Bonny Setiawan paints a changing Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
By Amir Sidharta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Painting scenes of daily life in the rapidly
\nchanging city of Yogyakarta, Bonny Setiawan emphasized certain
\nelements which he considers culturally significant or of personal
\nconcern.<\/p>\n
One of his strongest paintings depicts a wayang kulit
\nperformance. It is set in a strong composition which includes the
\nstage, the backstage and the audience in one simple spatial
\narrangement. In the upper part of the painting sits the dalang
\n(puppet master), the central figure. Above him appears the
\n\"stage\" of the wayang performance, with wayang figures arranged
\nin rows. The dalang himself is moving the two central characters
\nof the episode.<\/p>\n
Below the dalang is what is known as the \"back-stage\" in
\nwestern theater. This part of the painting is filled with the
\nmusicians, the sinden (singer) and the gamelan ensemble. Further
\nbelow, around the periphery of the mat where the musicians sit,
\nthe audience can be seen watching the show as vendors mill about.<\/p>\n
Many other wayang scenes appear in the exhibition, but the
\nmost interesting one is a painting of a cardboard wayang vendor,
\nwhich shows a puppeteer showing a figure of Gatotkaca to three
\nboys who watch. Behind them, next to a screen filled with a row
\nof puppets, a man in black watches the children, looking
\nconcerned.<\/p>\n
Often Bonny shows scenes of daily life in Yogyakarta which are
\nstarting to change and disappear. In one painting an exhausted
\nbecak driver, cigarette in hand, awaits his next customer. In the
\nbackground, high rises appear signaling the rapidly developing
\ncity of Yogyakarta. A crescent moon looms over the high rises.
\nAnother painting shows bakul (street vendors) riding two delman,
\nhorse-drawn carts, with buildings in the background.<\/p>\n
A painting called Going to the Ketoprak (traditional Javanese
\nplay) shows four figures lining up in front of a ticket counter.
\nAbove the counter, the sign \"Siswo Budoyo\" indicates the venue of
\nthe performance. Here, again, the attendant's head appears framed
\nwithin the counter's windows. It is clear that the painter does
\nnot intend to present a realistic image of the subject matter.<\/p>\n
In Bakul Jamu (Herbs Vendor), Bonny shows a jamu vendor
\nserving a customer. The main figures are large in the center of
\npainting, while others support the central theme. A few figures
\nare shown eating at a warung on the upper left corner of the
\nscene. The words Gudeg Djogja (a traditional dish of Yogyakarta)
\nare stenciled on the warung's muslin screen. A woman attending
\nthe warung watches the scene outside her premises through a
\nsquare opening.<\/p>\n
The depiction is handled in a way that seems typical of the
\nschool of Yogyakarta, which includes M. Faisal, Yuni Wulandari
\nand Erica Hestu Wahyuni. Although these artists may not consider
\nthemselves as one group, the art they produce is clearly similar
\nin style, using simplified figures and bold primary colors. Some
\nobservers group these artist as \"naif\" painters. Bonny's work may
\nbe classified in the same group as the other painters. However,
\nhe also has a number of features which distinguish his work from
\nthe three others. For example, when creating forms of figures,
\nBonny often adopts the approach of the cubists. He segments a
\nfigure into angular geometric planes so the figure appears as if
\nviewed from several different angles, not just by one fixed point
\nof view. Bonny's use of stenciled letters is also reminiscent of
\nthe cubist paintings of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.<\/p>\n
When depicting negative spaces, he utilizes a style skin to
\nRies Mulders cubism. Mulder, who taught art at Bandung's
\nInstitute of Technology in the 1950s, was known to divide
\nnegative spaces into fields of color.<\/p>\n
A couple in wedding attire appear in Yogyakarta Lovers. They
\nare placed in a setting reminiscent of Yogyakarta's Taman Sari
\nwater palace. The rendering of the architectural blocks in a
\nnocturnal scene presents a dream-like quality akin to the works
\nof Giorgio de Chirico, albeit only superficially.<\/p>\n
Bonny was born twenty-eight years ago in Wonogiri, Central
\nJava, into a family of artists. His father worked in the theater
\nand also painted, while his mother was a member of the Sanggar
\nBambu painting studio. After completing high school, Bonny
\nentered the Indonesian Fine Arts Academy in Yogyakarta in 1987.<\/p>\n
His style clearly reflects the influence of his Academy
\ntraining. Bonny paints Javanese subject matter using a technique
\ninfluenced by western art. While he has developed an artistic
\nstyle which is distinctly his own, it is still recognizable as
\nrelated to a collective regional style of the Yogyakarta artists.<\/p>\n
However, Bonny does not only present traditional elements or
\nscenes. One interesting painting is a party at a discotheque in
\nYogyakarta. Here the figures he renders are deformed, almost
\namorphic, as they move on a spacious dance floor. Among them,
\nJavanese super-hero Gatotkaca meets his American counterpart,
\nBatman. Above the dance floor, on the trusses of the space's
\nstructural support, a big band ensemble appears, channeling music
\nto the hall below it, in a composition reminiscent of Tisna
\nSandjaya's etchings.<\/p>\n
From this odd painting, it seems that Bonny is as interested
\nin cultural change as he is in the Javanese traditions he
\nnormally displays. Therefore, not only his technique but also his
\nartistic style and subject matter seems to be open to change.<\/p>\n
Bonny's paintings are on display at the Duta Fine Art Gallery
\nin Jakarta until Nov. 12, 1996.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bonny-setiawan-paints-a-changing-yogyakarta-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}