Last week, Uber gallery, Hauser & Wirth, posted a 90% decline in profits for its London outlet – a startling result for a dealer with 18 branches, from Manhattan to Menorca. In the years before Brexit, London was considered a happy hunting ground for art dealers, but an economy limping out of recession has dampened everyone’s enthusiasm. When the former centre of empire is burning, spare a thought for our near neighbour, Indonesia, the fourth most populous country on the planet, widely viewed as an “emerging” market economy.
After the fall of the Soeharto regime in 1998, Indonesia’s ‘Era Reformasi’ went into overdrive, with new innovations and opportunities in the business sector finding an echo in the contemporary art arena. My previous visit to Indonesia was prior to the pandemic, a time of energy and optimism. A generation of brilliant artists were seeing their works included in international exhibitions and acquired by leading museums. If China was producing the most exciting and ambitious art in the world, Indonesia was well positioned to be the next wave.
What was most striking was the tremendous sense of comradeship that existed between artists, and their close ties to a small group of wealthy collectors who purchased most of the art and provided funds for special projects.