Socialist Pays Social Visit to a Crumbling Palace
Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia’s founding president Soekarno, is touring Bali this week. She is the chairman of PNI Marhaenisme, one of the political parties now vying for recognition in anticipation of Indonesia’s April 2009 presidential election. Sukmawati is a strikingly elegant and gracious lady, who during her tour of Bali has charmed people from all walks of life, journalists not excepted. The Bali Post has followed her movements closely, and run flattering photographs of her daily. Yesterday they reported her visit to the palace of the last ruling dynasty of Bali, Puri Dalem Gelgel, along with members of the Dalem Gelgel family and Balinese Hindu high priests.
Indonesian Textiles @ ArtIC
From last December until March an extraordinary exhibition of Indonesian textiles was up at the venerable Art Institute of Chicago, entitled The Art of Indonesian Textiles. It closed in March, so if you didn’t go, you missed it. But you can still get the book, which is as extraordinary as the exhibition.
Parcours de Paris: Be There
The Parcours des Mondes is one of the most anticipated art fairs in the world for collectors of African, Oceanic, American Indian, pre-Columbian and Asian Art. Held every September in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighbourhood of Paris, the fair brings together over sixty exhibitors from around the world. This year, with new management by TAM (Tribal Art Management), the high standard of quality that Parcours is known for will rise further still. We understand that vetting of objects for authenticity will be more rigourous than ever, so no caveats for emptors here.
The Design Library for Textilians
An amazing resource in New York State, serving the world. The Design Library sells and licenses antique textile designs from their vast collection of original documentary textiles. Most of their clients are in home furnishing, fashion and graphic design industries. They have satellite offices in London and Manhattan, and staff who can assist clients to find what they are looking for among the Design Library’s five million or so textile designs. For “textilians” this is a mother lode of inspiration.
Brussels Oriental Art Fair 2008
The Brussels Oriental Art Fair (BOAF) is an annual event that takes place in early June, concurrent with the Brussels Non-European Art Fair (BRUNEAF) and the Brussels Ancient Art Fair (BAAF). All three fairs are centred on the Sablon district of Brussels, which is a divine place to spend a day, or a lifetime, even.
My partner Bruno and I have been exhibitors in the fair together for a few years, but this year he was on his own, as I was too busy in Bali with building projects. He reported that the weather was dreary and the sales rather dreary also. Except for the auction at Berger, across the Place du Grand Sablon from Bruno’s gallery space for the fair. Read more…
Southeast Asian Ceramics at the Sackler
Photos ©The Smithsonian Institute 2008
Clay vessels have been part of the everyday lives of the people of Southeast Asia for four millenia. Wherever there have been people, there have been pots, and the diversity of styles reflects the complexity of this region’s cultural heritage over time and across great distances.
“Taking Shape,” an exhibition of some 200 examples dating from prehistory to the present is on now at the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC. And there’s a spiffy online gallery, too, with images of every piece in the show. The collection was given to the Smithsonian over a period of years by brothers Victor and Osborne Hauge and their wives. What the Sackler site doesn’t say is that the Hauges’ history as collectors was an interesting one.
Rangda Comics?
Western popular culture often depicts Bali in strangely distorted ways. Case in point, the kitschy 1952 film, “Road to Bali” with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. Here’s another popularised version of Bali: the Belgian comic book, “Barelli en Nusa Penida” by early ligne claire master Bob de Moor. De Moor collaborated with Hergé (of Tintin fame), and here he does to Bali what Hergé did to Tibet. It’s a jolly romp with plenty of slinky sarongs and black magic, available from Todo Collection for a mere €7.00.
My Book is Out (Bali Chic)
I spent a chunk of time last year writing the new edition of Bali Chic for Editions Didier Millet. It’s finally out, just in time for the high season in Bali. You can find it at Didier Millet, and also on the sub-site for the whole Chic series, “The Chic Collection“. And of course you can get it from Amazon.com.
Writing it was heavy going, because I love Bali but have ambivalent feelings about the direction that development is taking here. And I had to pander to the participating businesses, which wasn’t always easy. My original text for the book was edgier than what is printed. The editors were nice women from Singapore with an allergy to edginess. The outcome is a bit confusing in some passages, where the editing not only blunted the “edges” but also the logic. Never mind. There is a wealth of inside info here, which I don’t think you can find in other guide books.