Indonesian Jais Darga and her French husband Pascal Lansberg, who jointly own a gallery in the neighboring Rue de Seine, also attended the openings, a celebratory occasion with flowing champagne. They had just flown back from Bali, where the Darga Gallery had featured Jean-Michel Basquiat in a popular exhibition.

One anonymous collector an elegant figure known for owning many casinos, loves sculptures, and some of Pintor's piece caught this collector's eyes on opening night, Sept. 30 and interest in paintings was also high.

It is a proud fact that Indonesia is now firmly on the map of international fine arts, which is of extreme importance for the pieces' commercial value. In this case, the common saying "the only famous artist is a dead artist", cannot apply here.

According to Decrop, Indonesian contemporary art deals with burning current issues such as the transformation of traditional society and modernization. The explosion of consumerism and business, the internet, burgeoning urbanization and ecological disasters, the nouveau riche and the role of women in traditional Muslim society are treated openly and boldly - without shame - in these artist's work.

And nudes are no longer a taboo theme among artists.

The 12 artists have participated in the Venice, Kwangju, Jakarta, Shanghai and Tirana biennales, and their work has been auctioned by Sotheby's and Christie's in Hong Kong and Singapore, not forgetting Larasati auction house. It was thus high time that the French public was introduced to their dynamic and thought-provoking oeuvre.

Og the group, perhaps Astari and Pintor are the most cosmopolitan, as they have been educated abroad and share certain similarities in their theoretical approach to art.

Javanese Astari grew up partly in India and Burma, and attended the University of Minnesota and the Royal College of Art in London, where her penchant for gender issues was fortified.

Meanwhile, Pintor, who is Batak, was born in Germany and educated there and in the United States before returning to Bandung, West Java. The sculptor now works mainly in metal, producing pieces of varying scales. His current work in progress is a 600-meter-long piece commissioned by Singapore's Changi Airport.

The artists of Beauty ad Terror are thus clearly rising on the global horizon, although they are already established in their home countries: their work is considered pivotal for those of the younger generation who are considering a career in art.

While firmly anchored in Indonesian culture, they all explore the limits of traditional artistic expressions, extended to a broader, unversal canvas.

Gone are the days when over-stepping traditional cultural expression was considered non-Indonesian - or non-Asian.

Beaute et Expression Terrorise: Art contemporain indonesien (Beauty and Expressions of Terror: Indonesia contemporary art) ran from Sept. 30 to Oct. 29 at Galerie Loft, Paris. For look at the gallery's permanent exhibition, visit www. galerieloft.com.

- Kunang Helmi - Contributor/Paris