Bestrizal Besta's The Other Side of the story

The credit crunch and global financial crisis seem to be on another planet to art collectors here. Art Fair 2009 held in conjunction with the Jakarta Art Biennale is business as usual with bustling transactions and not the faintest hint of a financial crash around the corner.

Art connoisseur Christiana Gow confidently said the financial crisis was having very little impact on the art market in the country. "No, the financial crisis is something else. I know people who love art as a hobby and an investment and they will go for it even at times when a lot of people say it's a bad time to buy."

Besides, she says, like the flipside of a coin, even in a crisis there are people who still can take advantage of the soaring US dollar rate.

"Those who have (US) dollars can make windfall gains at times like these," she said.

From her observation there are new faces buying works of art, so there are *nouveau riche' buyers seemingly benefiting from the crisis.

Showcasing more than 100 works, Art Fair 2009 involves seven galleries: Jakarta's CG Artspace, Ide Global Art, dGallerie, Umah Seni, Singapore's Aryaseni, Yogyakarta's Arts Longa Gallery, and Bandung's Art Sociates. The event is not officially commissioned by the ongoing Jakarta Art Biennale which is organized by the Jakarta Art Council.

Total sales of art works could not be easily totaled right now, since Christiana explained the different locations of galleries made it difficult to get the overall picture.

"It's different from one gallery to another gallery. For now, in one gallery nearly 100 percent of the art works are sold, at other gallery only 1 percent and another its 50 percent," said Christiana who owns CG Artspace which is located at Plaza Indonesia.

"The art market is a unique, with unpredictable ups and downs, but this year I am still optimistic that it will have its own impetus among collectors."

She gave an example of her gallery business which started in 1996 - only two years before monetary crisis hit Indonesia and other Asian countries. And she intentionally located her gallery in a shopping mall aiming at shoppers or window shoppers.

"Location is one of keys to marketing. Jakarta's ever growing shopping malls make it easier to grab people. Like those who suddenly reap profits from soaring US dollar rates. They may not be art collectors, but if they have money and go mall ratting one afternoon, then look around the gallery, they may decide to take one or two paintings as a future investment. There have been many cases *like that* in the art market."