Chu Chu, Wu Cheng Wei

Ferraris and Lamborghinis lined up on Oct. 3 in the car park of a luxury condominium in Singapore. Their owners weren't there to buy property, they came for a private view of Asian art that Larasati Auctioneers will offer.

Three days later, as Indonesia's stock market fell 10 percent, a painting by the country's top-priced living artist broke the $1 million mark at Sotheby's in Hong Kong. I Nyoman Masriadi's ``The Man From Bantul (The Final Round)'' sold for HK$7.8 million ($1 million), beating his own record for Southeast Asian contemporary art for the second time in two days.

Paintings and sculptures by emerging artists from Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries have defied slowing auction demand for top Chinese and Western works as global financial markets tumble and the prospect of a U.S. recession increase. Sellers at three art events this weekend in Singapore -- a fair and two auctions -- are hoping that sentiment will hold.

``There's going to be some impact, but in Asia there's still a lot of disposable income,'' said Chen Shen Po, director of ArtSingapore, Southeast Asia's biggest art fair. ``A lot of Southeast Asian artists are still very competitive in pricing and still very affordable.''

The four-day fair, which opens today, gathers 110 galleries from 16 countries, with a special emphasis this year on works from India and South Korea. Some S$80 million ($54.5 million) of art is on sale, including works by Chinese artists, such as Feng Zhengjie's cross-eyed faces and Huang Gang's Mao sculptures.

ArtSingapore will also include two special collectors' exhibitions that reflect the theme of India and South Korea, also tipped as targets for overseas collectors.

`Blue Buddha'

The first has 18 paintings by Indian artist Jogen Chowdhury, chosen by Masanori Fukuoka, whose Glenbarra Art Museum near Kobe, Japan, houses his collection of more than 5,000 Indian artworks. The second features works by Nam June Paik, loaned by Kim Soo Keong. Two of the sculptures, ``Blue Buddha'' and ``TV Repair Man,'' are on public view for the first time.

This weekend, two Indonesian auction houses offer more than S$20 million of Asian works in Singapore hotels.

Larasati's preview featured pictures by Lee Jung Woong and Wu Cheng Wei as well as Pintor Sirait's stainless-steel racing cars and Yi Hwan-Kwon's sculptures of squashed people. Top lot is Masriadi's ``The Target'' with a higher estimate of S$150,000.

Daniel Komala, president and co-founder of Larasati, said the financial crisis is likely to affect the more expensive works as collectors opt instead for cheaper, emerging artists.

Sinking Ship

``When a big ship like the U.S. is sinking, that would be a big danger to anybody in any business,'' he said in an interview at the Oct. 3 preview. ``The financial meltdown will affect the top layers. Rather than buy a $1 million painting you would probably buy a few pieces of $100,000 each.''

At Borobudur Auction Pte.'s two-day auction, the Oct. 12 session on Southeast Asian contemporary and modern art features works by Agus Suwage, Hendra Gunawan and Handiwirman Saputra. The top three lots are Masriadis, estimated to fetch as much as S$300,000.

The day before, Borobudur will offer Chinese works, including Yue Minjun's ``Life Pose,'' with a top estimate of S$500,000.

``For Chinese art, the price is already too high,'' said John Andreas, owner of Borobudur, in an interview. ``The top Chinese artists fetch $10 million compared with top Indonesian artists, who fetch only about $1 million. A lot of investors think Indonesian art is still very cheap.''