Pearl Lam in Istanbul For International Art Fair
Aydinlik Daily News interviewed with the worldwide known curator and the founder of three galleries in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, Pearl Lam, who is in Istanbul for the International Art Fair.
Pınar Çelik, Aydınlık Daily: What is your criteria when it comes to selecting a piece of art to exhibit in your galleries all around the world?
Pearl Lam: The artist needs to move me. It is very difficult to name a certain criteria because I have a very different taste. But, often enough that I am more attracted to the thing which is non-figurative. I have always been attracted to the abstract, but now what I want to collect is a German artist whose art is really conceptual which is something I am usually not interested in. But, my taste always changes. But, the artist is responsible for selling their art. But, if I or one of my curators like the artist, then I manage myself to have a marketing plan to help the artist.
PÇ: How about the other way around? What happens when you do not like the art that the artist wants to sell? Do you again focus on marketing?
PL: I myself will not collect, but I always have meetings with my galleries and they always tell me that what you do not prefer to collect does not mean that this artist is not good and does not have a market. So, my staff do the job and I put myself away because as the galleries get bigger and bigger, it is just not about me and my taste any more. I let my curators and directors run.
PÇ: You must be travelling a lot around the world to pursue the good art. Which part of the world or maybe a city has attracted you most so far?
PL: Yes, every three days, I am travelling. The most important for me in the art world is to learn all the time, which is why I have come to Turkey, as well. After I visited some exhibitions here in Istanbul, I asked myself: “Why are there so many women artists in Turkey?” Then, I learnt that Turkey was one of the first countries in the world where women started voting in 1930s, which is much earlier than most of the European countries. And Atatürk and his attempts to give education to women. I was just fascinated by all this information. So, what keeps me interested in the art world is not the art itself, but the background, because without that knowledge, I cannot contextualize the artist. It is always why, why, why for me in the end. So, it is sometimes about talking, not reading books about art. I thought that Turkey was an Islamic country, but I got mesmerized by what I have seen here so far. This is why I always travel. Check this out, I learnt how to become Chinese, because I am from Hong Kong, but I had known nothing about Chinese culture and art. I learnt all about it from Chinese artists, because I grew up in a British colony. After I had become Chinese, I started to be proud of being Chinese. I thought that I used to be so arrogant. I was humiliated by my own arrogance. We are talking about conceptual art here, but China had it over 2000 years ago.
PÇ: ...which brings us back to the background in the art world…
PL: It is all about knowledge about me. What had happened to the society to flourish such artists. I mean, questions pour back to me.
PÇ: After having seen the dynamics in the art world, can we talk about a brain drain, like in some other fields? I mean, all artists used to wish to go to Paris at some point of their careers back then.
PL: Nowadays, all the artists who are not from the West want to get their art to be exhibited in the top museums of the world which are not just in one country any more. We still lack the ability of celebrating the art internationally. What I hope is that the world becomes so globalized and we will be able to celebrate the differences. Now, we support the western colonization of other cultures. We keep being colonized by the West until we have our own museums. We must bring our own art and artists forward and market them.
PÇ: How about your taste recently?
PL: I am currently most attracted to the Chinese abstract, because it is the only kind of art which is spiritual and I used to be so touched by the Chinese calligraphy when I was young.
PÇ: Do you believe that artists should have a political point of view?
PL: I see it as a kind of communication for the artist, because you paint what you think, be it politics or anything. Whatever his or her background is. It is not like photography which reflects the reality. In painting, you do not need to do that after all. The contemporary artists started to be thinkers, intellectuals lately and they use art as a tool of communication.
PÇ: How were people’s reactions to your pop-up show that you started at early age?
PL: I was a laugh for everybody in my family. They were all embarrassed by what I was doing. It was only when I became so hot at the end of 2000s. Everybody started to call me and they changed their perceptions. When America and other western countries turned towards China, all of a sudden, I was the only one to go to about art. They all came to me. My family cared about what the society said about them, but I never did. I think, my strength is that I am always different, which is also why most of the people do not like me. I was really lucky that my family send me away to a boarding school when I was eleven. That saved my life.
PÇ: And what is your weakest point?
PL: Not being afraid of differences, because it is sometimes so much extreme that people get intimidated by me. I have never been a moderate person, but I am trying to find the balance.
PÇ: Have you ever had disappointments while dealing with artists?
PL: Always. But, I am never bitter. I learnt from my failures along the way. The only thing that really hurts is betrayal and artists are disloyal most of the time.
PÇ: What do you think about the Turkish art?
PL: I am actually opening a Turkish artist’s exhibition in my gallery in Shanghai in September. I saw a Turkish female artist’s works here in Istanbul and I could see that what she was addressing to in terms of politics. Without understanding the background, it is impossible for me to contextualize that piece of art.