FEATURED ARTIST: SARKASI SAID

Batik is a form of fabric art where melted wax or malam, is applied to cloth before dipped in dye. This art is associated closely with the Malay people. Yet, many are not aware that batik has a very universal appeal and is an established art form in China, Japan and India. The Malays have used batik in their own unique ways. The renowned batik extraordinaire Sarkasi himself puts it, “A Malay uses batik from the time of his birth to the time of his funeral.” Different types of batik have their individual stories and purpose. In Indonesia, the Batik Larangan (Forbidden Batik) is still the exclusive domain of the Javanese royal house.

Assetton is proud to introduce the works of the Baron of Batik, Sarkasi Said.

Sarkasi’s artistry, spanning more than 4 decades, have toured Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, USA, Japan and France. They have also found their way into many distinguished public and private collections including the National Museum of Singapore, Her Royal Highness Sultana of Johore, Her Royal Highness Pengiran Hajjah Mariam Brunei Darussalam, the Singapore High Commission in Brunei, Kuala Lumpur and the President of the Republic of Singapore.

His accolades are numerous. In 1974, he won the Pingat APAD, from Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya or APAD, a local art group for his contributions to the development of art. This was followed by a string of other awards, including: Best Foreign Entry Sarasota Art Society (USA) in 1981, the First Prize -Abstract Category for The 8th UOB Painting of the Year Award in1989, and Highest Commendations in the IBM Art Award in 1990. More recently, he holds a record in the Guinness Book of Records of having painted the world’s longest Batik painting of 103.9 metres.

Mr Said has also contributed to numerous charitable events. Throughout his eminent art career, Sarkasi has held numerous exhibitions to showcase his works in countries including Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and the United States.

The idyllic kampongs and the Botanic Gardens became Sarkasi’s workshop where he developed his distinctive style that is closely linked with the world of nature. With graceful brush strokes, Sarkasi effortlessly captures on canvas the beauty and wonders of this world with a celebration of exuberant and lively colours, developing a pictorial language that is both distinctive and compelling. It is a vision in which nature and artifice are entwined and which appears to promise images symbolising continuous metamorphosis.

Sarkasi employs colour in order to convey splendour and radiance. And he does so with the full confidence in the capacity of colour to invoke optimism, vivacity and energy. His artistry is firmly rooted in the conviction that art and nature are connected and are mutually inter-reliant.

Assetton is offering a limited number of original Sarkasi Said works of art. Each piece is an original work of art. The 5 themes are: Mother & Child, Floral, Kampung, Abstract and Urban Landscape. No limited editions, prints, lithographs, etc.

2008 round-up of the wine industry

Wine trading is increasingly popular as shown by the fact that the Liv-ex Fine Wine Exchange had a strong year, with trade up 78% on 2007. Trade was again dominated by the Bordeaux First Growths.

Trade in Bordeaux was concentrated on the 2000 and 2003 vintages (accounting for 23% and 20% of trade respectively) as some of the top names turned over at reduced levels. Interestingly, trade in 2005 also increased significantly, as recent price falls of as much as 30% encouraged buyers to step in. The vintage’s 15% share of turnover was the highest we have seen since the heady days of June.

The Asian market has shown optimism despite the economic downturn. In Japan, the recent strength of the yen is a push-factor that enables Japanese to buy from Europe with less. Wine shops cleverly advertised this as one very good reason for wine lovers in Japan to buy now. Consumption continued although in a less public manner.

A new breed of rich investors and wine drinkers in China, India and Russia have sent en primeur prices so high, even bypassing the influence of the Robert Parker scores.

The tax on imported wine in Hong Kong was scrapped in March, after dropping from 80% to 40% last year, further boosting Asian demand. More specifically, there seems to be an apparent valuation paid to the brand than the quality. Lafite, for example, is particularly popular in China because of its status.

Assetton is a company that deals with wine investment on the widely-tracked wines from Bordeaux, France. We primarily trade the region’s First-Growth wines that have the best wine-growing potential, including Haut Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild. These are the most sublime, sought-after luxury goods in the world, with the most solid, bankable track record.

Sources
Liv-ex December 2008 Report
The Impact of Credit Crunch on the Asian Fine Wine Market, from eRobertParker.com
‘Buyers and Cellars’, The Economist
The Henley Centre, Consumer Research Unit
‘The Grapes of Math’ from Investing in Liquid Assets by David Sokolin and Alexandra Bruce

Krugman explains the malaise in the economy/An important reason why REAL ASSETS tick

Paul Krugman, the 2008 Nobel Prize winner, wrote a very interesting and honest article published on Today this past weekend. He talked about the Wall Street using the recent $50 billion Madoff scandal as a good exposition of the incumbent problems in the global financial industry.

In the article, the notoriously-frank erudite made clear the degree of risk and corruption involved in the Wall Street – loss is incurred by investors even though financial managers keep their high fees. The only difference between Madoff and the rest of the fund managers was that the former philanthropist-cum-investor was not in such a formal arrangement.

Paul Krugman also talked about the corrupting effects of the attractive remuneration on the society, estimating $400 billion a year in waste, fraud, and abuse, not to mention that the brilliant minds in the society have been attracted in rent-seeking rather than creating wealth.

Krugman just uncovered one risk unbeknownst to many. The economic zeitgeist in the US can never be dwarfed in its effect on the global economy and the global financial industry is an outright reflection of the numerous risks involved in various financial instruments. The widespread consequences are yet to be fully discerned for governments to conclude the right fiscal policies that will lead to the end of the global economic meltdown.

It remains, after all these uncertainties involved in attractively-packaged investment vehicles, prime to invest your money in REAL PHYSICAL ASSETS that follow REAL ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES and give REAL SUSTAINABLE RETURNS.

We, at Assetton, specialize in safe alternative investments that won’t give you a headache whenever gloomy economic predictions are pronounced in the news. We offer avant-garde investment-grade wines from the chateaus of Bordeaux. Wine, one precious commodity that has always been a luxury item, snowballs in value in scarcity and offers the lowest risk possible. In fact, it has been historically established that the average annual return for those who invested in Bordeaux wines was between 7.5 and 9.5 per cent higher than would have been predicted by factors that account for risk.

The grim prospects in the next year call for alternative ways of investments. While many have lost faith in the financial markets, wine (especially the red Bordeaux) remains amazingly resilient to these effects. Assetton champions the fine wine’s attribute as an investment treasure and seeks to pursue widespread popularity of wine as an intelligent investment in these times.

Source:

Bloomberg

TODAYonline, 20-21 December 2008

University of Wollongong research

Yahoo! News