s and 1910s, and in the 1930s
the military government's art school took Italy as amodel through the work of Corrado Feroci. Malaysia
was without its own art schools until the late 1960s;
Indonesia only had them from the early 1950s; yet
the Philippines had the earliest art schools in theregion, dating from the early 19th century. What
could possibly link, or what structural parallels could
possibly be valid for, such disparate histories?
Probably the single most important linking element
is the simultaneous absence of articulated indigenous academic painting discourses and the presenceof the representational power of European mid- andlate 19th-century salon realism. In Southeast Asia,
realist European oil painting was not connected withthe strong pictorial discourses of China and Japan,
each of which had developed parallel art-theoreticalor poetic criticism. Furthermore, where there was ahighly developed, stylistically syncretic representational mode, as in Thai Buddhist temple murals,
stylistic innovation was not questioned as long as
the narrative integrity of the morality tale depicted
was maintained.
An equally striking structural analogy is foundin the interest of mid- and late 19th-century aristocrats in the mastery of European art forms, whether
by study at home, as with Prince Naris in Thailand, or
through study in Holland, as with Raden Saleh from
Java. The long historical lead times for the development of modern art in Europe to some extent finds
a minor social equivalent in the learning of oil painting by these colonial or self-colonizing aristocrats
and their successors-colonial and postcolonialeducated members of the literate middle classes .
To some extent, this prehistory positions oil painting among the postindependence, court, or uppermiddle-class elites as the formal expression of areceived or acquired status . A signal example ofthis is the Indonesian artist Basuki Abdullah, whowas "court" painter to Soekarno in Indonesia in the
1960s, to the King of Thailand and to the Marcoses in
the Philippines during the 1970s.
But there are also broken genealogies which
serve as historical parallels between different countries in the region . One thinks of the break between
the Spanish orientation of Philippine art before "independence" in 1896 and its orientation towards the

1993

USA thereafter; the loss of a socialist art in Indonesia
after the counter-communist coup in 1965, and thesideways dislocation or fragmented development ofa socially critical art in Thailand after the right-wing
military coup in 1976. Significantly, only the relatively
free situation in postindependence Indonesia andpost-1945 Philippines produced an historicizing art
linked to representation of popular struggles.
Of course the greatest and longest-lasting disrup tions were those implied by the end of colonialism,
or externally imposed neocolonialism (as opposedto that internally generated) after World War II. These
political changes implied the end of a different orderwhich has only recently become apparent. The cultural domination of Euramerica brought prestige
to both its academy and anti-academy art, but as
the mimicking of academy art for the colonial elites
could now be exposed by an openly nationalist discourse, its power could also be seen clearly as morethan inverse Oriental ism on the part of those elites .
European academy art now became the art of a local
establishment, but this nationalist transfer also concealed a different contradiction . For if modernism's
founding myth had legitimated its self-origination
through the invention of new forms in the face of
academy atavism, so with the transfer of new political legitimacy among the ex-colonies could academy realism be challenged outside Euramerica . The
transfer of the confrontation was from an historicalsituation in turn-of-the-century Europe to a topological location in the contemporary world outside thatof Euramerica, where modernism's various styles
had already become part of an academy repertoire .
Access to the originating myths under local conditions actually implied the end of the notion of origination in modernism itself, and at the same time
exposed the ethnocentric notions which still underpin talking from the periphery on the center's terms .
Part of the task which artists in Southeast Asia haveadopted is to create meaningful icons for the newnational identity, or for efforts made in its development and defense . Whether these icons had a royalor crypto-fascist construction, as in 1920s and 1930s
Thailand, or whether they involved the siting of massive public monuments to national unity and effort
in a context of multilingual and cultural diversity, as
in Jakarta, it was quickly found that formulaic rejections of the colonial were no guide to the positive
formation of postcolonial symbols . All that littered
the public sight lines of many Southeast Asian cities
by the 1980s were monuments to megalomania or
corporatist appropriation of public symbols in thename of national or religious pride : the multistory"Malay" roof on a party headquarters; the international hotel lobbies full of commissioned local"genre" painting in Bangkok and Jakarta .
The end of formal dominance in polities by
Euramerica, and in art of the origination implicit inmodernism, meant that the new elites could treat
Euramerica as an immense cultural warehouse fromwhich they now had the sovereignty of consumer

ModemArtlnSoutheastAsla

022

ShaplngtheHlatoryofArt
In Southeast Asia

choice. Local elites, as in 1950s Philippines, could
decide they wanted certain types of modernism tocurtain -call their entry onto the stage of international
expression. Or other elite members could denounce
the ignorance of what was genuinely local, vernacu lar and of the people, criticizing the cultural choiceof their peers as ethnic or nationalist treason. This
position carried with it the danger of a domestic"Orientalizing" of the folk, and the confusion of types
of aesthetic preference with the social structures
which privilege one type of art against another.
The political and nationalist coloring given to manyart debates tended to obscure more directly artistic contradictions. If there was a gap between thenational and the tribal, "the tribal" or the "ethnic"
were not unproblematic notions, nor were they necessarily clear in attributing valued aspects of common symbolic values to art forms. All the Southeast
Asian countries have seen as much forced assimilation of tribal or local difference into the presumed
national synthesis as they have seen artists arisingfrom a local base with a local expression that foundwider popularity.
Also buried, often by an inclination to leaveartists alone so long as they engaged in individual
expression or unproblematic decorativism, was thewider exploration of a kind of formal consciousness
having cultural or religious roots, which implicitly
excluded other members of the new nation. The
tradition of Islamic calligraphy and the Islamic prohibition against using icons were the basis for someinteresting attempts to develop a culturally specificnon-figurative art in Indonesia in the 1970s, and later
in Malaysia in the 1980s-which have yet to see fulldevelopment. The progenitors were sidetracked into
producing appropriate decorations for the elite . Such
purchase-worthy elements as Koranic quotations,
gold highlighting, or, in Thailand, royal references,
seemed to paradoxically foreclose their full plastic
and expressive qualities by obvious referential decorativeness . Despite the efforts of some Thai artists
at a wat overseas in London, the very rich possibilities for the social critique of contemporary authority
figures found in the moral ism of 19th-century wat
murals do not seem to have entered modern artistic
expression in Thailand.
The end of the Cold War and of a world dominated by two superpowers should bring Laos,
Vietnam and eventually Cambodia back into an artistic relationship with their neighbors. Increased institutional provision for art teaching, including more art
schools and more opportunities for high school art
study, should increase the size of the art-interested
publics in all of the Southeast Asian countries. With
greater security for the art establishments now producing modernist art, the tendency seen in Bangkok
and Yogyakarta for certain art schools to dominate
state art exhibitions should produce a much stronger
art anti-establishment with a wider range of small
exhibition venues .
Some of these in Bangkok and Jakarta haveJohn Clark

Art Studies_0J

already become a kind of art-fashion boutiquefor newly prosperous professionals . But the endof the modernist myth of formalist origination
concomitant with the end of Euramerican politicaldomination means this anti-establishment no longer
has to position itself against the establishment
through formalist innovation. It is also increasingly
sophisticated about earlier Euramerican assimilationof avant-garde styles and concepts by the local
art establishment, of which its own art-school
teachers are visible examples . In the Philippines,
Thailand and Indonesia this art anti-establishment
has begun to link its activities to social issues suchas environmental despoliation, prostitution and
AIDS, both through its subject matter and throughthe materials it adopts. This may mean a return ofart to propaganda for faith and the creation of a new
orthodoxy . The cultural diversity of the region, andthe indigenous nature of the art world processes
which this will represent, should ensure this creative
process remains a fairly open one.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
General Works
Clark, J., ed . Modernity in Asian Art . Sydney : Wild Peony Press,

1993.
Indonesia
Agus Dermawan, T. R. Basoeki Abdullah RA. Jakarta : Penerbit
PT Gramedia , 1985.
Edleson, M . J ., et al. Neka Museum : Guide to the Painting
Collection. Ubud: Museum Neka, 1986.
Fischer, J., ed. Modern Indonesian Art . Jakarta and New York:
Panitia Pameran KIAS(1990-91) and Festival of Indonesia ,1990.
Forge, A. Balinese Traditional Painting . Sydney : AustralianMuseum , 1978.
Holt , C. Art in Indonesia. Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1967.
Holt, C. Culture and Politics in Indonesia . Ithaca : Cornell
University Press, 1972.
Lee, Man Fong, ed . Lukisan2 dan Patung2 kolleksi Presiden
Sukarno dari Republik Indonesia [Paintings and statues from thecollection of President Sukarno of the Republic of Indonesia] , 5 vols .
Jakarta : Panitia Penerb it Lukisan-lukisan dan Patung -patung
Kolleksi Presiden Sukarno, 1964.
Liem Tjoe Ing, comp . Lukisan2 Koleksi Adam Malik [Paintingsfrom the collection of Adam Malik) . Jakarta : PT lntermasa, 1979.
Kartomi , M. J .,ed . Five Essays on the Indonesian Arts.
Melbourne : Monash University, 1981.
Rosidi A., et al.Affand i 70 Tahun [Affand i, 70 years old) . Jakarta :Dewan Kesenian, 1978.

023

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Spanjaard , H. " Free Art : Academic Painters in Indonesia ." In
Kunst uit een andere wereld [Art from another world) . Edited by
Faber, P., et al. Rotterdam : Museum voor Volkenkunde, 1988 .
Supangkat , J . "Indonesia's New Art Movement." Praxis M , no .
24 (September 1989).
Wright, A . Soul, Spirit, and Mountain : Preoccupations ofContemporary Indonesian Painters . Singapore : Oxford
University Press 1993.

Malaysia"The Arts in Malaysia ." Special supplement , Arts & the Islamic
World 5, no .1 (Spring - Summer 1988) .
Piyadasa, R. Pengolahan lanskap tempatan dalam Seni Maden
Malaysia, 1930- 1981 [The treatment of the local landscap e inmodern Malaysian art , 1930- 1981). Kuala Lumpur: Muzium Seni
Negara, 1981.
Sabapathy , T. K. and Piyadasa , R. Modern Artists of Malaysia .
Kuala Lumpur : Dewan Bagasa dan Pustaka, 1983 .

ThailandHoskin , J., Ten Contemporary Thai Art ists . Bangkok : Graph is,
1984.
Jamuni, Pairoj . Modern Thai Painting . Ann Arbor : University
Microfilms International, 1989.
Krairiksh , Piriya . Thai Reflection s of American Experiences .
Bangkok : Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art , 1986.
Krairiksh , Piriya, and Thongchua, P. Art in Thailand since 1932.
Bangkok : Thamasat University , Thai Khadi Research Institute ,1982.
Michaelsen , H. Die Entwicklung und die Konsequenzen derwestlichen Einflusse auf die Zeitgenossische thailaendische
Malerie. Dissertation , Ruhr Un iversitiit - Bochum, 1987.
Michaelsen, H. "Thailand in the1980s ." Art Monthly Australia,
no . 41 (June 1991).

Philippines

Phillips, H. P. The Integrative Art of Modern Thailand. Berkeley:
Lowie Museum of Anthropology , 1992. Distributed by
University of Washington Press.

Castaneda , D. Art in the Philippines . Quezon City : University of
the Philippines Diliman , 1964 .

Poshyananda , Apinan . Modern Art in Thailand. Singapore :Oxford University Press, 1993 .

Coseteng , A. M . L., ed . Philippine Modern Art and Its Critics .
Manila : UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines ,1972.

Smithies, M . " The Bangkok Art Scene in the Early 1960s: A
Personal Souvenir ." The Journa l of the Siam Society 66 (July
1978).

De Alaya , F.Z. Philippine Religious Imagery . Manila : Ateneo deManila , 1983.

Vietnam

Duldulao , M . D. A Century of Realism in Philippine Art . Manila :Fine Arts Corp ., 1982.
Duldulao , M . D. Contemporary Philippine Art. Quezon City :Vera-Reyes , 1972.
Kalaw -Ledesma, P. The Struggle for Philippine Art . Manila :Purita Kalawa -Ledesma, 1974.
Kalaw -Ledesma , P. and Guerrero , A . M . Elades: National Artist .
Manila : Filipinas Foundation, 1979.
Navarro, V. T. and Zafaralla , P.Carlos V. Francisco : The Man andGenius of Philippine Art . Manila : Ayala Museum, 1985.

Moh ring , H. Vietnamesische Malere i. Leipzig : E. A. Seemann ,1963.
Nghe Thuat Tao Hinh Vietnam, Hanoi , Nha Xuat Ban Van Hoa ,1975.
Peintures Vietnamiennescontemporaines. Hanoi : Nha In Quoc
Gia Viet -Nam in Va Phat Hano i, 1956. Distributed by So Xuat
Nhap Khau Sach Bao.
Trai Van Can, Huu Ngoc, Vu Huyen , Mai Van Nam .
Contemporary Vietnamese Painters. Hanoi : Red River Foreign
Languages Publ ishing House , 1987.
Truong Dai Hoc My Thuat Hano i 1925- 1990. Hanoi, 1990 .

Roces, A . R. Amorsolo. Manila : Filipinas Foundation, 1975.
Roces, M . P.Exchange Manila -Berlin . Berlin : RAAB Galerie,1988 .
Smith, W.S ., ed . The Art of the Philippines , 1521-1957. Manila :Associated Publishers, 1958.
Torres, E. 100 Years of Philippine Painting. Pasadena : PacificAsia Museum , 1984 .

Singapore
Chai Yik Chin. Singapore Artists . Singapore : Singapore Cultural
Foundation , 1982.
Singapore Artists Directory. Singapore : Prime Prints Pte. Ltd .,1987.
Sheares, C., ed . Georgette Chen. Singapore: National Museum
and Art Gallery, 1985 .

1993

Modem Art In SoutheutAsla

024

Art Studies_03

Shaping the History of Art
in Southeast Asia..

Realismas an Attitude:

Asian Art in the 7990s

UshiroshojiMasahiro
Ushirosh6ji Masahiro is Professor in
the Faculty of Humanities, Kyushu
University. He graduated from the
School of Letters at Kyushu University
and joined the Fukuoka Art Museum
as a curator in 1978. From 1999 he
was Chief Curator of the Fukuoka
AsianArtMuseum, before11ssum1ng
his current position in 2002. He has
curated numerous exhibitions ofmodern and contemporary art from
Asia,including "The Birth of Modern
Art in Southeast Asia: Artists andMovements"(1997). the first two
Fukuoka AsianArt Triennales (1999,
2002), and "50 Years of Modem
Vietnamese Paintings: 1925-75"(2005). He is the author of numerous
books and articles in the field.

Included in the catalogue for the 4th Asian Art Show,
Fukuoka, held in 1994 at the Fukuoka Art Museum, theessay addresses the theme of the exhibition's English
subtitle, "Realism as an Attitude."(The Japanesesubtitle,
Jidai o mitsumeru me, which translateslooselyto "Eyeon theTimes,"was chosenfor its appealto a generalaudience.)Here,
Ushirosh6ji Masahiro argues that in Asian art from the
1980s onward there has been a visible increase in works
based on a critical social awareness as well as thoseobserving ordinary, familiar incidents. He describes thisstance of actively engaging with one's lived reality as
reflecting a "realistic" attitude. Differing from "realism
as a style;' which attempts to represent an object
as realistically as possible, "realism as an attitude"
implies the honesty of confronting the object of reality
itself. Having learned the techniques and ideology ofWestern modern art, Asian modern artists sought toachieve a unique, non-Western mode of expression,
but the search for such uniqueness turned more often
to national identity than to the individuality of the artist,
leading to an overemphasis on "Asian-ness:· In contrast
to this, Ushirosh6ji says that since the 1980s there has
been an increase in works expressing the individual
critical awareness of the artist in Asian contemporary
art. Instead of painting and sculpture, there has been arisein installation and performance works, and works
using ordinary, close-to-hand materials have also cometo prominence. He concludes the essay by describing
the current situation-which
has seen the emergenceof new modes of expression in terms of content, form
and material-as the end of the modern period in Asiaand the start of a new era. The Asian Art Show was held
regularly by the Fukuoka Art Museum at roughly fiveyear intervals. It developed from the "Contemporary
Asian Art Show" held in 1980 as part two of the "Asian
Artists Exhibition" ( part one,heldthe yearprior,in 1979.had
focusedon modernAsianart from India,ChinaandJapan).
Differing from the previous three iterations, the 4th
Asian Art Show replaced the national presentation
format with an exhibition organized around six thematic
sections, "Society as Reality"; "Nation, Nationality
and History"; "The City and Consumption"; "Imagesof Communities"; "The Natural Environment"; and"Intimations of Violence." After the establishment of the
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in 1999, the Asian Art Showwas succeeded by the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale,organized by the same museum.
[KK]
Source: The 4th Asian Art Show
Fukuoka: Realism as an Attitude, exh. caL(Fukuoka: Fukuoka Art Museum, 1994),
33-38. Translated by Janet Goff.
Revised by Andrew Maerkle, 2016.

025

Chapter1

To confront and portray this reality is toredefine the very concept of "realism '.' This
realism invites memory and desire alongside
the naked eye to traverse into territories it washitherto denied . It seeks spaces where time
past commingles with the present, traditions
telescope into contemporary consciousness,dreams do not contradict experiences of thewakeful vigils of our troubled times .
-Gulam Mohammed Sheikh .21

The 4th Asian Art Show is taking place five years
after the previous edition of 1989. This year, there
are 18 participating countries including Japan the most yet . Conversely , the roughly 130 works
by 48 artists on display are the smallest number sofar. This does not mean, however , that the scale ofthe exhibition has been reduced . Rather, it is dueto physical constraints ( i.e., limited exhibit ion space)
imposed by an increase in the size of the works, asis the case for installations .
It has been 15 years since the 1st Asian Art
Show . In the beginning , there was no opportunity inJapan (or elsewher e in the world) to learn about modern
art in Asia . But the situation has changed since then,and the Asian Art Show itself has introduced an
ample number of artists . Consequently , it was determined that the time for showcasing as many artists
as possible has passed, and that a thorough presentation of artists selected on the basis of a theme thatclearly manifests the current situation for Asian
contemporary art is more responsive to the demandsof the t imes .
The theme of this year's exhibition is "Realism
as an Attitude '.' The exhibition will focus on works
dealing with social themes, which have become
quite common in Asian art in recent years . Before
discussing the theme and looking in detail at theworks in the exhibition, it is necessary to consider
the historical context surrounding the art . After
explaining the theme , and the issues it encom passes, I will then provide an overview of the works
in the exhibition .

ll
The gears of history seem to be grinding hard as
they revolve in large circles . In 1989 the wall dividing
East and West Berlin - a symbol of confrontation
between two rival political and economic
systems-disappeared . The structure of the Cold
War collapsed, and the global order changed
dramatically . In Asia, too , several regimes havefallen , while democracy movements have led tobloody incidents. Even countries that rigidly cling tosocialism have been forced to implement economic
reforms and liberalization, and establish market

1994

economies . The member states of the Associationof Southeast Asian Nation s (ASEAN) have followedon the heels of the " four dragons " that achieved
dazzling economic growth in the 1980s (South Korea,
Taiwan , Hong Kong and Singapo re), and now, in the
1990s, China's economy is booming .
Although materially affluent nations and regions
have emerged as a result of economic growth, various problems have also been created , such as thebaneful side effects of industrialization and urbanization, the destruction of the living environment as aresult of economic development, the endangermentof the traditional value systems underlying village
communities , and dispariti es between rich and poor .
Perversely, the emergence of material wealth and theinformation society, along with the pursuit of rationality and convenience , seems to have confused anddistorted people 's minds .
On the other hand, th e dream of the nationstate, a concept that arose in the 18th century , is also
facing a crisis . It has gradu ally become clear that the
dream of people living with in the same borders one
day sharing a single language , culture and nationality is nothing but a fantasy . The various ethnic groups
that make up a nation each possess unique characteristics . There is a growin g perception of a need formutual understanding based on the appreciation ofeach other's ethnic differences . When ethnicity is
manifested in extreme forms , the result is violent
ethnic strife and religious conflict of the sort that is
now breaking out all over the world .
Neither modernization/Westernization, nor thefounding of nation -states , economic development
or internationalization have necessarily produced an
ideal world, and today the values of modernism arebeing questioned on all sides .
Even in the brief interval since the 3rd Asian Art
Show five years ago, the face of the world has beenradically altered . The changes extend all the way
from the level of nations and societies to individual
everyday realities . What are Asian artists feeling andexpressing as these tumul tuous changes take place?
Ill

Since the end of the late 1980s, a common outlook
has been widely apparent in Asian art: namely, ahighly "realistic" attitude . For instance, there areworks based on an awareness of social problems .
Sometimes this takes the form of a message protesting discrimination or the suppression of humanrights by political and social systems. Some works
deal with issues of feminism or gender, while others
address the subject of the nation .
There are also works t hat focus on everyday
events that happen around the artist. The advent ofurbanization , industrializat ion and consumer society
in the wake of economic development is changing
people's lifestyles , while the traditional values thatform the basis of village communities are being lost .
Whether the subject is development or destruction,

ReaJlsmuanAttftude : AsianArt1nthe 1990s

01
Gulam Mohammed Sheikh,"Artist's
Message," in 4th Asian Art Show
Fukuoka.·Realism as an Attrtude, exh.
cat. (Fukuoka : Fukuoka Art Museum,1994), 204

026

ShaplngtlM Hlotoryof Art

In-Asia

02
Ushirosh611Masah iro, "The Labyrinthine
Search for Self-Identity : The Art ofSoutheast Asia from the 1980s to the1990s," in New Art from SoutheastAsia,
exh . cat. (Tokyo : Japan Foundatton .1992).

03
Benedict Anderson . Imagined
Communit ies (london : Verso,1983).
04

Edward W. Said, Orienta/ism(New York:
Pantheon .1978).

affluent cities or vanishing communities, this groupof works probes the changing face of society
through changes in everyday reality.
Through works that convey an interest in society and a willingness to get involved in everyday reality, Asian artists have shown a stance that indicates
their desire to proactively engage with and express
the reality in which they live. This is the "realism" thatemerged in Asian art in the 1990s. However, this is
not the narrowly defined realism as a formal style orexacting mimesis, nor does it necessarily complement such realism. As opposed to "realism as style;'
this effort to squarely face reality is the common
trend in Asian art during this period, and I call it "realism as an attitude ."How did this stance come about? And what
does it signify? To determine the answers to thesequestions, it is necessary to take a brief look at modern Asian art from a historical perspective.

In as much as Asia's modernity was defined byWesternization, so too modern Asian art meantemulating Western art. The first task facing modern
Asian artists was therefore to study Westernart, which would in turn provide a foundation forsearching for and establishing a "unique form of
expression" that did not copy from the West . In otherwords, the typical image of a modern Asian artist
was someone who had studied in the West andmastered Western art techniques, beginning with oil
painting; incorporated Western styles and learned
about Western aesthetics and discourses on art ; andthen used that knowledge as a foundation for trying
to achieve an original form of representation thatwas not merely an imitation of the West.
While pursuing the often contradictory goal ofestablishing a non-Western identity while learningfrom the West itself, Asian artists until the 1980s
relied on indigenous Asian "traditions" as a sourceof "identity" or "unique expression." The reason
was that it was possible to believe that at least these
traditions were not an imitation of the West but
original or unique to the artist.
To put it briefly, "tradition" encompassed
various levels, ranging from traditional art to theworldview and cosmology espoused by a particularreligion, from traditional customs to historic buildings and ruins or exotic landscapes . Whatever thecase, many artists racked their brains trying to figureout how to fuse the West and tradition . The mostwidely attempted solution to the problem of establishing one's identity was to use Western painting
techniques to express non-Western subjects, such
as Asian landscapes and scenes, traditional manners
and customs and religious festivals . In addition,some works depicted religious stories and folktales,drew inspiration from a religious worldview, or
introduced forms found in traditional art and crafts.
Conversely, the application of Western methods-for

Ushlrosh6jl Maaahlro

Art Studies_03

example, perspective and modeling, or themes
unique to Western art-to traditional art forms andtechniques was also widely practiced .
Many modern Asian artists have tried toforge their own identity by means of this approach( attempting to fuse the West and tradition) . As I havestated elsewhere, modern Asian art was at basis asearch for identity .~ Unable to achieve "fusion" at
the level of artistic creation or representation, artists
tended not to advance beyond a mere compromise
between the West and tradition . In that endeavorthat is, in their identity-lay two problems .
For one thing, it was easy for artists tosubstitute their identity as a member of a nation( what Benedict Anderson calls "imagined communities" ~ )for their identity as the creator of an artwork. An
artist might seek out the identity of Indonesian art,
for example, rather than his own identity. (One should
remember that in Japan, too, what Kojima Zenzabur6 sought
was not the oil paintings of Kojima Zenzabur6 but rather the"oil paintings of a Japanese person ." ) Behind this lay thecomplicated circumstances regarding nationalism
and national identity that accompanied the founding of the nation-state. In other words , confusion
arose from the fact that the issue of identity, whichshould intrinsically apply to the artist himself, wasconverted into "national identity," something that
does not actually exist .
Secondly, the task of creating national art andsearching for a national identity tended to demand
an inordinate amount of "Asianness" from themes,styles and subjects. Behind the effort to learn fromthe West while directing one's attention to traditionin an effort to overcome the West lurked the danger
that tradition would approach the view of Asia as
seen from the West, an image of Asia that the West
expected and created-what Edward Said calls"Orientalism:'(The stronger the awareness of theWest , the greater the danger.) This approach all too fully
contained the danger that Asian artists themselves
would succumb to Orientalism. The serious attempts
to discover an Asian aesthetic awareness in tradition
are inseparable from this internalized Orientalism.

y_
As explained above, the underlying framework ofmodern Asian art was invested with a desire tocreate original forms of expression in Asian art thatwould be neither a simple imitation of the West nor
an uncritical revival of tradition . This position walked
a narrow line between the overwhelming influenceof the West and the powerful lure of tradition . The"realism as an attitude" that emerged starting fromthe end of the 1980s transcends this basic framework of modern Asian art .
Impressing us with their interest in society andtheir involvement in the everyday reality surround ing the artist, the works encompassed in the phrase"realism as an attitude" differ from earlier works interms of both theme and substance. One senses inChapter1

027

such works an acute criticality on the part of the individual artist that was missing in the approach of
fusing tradition and the West .
Furthermore, an attempt to transcend theframework of Asian modern art can also be
observed in terms of format and material. There are
more installations and performances , and there is a
noticeable increase in the use of personal everyday
objects . This marks the demise of Western modernist forms of expression-forms of expression learned
from "advanced" Western art , in which painting
meant working in oils on canvas and sculpture
meant bronze or marble forms (whether abstract or
figurative) placed on pedestals .
An Indonesian artist described how, when hetried to take on the new challenge of socially themedart, he needed an entirely new mode of expression.
And so he tried making an installation-somethingwhich to that point he had known only by name. In
this way, acquiring a new theme also required a newformat and new material.
These developments are linked to the sponta neity of expression . One has the feeling that Asianartists have parted company with the rigid idea (theinverse of Orientalism) of seeking identity in tradition,
and are beginning to freely address issues of intense
personal concern to themselves , using familiar
materials and methods that are easily imbued withemotion and significance.
This effort to once again place art in a social
context can also be considered an attempt torestore something that Western-style modern art
discarded in the quest for autonomous artistic
expression and pure form .

This marks the fourth time an Asian Art Show isbeing held. Overtime, the situation that prevailed
at the outset of the series has changed . With eachexhibition, differences in the situations in theparticipating countries widened, and it has become
difficult to put together a single, unified exhibition .
( We may have simply overlooked this difficulty before .)The sole intention of the 1st Asian Art Show
was to introduce as many artists as possible fromeach Asian county. As a result ( in hindsight), the show
offered a lineup of the pioneers of modern Asian art .
The 2nd Asian Art Show introduced trends taking
place among young Asian artists . Under the themeof "Symbolic Visions in Contemporary Asian Lite;·the 3rd Asian Art Show concerned itself with formalist tendencies that were manifested throughout Asia.
The 4th Asian Art Show tries to grasp what is taking
place in Asian art in the aftermath of modernism. The
term "Asia;· however, encompasses different social
circumstances resulting from different economic
conditions and political systems. The situation in theart world is also affected by whether a country iseither open or relatively closed to information fromthe outside world .

1994

While acknowledging a certain arbitrariness,
the theme "Realism as an Attitude" has been divided
into six categories . ( In self-defense, it could be argued thatthe interest and richness of Asi an art lies in the very impossibility of categor izing it from a single point of view.) The cat-egories include: society as reality ; nation, nationality
and history ; the city and consumption; the image ofthe community; the natural environment; and intimations of violence . Below I will summarize the works
in the exhibition under these categories .

11Society as Reality
The artists depict themes that deal with current
problems in the societies in which they live. These
problems include poverty , social alienation, humanrights and politics . Although many works convey astrong message, it is often couched in terms of theartists' own cultural roots, such as the traditional arts
(including the performing arts ), rather than by means of adirect appeal. The works confirm that contemporary
Asian art constitutes a kind of search for the self.
Navin Rawanchaikul (Thailand) quietly remonstrates against the suppression of human rights .
Adapting the traditional forms used in wayang,
Javanese shadow theater , Dadang Christanto(Indonesia) wryly protests against mass murder . His
compatriot, Heri Dono, employs the structure of thesame theatrical tradition to depict social conditions
that cause alienation .
Lu Shengzhong (China) tries to express social ills
using the traditional folk practice called zhaohun, in
which suffering souls are soothed by means of paper
cutouts. In Lee Wen 's " Yellow Man" performances,
the artist casts himself in the role of the "Oriental;'
investigating Asian philosophy while problematizing
social conditions in Singapore .
Two artists from the Philippines, a country
with an inherently strong t radition of social realism,
fit under this category. Noel Cuizon has created a
microcosm of society in the form of a relief in which
the figures can be freely rearranged by spectators .
Elmer Borlongan presents fragments of social issues
in the form of strange human figures placed in ordinary everyday sett ings .
Tsagaandariin Enkhjargal depicts Mongolia's
poverty and urbanization, while Kongphat
Luangrath's paintings deal with everyday urban
scenes in Laos and fears about the future .

21Nation, Nationality and History
The works in this category take history and thefounding of the nation as their themes . Inevitably thiscategory deals with issues pertaining to multiethnic,
multicultural societies . The reason is that most Asian
nations have their orig ins in the colonial system
imposed upon them by the Great Powers in the
19th century, and thus could not help becoming
multiethnic states. Discussing the present inevitablymeans discussing history and ethnic issues.
Tan Chin Kuan probes interracial tension in
Malaysia, which is pursui ng economic growth with

RealiamuanAttftudr.

AsianArt in the 1990s

Shaping the History of Art

028

InSoutheast Asia

05
Choindongiyn Hurelbaatar, "Artist's
Message," ,n Realism as an Attitude, 100.

the aim of joining the club of advanced industrial ized nations. His installation takes up the race riots of
1969, which left a deep scar in the hearts of the populace, and the ensuing "bumiputera" policy, which
privileges the native Malay population . His questions
go back to the founding of Malaysia as a country .
Hong Sung-min's installation, Between
North and South Korea, the Loud Speakers at the
Demilitarized Zone are the Most Active Way of a
Cultural Exchange, features loud speakers arrangedin the shape of the South Korean national flag . The
installation expresses Hong 's sorrow at the divisionof his homeland, the tragedy of the Korean War andthe confrontation between North and South Korea
that still continues today.
The works by three artists from Bangladesh
reveal the deep psychological scars that remain fromthe war of independence in 1971. Amirul Momanin
Chowdhury juxtaposes history and the present politi cal situation . Saidul Haque Juice and Mahbubur
Rahman also refer to the present political situation
while at the same time dealing with the war of independence. ( Mahbubur Rahman, though, was only thr ee
years old when the war took place .)History, the founding of the nation and thepresent also figure in the paintings of Choindongiyn
Hurelbaatar (Mongolia), which depict the ground swell of nationalism after democracy in 1990, andthe subsequent reassessment of Genghis Khan andcriticism of the 1937 revolution that destroyed ethnic
culture. "Just a few years ago," notes Hurelbaatar,"it wouldn't have been possible to send my paintings to your art show because no public works
about Genghis Khan, the events in 1937, or homelesschildren were allowed." Ql! His comment attests to
the recent political, social and cultural changes in
his country .
Surjeet Kaur Choyal explores the identity ofIndia in a nostalgic portrait of a prince who ruled
an Indian state long ago. Nilofar Akmut (Pakistan)addresses the problem of sexual discrimination in
the history of women in the Indian subcontinent .
Cho Duck-hyun (South Korea) uses old photographsof women from the Korean peninsula to lyrically
depict the history of his homeland and the historicalcurrents that have forged contemporary society.
3 IThe City and Consumption

A segment of the population has emerged in major
cities around Asia that enjoys urban life and thepleasures of a consumer society. Although there
are large gaps between countries, overall during
the past decade goods have become plentiful, andsocieties in which new media produces international
trends have emerged in the cities of Asia. The
plethora of information and goods has triggered an
insatiable desire for consumption , and problems
concerning traffic congestion, overcrowding andurbanization have also appeared . The materials
used by the artists in this category all lie outside
the traditional domain of the arts. The artists try toUshlrosh6jl M asahl ro

Art Studies_03

re-examine the meaning of art as they communicate
with reality via the material.
Choi Jeong-hwa (South Korea) shows an interestin the goods that abound in consumer society.
Through the appeal of cheap, kitschy , massproduced goods, he quest ions the relationshipbetween real and fake, original and copy . In the past,
Lim Poh Teck (Singapore) has depicted with nostalgia
and festive delight the transformation of the city ofSingapore from a kampong (village) into a metropolis .
This time, however , he transforms everyday
objects-the forgotten items of urbanization-into
beautiful objects .
Using scrapped industr ial products and automobile parts, Kade Javanalikikorn (Thailand) takes up
the problem of environmental destruction caused byurbanization , a common concern among Thailand's
younger generation . At the same time, though, hiswork seems to be underpinned by a sense of enjoyment of consumer society.
As indicated by its title, Ahmad Shukri
Mohamed's series "Ninja Turtles Visit Malaysia"
depicts the popular cartoon characters looking at
typical Malay crafts and souvenirs displayed on
trad itional cabinets, of the kind invariably encountered by tourists visiting Malaysia . The work also
denotes Malaysia's complex culture, which includes
the cultures of the indigenous people who inhabit
East Malaysia .
Drawing upon his experience studying in South
Korea, Nakamura Masato (Japan) focuses his attention on differences in the meaning of signs foundin Korean and Japanese cities . His subject in thepresent show is barbershop signs .

41lmagesofCommunities
In Asia, traditional communities and their values arestill alive today only a short distance from the city .
They by no means recall the past nostalgically as thegood old days. The combination of modern urbanlife for a few and traditional, premodern life for the
majority is the reality in Asia today .
Artists from Myanmar are participating in the
exhibition for the first time in a decade. Among them,
Saw Hlaing affectionately paints scenes of people's
lives in farm ing and fishing villages, while Kyee
Myint Saw depicts city life, and Min Wae Aung deftly
evokes the light and dark sides of life.
Kanha Sikounnavong (Laos) and Hajah MasnahHaji Lusin (Brunei) depict traditional customs, while
Jack Kulasinghe (Sri Lanka) and Kiran Manandhar(Nepal) probe the identity of the community in theirtreatment of traditional myths and religious images .
Baet Yeok Kuan (Singapore) seeks the point where
Eastern images passed down from his ancestors
merge with contemporary elements : it is there thatthe four cosmic elements and the bodily organs
encounter manufactured goods.
5 IThe Natural Environment

The awareness that environmental destruction on a------------------

029

Chapter1

global scale is a problem that demands an immediate solution is shared by all mankind. More so than inindustrialized countries, the sense of crisis is deeper
in non-industrial countries, where nature is still plentiful. In some instances, what seems to industrializedcountries like only a slight change may spell doom
for a traditional way of life.
A sense of crisis regarding the spread ofentropy on a global scale underlies the installation
made by Fuji Hiroshi (Japan),who uses the life of afrog to portray the global food and population crisis,international problems exemplified by the declineof the traditional Oshima textile industry and thetorrential rains that struck Kagoshima, and local
issues facing individuals .
Pg.Timbang Pg. Haji Tuah (Brunei)depicts
nature's force in compositions that evoke the sea.
Khamsouk Keomingmuang expresses the importance of the water and animals essential to life in
Laos, as well as the fear that the tropical rain forests
will disappear .
Among the four Vietnamese artists in the
exhibition, Nguyen Quan depicts personifications of
nature, while Van Thuyet compresses the force of
nature into primitive anthropomorphic figures. Dao
Hung directs a gentle gaze at the natural environment around him, and Tran Hoang Co renders theecological crisis symbolically as a fossil-like bird.
Tserennadmidin Tsegmed employs personification to
depict nature in Mongolia as a transcendent presence. Niloofar Chaman (Bangladesh)treats barren,
ruined nature as an allegory for society . Birendra
Pratap Singh (Nepal)expresses nature's power as an
abstract organic form.
6 IlntimationsofViolence
There are hints of violence, evil and oppression in
the works in this category . These works may suggest actual historical events, or they might obliquely
criticize various government regulations andrestrictions . Or they might reference the absurdityof human existence, or express the uneasiness ofthe times.
Although Jagath Weerasinghe's painting is said
to have been inspired by the ethnic riots in Sri Lanka
in 1983, one has the sense that rather than directly
addressing the issue, he is depicting more elemental,
violent emotions harbored by society and humanbeings . Antonio Leario(Philippines),too, focuses on
the violence and bestiality in human existence.

1994-------The sculptures of Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin(Malaysia) are handsome works , but they brim witha blood-curdling violence t hat quietly pierces thesoul. According to Gulam Mohammed Sheikh (India),
his painting , entitled Predator, reflects the heyday
of Fascist power, yet it does not appear to depict
anything particular; instead , it seems to symbolize
gratuitous evil and brutalit y.
The paintings by Jamal Shah (Pakistan),which
seem to be looking outdoo rs through a series of windows, do not tell a clear-cut story either . Sometimes
rain is depicted : I understand from the artist thatthe rain denotes social vio lence . A cold, silent rain
falls on fragmentary, disjo inted scenes . Kanchan
Chander (India)juxtaposes a woodblock print anda picture painted on the woodblock . Rather thansimply expressing the brut ality of (the king's) power,
something more ominous and evil is suggested.
Fang Lijun (China)epitomizes the tendency
toward ambiguity that characterizes the works inthis category . His paintings tell no story; nor dothey depict any violent or destructive act. A young,shaven-headed man simpl y wears a humorous andsomehow fatuous expression on his face. And yet thisquite inane scene suggest s the existence of something brutal. One cannot help sensing the power ofsomething dangerous . The artist does not divulge
what it is or where it comes from . But he could besaid to have adroitly captu red the spirit of the age.

New themes and subjects (the transformation of society
andreality) are beginning to be expressed by meansof new formats (installations and performanceart) andnew materials (items closeat hand). One could also
say that an acute critical sensibility is maturing as
an expression of artists ' inner feelings . Instead ofrepresentation that emplo ys borrowed techniques,concepts and materials, artists are trying to discuss
issues that need to be discussed, using a personalmode of expression . This stance offers new potential
for transcending the framework of modern Asian art.
The curtain is about t o close on Asia's modernage, when learning from the "West" was insisted
upon as an absolute value. In keeping with this, theframework of the "modern period" of Asian art isalso being transcended . The advent of a new kindof realism proclaims the start of a new postmodern
age in Asia .

ReallsmuanAttftude : AsianArtinthe1990s

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ArtStudies_0J

Shapingthe Historyof Art
lnSOUtheutAsla.

,.

Art as Criticism
Tatehata Akira
Tatehata Akira is a poet and art critic.
He is currently President of TamaArt University, Tokyo, Director of theMuseum of Modern Art, Saitama,
and Director of the Kyoto Art Center.
Previously, he was Director of the
National Museum of Art, Osaka, andPresident of Kyoto City Universityof Arts. He has organized numerous
international art exhibitions andprojects related to Asian modern andcontemporary art. In both 1990 andin 1993. he was Commissioner of theJapan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale .
In 2001 he was one of the artistic
directors of the 1st Yokohama Triennale.
In 2010, he was Artistic Director of the
1st Aichi Triennale. As a poet, he has
been the recipient of honors including
the Takami Jun Prize and the Hagiwara
Sokutar6 Prize.

This essay was written for the catalogue of "AsianModernism: Diverse Development in Indonesia, thePhilippines, and Thailand," an exhibition held in Tokyoand organized by the Japan Foundation Asia Centerin 1995. Examining the process of the reception ofWestern modern art in three ASEAN member states,
the exhibition considered the nature of modernism
in Asia. It traveled to Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta
the following year. Working in cooperation with local
researchers and curators, the three Japanese curators
each took responsibility for different countries .
In Indonesia, Tatehata Akira selected 59 works
by 15 artists with the support of the art critic Jim
Supangkat. Even though he fundamentally approvesof multiculturalism, Tatehata is aware of the problems
that can be engendered by its relativism. He cautions
that, while finding value in the culture of the other andtreating it equally to one's own is certainly admirable,
in its vigilance against cultural exploitation, thisrelativistic stance can lead to reductive claims that the
only acceptable approach to understanding the cultureof the other is by assessing it in its original context. He
argues that to avoid falling into repressive discoursesthat inhibit our capacity to imagine the other, weshould not proclaim Asia as an oppositional value,
because such oppositionalism excessively heightens
vigilance against cultural exploitation. Believing that
it is importantto recognize that something that hasvalue for one culture can also have value for another,
Tatehata has high praise for multiculturalism's faith
in the possibility for sharing values. Identifying theseeds of postmodern ism in the New Art Movement(Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru}, active in Indonesia in the late1970s, Tatehata says that the movement's critical social
awareness and its focus on installations and objects
are continued in the current Indonesian art . Singlingout the contemporary artists Anusapati, Nindityo
Adipurnomo and Tisna Sanjaya, Tatehata states that, inmaintaining an objective viewpoint that relativizes theirown culture, all three have produced visual languages
that are rich in satire and humor, while also avoiding
reductive oppositionalism.
[KK]
Source: Asian Modernism : Diverse
Development in Indonesia , the Philippines ,and Thailand , exh. cat. (Tokyo : JapanFoundation Asia Center, 1995), 200-203 .
Translated by Stanley N.Anderson .
Revised by Andrew Maerkle, 2016.