Picture: Boggi Milano
Malaysian art collector questions elitism in art & calls for improved national art scene.
Question from Mr. P (real name is undisclosed):
Happy raya to GC,
I like to learn things about aristocracy and elitism. I have read some of your articles and you do mention a lot about those two terms. I am also an art collector myself, having been studying art, I always associate art with aristocracy and elitism because when you talk about fine art, there is always an involvement of the upper class. Only the upper class (elites) can digest art due to their sophistication and education.
Now, I recently visited the smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., and i was amazed how well they maintain the gallery, how strict they were in terms of dress code (you need to be smart casual) or you won't be allowed to enter. They even hang the art work at a certain eye level for seamless viewing, there is also a breathing room between one art and another (there is a specific measurement for this) and even the spotlights surrounding the art are strategically placed. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for the art galleries in Malaysia. Our National Art Gallery of Malaysia is as dead as a graveyard. The arts displayed are full of dust which is a result of poor maintenance which eventually would destroy the value of the painting. Even the regular Malaysians are not aware of our own art gallery. You don't need to go far, even our Istana Budaya is almost non-existent with little to zero promotion. I attended one of the Istana Budaya events last year and cafeteria food was not tasty at all and this is coming from a Malaysian like myself. I cannot fathom how a foreigner would comment as there were plenty of foreigners who came to the cafe and went out with frustration as the food did not meet their expectations. To top it all off, I saw quite a number of Malaysians who attended the istana budaya event with attire like they were going to pasar malam! Thank God that there were foreigners (mostly europeans) who came in well-dressed (they seem to have respect towards art and culture) so it didn't look entirely bad but many of our locals seem to have a wardrobe malfunction. Why is our istana budaya not coming up with a proper dress code? Why is our national art gallery not promoting anything on the various art featured in their gallery? What are our ministers doing?
If you look back at history, fine art (painting, sculpture) was traditionally created for the ruling class (elites and aristocrats) that goes back to the early age of civilisation. I think fine art has now been replaced by digital photography which seems to be a more popular choice for the medium and lower classes to enjoy which explains the lack of publicity of fine art in many countries. Upper class and elitism are still strong in many Western worlds which is why they still can appreciate fine art unlike Asians.
So back to my question, do you think fine art would die if aristocracy or upper class never existed? How can we, Malaysians, instill awareness that fine art remains an important and valuable piece in society?
