The first thing that you have to know about is that Indonesia never has its own MoMA.

Though every big city has been compelled to maintain a burdensome thing named Art Center, this isn't where you should go to when landing here in search of anything artistic -- unless you're a Congressman seeking to meet some resemblance to a governmental agency around here, in which case members of the official Art Council of the town might provide some satisfaction.

There is one National Gallery of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta. This, as late as today at 2 pm, is still the art space Indonesian artists craving nationwide fame dreams of exposing his or her stuff at. But everything that happens there is thought up, followed up, and packed by people and institutions outside the premises. The National Gallery of Indonesia is one huge space -- and nothing whatsoever more.

About Indonesian National Museum, ditto.

So, in Indonesian fine arts, the one and only life force is at privately-owned business establishments which show and sell art works, and that's what we mean whenever saying 'gallery' in this country.

It is these galleries that are worth bothering about.

P.S.: I don't really think this is necessary, but some Indonesian artists I know insisted that I should say it: in the context of Indonesian contemporary fine arts, as a matter of course Javanese batik art galleries and tourism-related art galleries are not parts of the league. Actually these Indonesian artists would take it as an offense if you put them all in one basket.

There have been, since Enola Gay, among the thirteen thousand of Indonesian islands, only three cities that earn the public apellation of 'art spaces' even when earning it wasn't in vogue.

Two times ten years or so lapsed before anybody noticed how prominent these places had been in artistic hits-and-misses. The fact only got registered in the collective minds of Indonesians around the time Bill Clinton dodged draft and not inhaled his cracks.

One of the trio is predictable: Bali. The islanders couldn't be but artists even if they never intended so; Balinese Hinduism -- markedly different from the one you know of India, and lightyears away from the rest of Indonesians to whom Islam is predominant -- lives arts, and doesn't take them as anything special; dancing, singing, weaving, arranging, composing, painting, etching, sculpting, or whacking ugly things off so that something less eyesoric would come out of it have been on the Balinese's daily schedules from time immemorial.

The other two are in the island of Java. The first is Yogya, a province near the southern edge of Central Java, cut from whatever lays next by the ocean. Yogya (click here for pictures) is one center of Central Javanese cultural fuss since the year 1755 (click here if you care of why). It still is a kingdom this very minute, something incongruent with the largely republican Indonesia, but which never runs against it, since one of the greatest Sultans of Yogya, Hamengkubuwono IX (the ninth), was among the first who took up arms for the Republic's sake in the War for Independence (1945-1949). The republican government even took refuge in his realm when Jakarta fell into the Dutch's hands. Anyway, a kingdom that's always alive and kicking is why arts have been the province's daily engagements just like they have been in Bali, despite the fact that here Islam is held by more than 90% of its denizen. Art or not art had, originally, never been a question; Yogyanese painted and sculpted and such, regardlessly.

The other is the capital city of West Java, Bandung. The city is nowhere around being traditional, and never had been; even in the colonial atmosphere it was a holiday resort for Dutch administrators. The rise of Bandung, artsy-like, happened with the establishment of the Institute of Technology -- nevermind the name, it hosts a Fine Arts Department that surpassed all others in Java overnight. Bandung's fine arts are of the so-called Modern Art species (you know, the smearing of canvases with imported paints until some unrecognizable shapes appeared by chance, called 'abstractionism', and so on).

It's a cargo cult of some sort, the Bandung art space. You can very easily tell even from their art critics' writings and artsy newsbytes and art curators' wordy produce -- always the first to snatch latest American or European art terms, trends, and such; always look down on what they call 'traditionalists' such as the Yogyanese and Balinese artists, curators, critics, and newsmongers. No wonder that in the good ol' days the 'art for art' movement was cheered earsplittingly loud around the vicinity.

The divisive lines that slice the three art spaces in geographical terms are of course art critics and art curators' doing. These stay put until today. Indonesian artists, art galleries, art critics, art curators, art collectors and art public are similarly classified.

So if you're looking for 'exotic' stuff, cross the straits to Bali. For the Javanese 'high-brow arts', fly to Yogya. For how Indonesians have been digesting imported artistic concepts, foreign theories and such and spit them out in some hopefully different sorts of outcome, ride to Bandung.

Jakarta, on this map, has never been an art space in that sense -- but it is where money roams. So naturally it has more art galleries than any other city, and all Indonesian artists share the same financial goal to show their works in Jakarta, no matter what they actually say about it. See Jakarta's best art galleries and contemporary artists at the next page.

This section contains latest info, photos, sample pictures and reviews of Indonesian art galleries; their company management, business performances, etc. Plus how to exhibit in Indonesian art galleries, contacts persons, email and snail-mail addresses, phone and fax numbers, tips on how to submit CV and portfolio.

Indonesian art spaces featured here are Cemeti Art House (Rumah Seni Cemeti), Edwin's Gallery, Nadi Gallery, OmBo Gallery, Kedai Kebun Forum, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Ruang Rupa, Benda Art Space, Taxu Art Clinic (Klinik Seni Taxu), Apotik Komik, Galeri Semarang, CP Art Space, Canna Gallery, Langgeng Gallery, Studio dan Tanah Liat.

Info about Indonesian art curators includes Jim Supangkat, Asmudjo Jono Irianto, Nindityo Adipurnomo, Suwarno Wisetrotomo, M. Dwi Marianto, Hendro Wiyanto, M. Agus Burhan, Rain Rosidi, Enin Supriyanto, Asikin Hasan, Rizki A. Zaelani.

Info about Indonesian art gallery owners comprises of Edwin Rahardjo, Biantoro Santoso, Mella Jaarsma, Boudewijn Brands, Chris Darmawan, Deddy Irianto.

Artists put here are, among others, Bunga Jeruk, Ay Tjoe Christine, Sekar Jatiningrum, Heri Dono, Eddie Hara, Agus Suwage, Agung Kurniawan, S. Teddy D., Ugo Untoro, Ayu Arista Murti, Iriantine Karnaya, Yani Mariani Sastranegara, Melodia, Nyoman Nuarta, Yani Halim, Asada Kanae, Hanura Hosea, Agung 'Leak' Kurniawan, Sekar Jatiningrum, Putu Sutawijaya, TeknoShit Couple, Tonny Volunteero & Heidi Arbuckle, Samuel Indratma, Santo Banana, Dodi Gho'ib,
Ay Tjoe Christine, Sen Pao, Siauw Tik Kwie,
Maria Tjui, Tan Ie Bo, S. Sudjojono, Gambiranom Suhardi, Henk Ngantung, Hendra Gunawan, Alex Wetik, I Gusti Nyoman Suara, Basoeki Abdullah, Affandi, I Wayan Barwa, Soedibjo, Raden Saleh Sjarief Bustaman, Trubus, Agus Djaja, Sudarso, Srihadi Soedarsono, Dede Eri Supria, Ivan Sagito, Nasirun, Nyoman Gunarsa, Didik Nurhadi, Francis Kennedy,
Volkan, etc.

At the tattoo and body arts page are Java Tattoo Club, Hitam Body Arts Studio, Toxic Tattoo, and such.

And all of those are always updated even if I don't mean to. Bon voyage.

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