Indonesia Design - Defining Luxury
An Avid Art Collector
Tan Hung Seng’s passion for arts has made the most of his overseas stints and travels to collect various collectibles of cultural articles and artwork pieces. He speaks with Aulia R. Sungkar of Indonesia Design about his collections that create a discerning interior scheme in his residence in South Jakarta.
I see various cultural articles and artworks are neatly displayed in many corners of your house. They truly create a discerning interior scheme.
Yes, I have a bad habit of collecting. My wife often teases and even calls me a junk collector [laugh]. But I do like collecting things. I like to collect arts, watches, maps, and other cultural objects. We have also quite a number of artworks from Egypt and other parts of the Middle East, as we spent quite a number of years there. We have collectables and interesting pieces from Japan, as my wife is from there, as well as from China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, and of course Indonesia.
How do you view the values of arts and culture in Indonesia?
It’s a fascinating, big country. Culturally, it boasts rich diversities of cultures, religions and ethnics. With more than 17,000 islands spanning from Aceh to Papua, Indonesia is a country where you can spend lifetime and still be able to explore and find new things.
Tell us about your Indonesian art collections?
Indonesia is home to many fascinating artists. And I have had a good fortune to be able to acquire a number of Indonesian art pieces, such as Bunga [pointing at a painting in the dining room]. This piece is painted by Jeihan Sukmantoro. Bunga, the girl in the painting, if you notice, she has hollow eyes. That’s the hallmark of Jeihan. I like that one, too [pointing at a painting depicting two cats in the living room]. This one is done by Popo Iskandar. I’m also admirer of Balinese artist Putu Putra Wardana. He’s a good abstract impressionist artist.
How did you come about in getting those collections?
In various ways, from the places I have visited and resided before, and also from dealers online. There are two books that I’m quite proud of: these two-volume books I bought in Egypt, titled The Mosques of Egypt, produced during King Fuad time and list all major Mosques in Egypt.
Speaking of Egypt, there are lithographs from publications from the 1800’s [pointing at the pieces in the front room]. The series of lithographs are from Description de le Égypte were produced from 1809 to 1829. They were written by 160 savants who accompanied Napoleon on his expedition to Egypt from 1798 to 1801. As you look closer, you will be amazed by the detailed produced in these lithographs. These are the largest lithographs ever produced. They produced less than 1000 pieces during that time. You see there are lithographs depicting a beautiful Mosque, Egyptian monument, villa; I like those two that depict Sultan Hassan Mosques.