“I’ve submitted my work to a lot of open submission but most of them are located overseas,” said Harishazka Fauzan (@harishazka) or Azka, one of the artists whose work exhibited at All The Small Things (ATST).

“There’s rarely any open submission for all artists in Indonesia.” Azka is not a newcomer in fine arts. His work has made it to top 100 artwork out of 1,000 artwork selected by Hermès.

Aside from Azka, there are other familiar names in the industry, Alipjon, Darbotz and ATST Founder Muchlis Fachri (@muklay) himself to name a few. In partnership with Can’s Gallery, Muklay started sending out invitation for artists, designers and illustrators to submit their work in November.

The open submission garnered 500 entries from artists across Java. The entries were then filtered down to 30. In total, there are 74 artists exhibiting. 44 of them are established artists invited to join the exhibition.

“There are so many artists with amazing artwork but lacking in exposure. We want to be platform for those artists,” said Muklay. “We don’t look at the resume. We focus on the visual of the submitted artwork.” Post exhibition, according to Muklay, all the artwork will be sold to art collectors.

The exhibition has several strengths to be highlighted. There is wide variety of techniques and media. It is refreshing to see artists turning unconventional material like receipts, daily stationeries, wood and metal into art. The mixture of street art and fine art is a smart move.

For new artist, exhibition like ATST is an opportunity that doesn’t require big cost and having their work displayed side by side with established artist increases the prestige and exposure.

The challenge lies in the business of art curation and what comes after the exhibition. As Muklay mentioned during the interview, the commissions from sale of artwork is divided between the gallery and the artist. Based on the statement, how ATST going to maintain its operation is unclear yet.

Meanwhile, for the newly discovered artists, finding the path for another breakthrough after the exhibition is a milestone to be tackled. Commissioned artwork is possible even though the frequency might be unpredictable.

Art industry has always been a close-knit group. An open submission like ATST disrupts the system but it will not change the on-going system instantly. If liberating art is the goal, how is ATST going to build the ecosystem?