#prestigeprofiles | JULY 2019 PRESTIGE 91
W
atson Tan is, understandably, a busy man. After all, he owns and
runs a talent management agency with more than 500 models and
an art gallery that represents 77 artists from 15 countries. But
instead of hurrying me through this interview, the director of
Upfront Models and Art Front Collective asks if I need a drink and if the room
temperature is comfortable for me as we start our chat.
Mid-interview, he pulls a face when he asks if he really has to answer my questions
on management books that have influenced him or the apps that he uses to organise his
daily routine. “I want to tell you I read management books, but I don’t. And I have a
personal assistant who does everything for me!” he exclaims candidly, laughing.
Tan is exactly wysiwyg – what you see is what you get. “My branding is reflected
in my company name: upfront. There’s all this glamour, and misconceptions of me
being who and who, and knowing who and who, but that’s just the surface,” he says. “I
still enjoy being around ‘normal’ people such as the girls and guys next door, not just
around socialites and royalty. That grounds me so that I don’t get carried away.”
For someone whose businesses inherently involve taking a risk with unknowns all
the time, it is ironic that Tan admits to a fear of failure. As a result, he works very hard
at every project to make sure it succeeds. He says: “A friend once told me when I was
starting to make a name for my agency: ‘You are only as good as the last show that
people will always remember you for.’”
Yet, it hardly feels like work to him because he only invests his time and passion in
what he truly loves. His art gallery was launched in 2010, when he was obsessed
with collecting art. Then, he saw the harsh reality behind some of the biggest art
talents he admired.
He says: “There was a piece of art by Indonesian artist Dani ‘King’ Heriyanto that
I saw in a gallery and wanted to buy, but it had already been reserved. So I flew all the
way to Yogyakarta to find him – and I’d never been there before. When I found him, I
was shocked to see that he didn’t even have a sofa or a bed. And that’s the reality of the
art and entertainment worlds; we only see the surface, but there’s a lot of hard work
behind the scenes. I want to help these talented artists who have a passion for what
they’re doing.”
He eventually commissioned Heriyanto to produce a piece – a 175-by-175cm oil
on canvas titled The Prayer – that would later be the first artwork to be marketed by
Art Front Collective. Heriyanto is now one of the artists Tan represents, each of
whom is selected based on whether the works are visually appealing and soul-stirring to
him. Quality matters too. “If an artist uses bad materials, the work isn’t going to last,”
Tan explains.
Passion is also a very important factor in the selection. Tan doesn’t take in those
who are only in the art or modelling industry for fame and glory. “I don’t want to keep
or market someone who only wants the glamour and doesn’t have the passion, because
it’s my work as well. It takes a lot of finance and hard work to market an artist or
model. You need to believe that he or she can make it, because if you don’t, you’ll
never strive for the person.”
He has told models honestly that they needed to diet, or that they were too short or
simply unsuitable. To artists, he gives them frank updates on market conditions and
reactions to their artwork. But even as he believes that loyalty from his talents needs to
be earned, he is pragmatic that there’d be disappointments as well. But it won’t stop
him from trying new things and nurturing new talent. “You can be really nice to
people, but they can turn their backs on you after they’ve made it big. But I don’t want
to stop. I’ve done my part for the art industry in Indonesia. I want to keep moving on to
other projects that develop the fashion and art industries in South-East Asia.”
ART AND COLLECTING ART
AND THE FIVE MAESTROS OF
MODERN INDONESIAN ART,
BOTH BY OEI HONG DJIEN
“Oei has been an inspiration to me
ever since I met him. He’s one of
the biggest private collectors of
Indonesian art, and his enthusiasm
and energy when explaining each
piece in his museum show his
passion and love for the subject.”100 MASTERPIECES OF THE 20TH
CENTURY BY CENTRE POMPIDOU
“Centre Pompidou displays works
by some of my favourite artists —
Francis Bacon, Frida Kahlo, Otto Dix
— and this book shows some of the
museum’s priceless collections.”YAYOI KUSAMA BY
FRANCES MORRIS
“Some artists are geniuses,
but Yayoi Kusama is madness.
Every piece of hers is like an
unleashing of her own madness;
they’re not simply dots and lines.
Understanding and reading an
artist’s mind sometimes intrigues
me because everyone has a bit of
madness in them.”DRAWING
INSPIRATION
HE MAY NOT READ
MANAGEMENT BOOKS, BUT
TAN SURE ENJOYS DEVOURING
ART TOMES. HERE ARE A FEW
OF HIS FAVOURITES.