Macau CLOSER – The Autumn Saloon started in 2010 and two years later you launched the Orient Foundation Visual Arts Award. Was the idea to help promote young artists?
Ana Paula Cleto – Yes, that was exactly the idea. There were these young artists that sometimes would just get a bit lost in their careers, because they didn’t have a chance to continue. As you know, the Macau arts market is not ideal for artists and they all need other jobs. They can’t do their art full time and also they get a little bit confined to Macau. Our idea was, first, to stimulate their work as artists, their interests and their artistic skills; and secondly, to give them a different perspective by having them leave Asia, go to Europe and allow them to be in touch with artists from there.
Youíre referring to the artist in residency programme that is part of the Orient Foundation Award. How does that work?
It’s a one-month residency in Lisbon, Portugal, but usually artists stay longer. Since the beginning, we’ve managed to establish a partnership with Arte Periférica gallery. That partnership allows artists to have a studio to work in. Initially, we wanted them to get to know artists, and to visit museums and cultural centres. Then, with this collaboration, not only could they do that, but they could also work and produce some art pieces in loco, ending with a solo exhibition at Arte Periférica. I think this is excellent for them. We should also think about taking those exhibitions to the Orient Museum in Lisbon. In Macau, something we’ll start this year is a series of solo exhibitions with the previous winners of the competition. We’ll start with Lai Sio Kit, our first winner, and next year we’ll try to continue with Eric Fok. I would also like to get them all together for a group exhibition in Portugal.
When you look at the previous winners, and at the overall works delivered by Macau artists, do you see talent?
Yes, but of course not in all of them. It’s just like that, sometimes we’re good but we’re not all very good. It has a lot to do with innate talent, but also with the time you dedicate to your work. I won’t mention names, but there are clearly young artists that I’ve known since 2010 and we can see a big difference in their work nowadays; they’ve matured a lot.
This year, the deadline to submit works for the award is August 31. How are the submissions going?
Usually works only arrive in the final days. Since the submissions for the award are at the same time as the ones for the Autumn Saloon, we have the feeling that some people get confused or don’t know how it works, so they choose to either participate in the Autumn Saloon or the award competition. This year the form is very explicit, people should know they can apply for both and there’s no conflict in doing so. I would like us to have more participants in the award competition. We had 14 artists in the second year and then we always had less than that. We need to attract more people.
Is the Autumn Saloon helping to build the local arts market? Do the works get sold?
Some of them do. The Orient Foundation is not responsible for the sales, Art For All is. I vaguely know that around 20 percent of the works are sold, and I know some young artists sold their works for the first time at the Autumn Saloon. Now, if you’re asking me if the Macau arts market works, it doesn’t work at all. It’s always the same people buying. Most of them are not Chinese but westerners, mainly Portuguese.
Also, Macau still doesnít have a proper Arts School or any known plans for that to happen in the future. Isnít it a pity that things are like this?
I mentioned this long ago. It’s not a pity; it’s unconceivable that Macau doesn’t have an arts school. It’s something unconceivable from a formation point of view. If we could say ‘there’s no artistic flair in Macau’, but that’s not true, there is! There are a lot of youngsters in Macau with artistic talent. How can we not have a Fine Arts School or whatever we want to name it? There’s something at the Macau Polytechnic Institute, but more focused on Design, and that’s it. I can’t understand it.
