Jetgala - FALL-WINTER 2022

84 L HISWAY IS THE HIGHWAY An art entrepreneur breaks new grounds and clears a few hurdles with his latest venture K ennethTan launchedWasuka Art during the pandemic to represent compatriot artist AndreTan in China. Formed with the Hokkien word for I, which is ‘wa’, and the Malay word for want, which is ‘suka’, the new venture spells for him a liberating new direction. Back when the lockdowns had slowed down business and selling art online was taking time to take hold, digital galleries were more of a “transactional tool than a reason for someone to spend a few thousand dollars on a piece of art”,Tan recalls. Meanwhile, big cities worldwide opened and closed intermittently thatTan watched with rapt attention where the opportunities to showcase art were. “I was surprised that my first venture took place in China.With all the commotion surrounding China’s association with COVID, it was doing pretty well in 2020 when our art arrived in Beijing.” China, he found out, was “far from (being) a cowboy town. It was a regimental and bureaucratic environment – a very orderly place to conduct business”.The players were adept at communication technology and social media and used them to their advantage. “Even when some Chinese cities were locked down, promotion and sales of Andre’s artwork continued on the internet. The general public was already accustomed to doing almost anything online.Works were easily sold onWeChat and other social media platforms.” On the heels of his successful exhibition at Nonage Gallery, which introduced Spanish mural artist, Murfin, to Singapore, Tan sat down with Jetgala to retrace his latest adventure and declare that now is a good time to launch another art enterprise. Who is your target audience for Wasuka? TheWasuka audience is not any different from the one I sought when I started my gallery, Utterly Art, over 20 years ago. Back then, I already made a conscious decision not to join the bandwagon chasing the usual art collectors. It was already a very small, ageing pool of buyers. I wanted to encourage a younger generation that was already accustomed to purchasing designer goods, cars, and frequent travel to appreciate and purchase art.Their appreciation would eventually lead to a desire to learn more about art in all of its forms, to identify what they like, and to track the evolution of their favourite artists’ practices. I always want new buyers for my artists. More importantly, I wanted my artists to have a big diverse pool of buyers. I still do, because that would protect them from being at the whim of a small group of meddling, yet influential collectors. And where are the artists in the equation? My audience includes artists.They are, in fact, my clients as well as my producers. Artists frequently ask me if I only represent