Contemporary Southeast Asian art may have taken a back seat to all things Chinese in recent years, but Eugene Tan, director of exhibitions at Osage Gallery, says it's time for Southeast Asian artists to step back into the spotlight.
'It's from the late 1990s that Southeast Asian art started being overlooked, primarily because of the Asian financial crisis. The region was seen as no longer important. Interest in a country's art is invariably linked with interest in its economy, hence the rise of Chinese and Indian art,' says the 37-year-old Hong Kong-based Singaporean.
'It's a shame that Southeast Asia has not been given the platform it deserves.'
However, with the cooling of the Chinese contemporary art market in the past 12 months, collectors have become more open to art from outside the mainland.
'What we want to try to do is to show that there are a lot of interesting and important art and artists coming out of Southeast Asia,' says Tan. 'The art of Southeast Asia is very complex because it deals with a lot of local history and also the history of the region. It's all interlinked.'
Not surprisingly, five months into his tenure, Tan has already showcased artists from the region including Donna Ong (Singapore), Louie Cordero (Philippines) and Vincent Leong (Malaysia). Just opened at its Kwun Tong space are three solo shows that also focus on Southeast Asia and its relations with the rest of the world.
