Gil Schneider is taking it all on the chin, the bouquets and the brickbats, the exhibitor laments and compliments, as he walks by the booths and the lounges. The director of Art Stage Singapore - the fourth edition of which concludes this weekend - is a man on a mission that reminds me of a similar goal that Abanindranath Tagore had set himself a whole century ago. From Jorasanko in Calcutta, Tagore had reached out to an Asia that would breed a similar language for art, for which he had turned to the Japanese, studied Chinese art, looked back at the idealism of the Ajanta-Ellora frescos, and created a hybrid that came to be known somewhat parochially as the Bengal 'school'.
Art Stage Singapore - "We are Asia" - isn't preaching a style of Asian art, instead it is treating it like a jigsaw puzzle and assembling the pieces to form a mosaic, the pixillations aimed at presenting a cohesive view. "Asia stretches all the way from Turkey to New Zealand," he argues, "so someone sitting in Mumbai has no idea about art in Korea, or Indonesia." I tell him, purely as amusement - but also as a fact - that the average Mumbaikar is as insular about the happenings in Kolkata.
This is what makes Art Stage different from other fairs. Its focus is single-mindedly Asian. Are there any defining features for the region as a whole? If you've been to Korea, or Hong Kong and Singapore, you begin to recognise artists' works and even perhaps an appetite for the "styles", the most obvious example of which is the wide-eyed comic characters of Japanese and some Korean art that also finds its presence in pornography and is faintly disturbing. But an overarching theme? That would be as naive as looking for a common chord for Asian food (or even Indian cuisine). A smorgasbord is more likely - and the better for it.
The domination of Western and, increasingly, Chinese art at art fora has been unfortunate. Art Stage Singapore thankfully has no platform for the former and is not swarmed by the latter. Though smaller than Art Basel Hong Kong (in May), it is tapping into the financial community of the island city as well as its neighbourhood, countries that park their money and own apartments in prosperous Singapore. "It does not compete with Hong Kong," Schneider is at pains to point out, "it complements it." There is no denying that Art Stage does not have the edginess of Art Basel HK, but it is more approachable, friendlier even - Schneider and his team are at the exit to see off the exhibitors at the end of the opening day, palms folded in greeting - and the art does not require posturing or proselytising. It may not create a "buzz" about pieces that grab eyeballs but is safe enough to guarantee sales. Exhibitors talk about works being "sold or on hold". Doing business in Singapore is simple, the systems efficient. "It's business friendly," Schneider points out.
At the time of writing, day one and the vernissage has ended, the second day of business has opened slowly, but by the afternoon the number of visitors has grown. Unlike Hong Kong - it's difficult to stop making comparisons - the average visitor is interested in looking at art, not just in photographing it. As a country with a large population of young Indians in the financial business with money to spend, Indian art has a certain cache and popularity. Schneider might want them to acknowledge and invest in Asian rather than just Indian art, but - as Tagore could have advised him - a certain parochialism is a small price to pay for fostering an interest in art.
Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated
