Art Enthusiast Yulie Setyohadi: Local Artworks Lack Appreciation

In spite of lacking in appreciation for the arts and culture in Indonesia, the nation can definitely sigh in relief as a number of inspiring individuals have yielded a grandiose portion of their time and energy to continually promote the beauty of art.

The first day of December this year may as well be considered as the moment of reviving Indonesia’s arts culture as well as the platform for talented artists to prepare themselves for future exposes and acknowledgment that they truly deserve in the very first place. This is primarily because an exclusive painting exhibition called ‘Arts in Harmony’ has been officially opened yesterday. Prominently known local ‘fashionista’ who founded Yulindra Gallery and now assumed role as spouse of Paraguay Ambassador Cesar Esteban Grillon, Yulie Setyohadi Grillon, together with Soedarjo’s Foundation: “Shout out, Lets Share!” have collaboratively managed to showcase beautifully crafted porcelain paintings of hers and her daughter, Dara Setyohadi as well as some of Balinese collectors’, Irwan Widjayanto and Moelyoto most prized collections during the opening of the exhibition where the Chairman of Indonesian Peoples Consultative Assembly, Zulkifli Hassan was given the privilege to formally open the exhibition.

“The Indonesian Government will continue to show its support for creative industry and art to grow,” Chairman of Indonesian Peoples Consultative Assembly, Zulkifli Hassan stated in his opening speech during the opening ceremony of the painting exhibition on December 1^st 2015.

The exhibition takes place on the second floor of Tugu Kunstking Paleis situated at jl. Teuku Umar in Menteng, Central Jakarta. The exhibition, which has been officially opened yesterday, will continue to showcase some of the finest art collections until the 21^st of December.

“Our vision is to make people appreciate art more especially here in Indonesia because the number of people who show such passion is exclusively segmented. In trying to attain such vision, our mission has been the collaboration established with Soedarjo’s Foundation to raise money by promoting whilst selling the collectors’ amazing pieces within the period of time given for the exhibition,” she explained.

“For many people in Indonesia, art is neither primary nor secondary needs, it is still viewed largely as tertiary need and only a small portion of people of premium class have been identified with such continually growing passion,” she further explained.

According to her, arts in Indonesia are not particularly popular for the middle to lower class society because they do not have enough money to earn that buying power status and therefore that severely hinders arts from growing in them. It is also particularly difficult for those who stood strong with their passion in art and received very minimal exposure and recognition. So, it is almost a lost- lost situation for both talented local artists who lack the appreciation and selling point due to relatively minimal number of people with the appropriate buying power capable of purchasing their art work and the lower to middle class society who are never fully informed and educated about the aesthetic beauty of its heritage and the nation’s culture.

“We have scores of talented artists scattered all across the Indonesian provinces such as in Bali, Jogjakarta and Bandung and may I remind you that we should be proud to know that our locals collections have been the ones fought over in the international auction hall,” she shared.

“This means that we have effortlessly put ourselves at the top with the inherent talents that each and every one of our local artist possess. Vietnam is still below us that would make them second, followed by Malaysia ranked as the third,” she added.

When asked about how what she would do to continue to spur population’s appreciation for arts, Yulie puts emphasis on the continuation of exhibitions in the future as the more exposure given the more likely that people accept its ultimate importance.

Those who have confidently translated their passion into reality should remain hopeful that they will have a selling point sooner or later despite the financial barriers of potential buyers. One thing that is important according to Yulie is for them ‘to have not just a sense of art but also a sense of business’. Idealism for her is good and acceptable but it can also greatly reduce painters selling point and opportunities to expand their innovations and creativity.

As for herself, she claims to have been spending a lot of time holding an exhibition dedicated for predominantly upper-class society as they are the ones who seem to have the buying power and the understanding to the message being stated through such art work. It cannot be denied that as an artist, an individual needs to earn money for day to day basic needs just like other people with differing passion, and artists also need the kind of respect and recognition similar to the ones given to government officials because both direct and indirectly the sector of arts and creative industry have significantly contributed to the country’s growing prominence at both regional and international level.

Apart from that, Yulie also informs how she went from throwing an exhibition at five-star hotels to malls and downgrade it to more moderately nationalistic venue such as Taman Ismail Marzuki. But surely a ‘downgrade’ does not mean that it loses its value or that the venue lacks the elegance to that of five-star hotels. It simply means that it is upgrading the locals potential as it would mean that we are giving them a chance to prevail in the realm of art. It is an opportunity that they have been missing out for quite some time.