Canadian artist discovers Indonesia<\/p>\n
David Kennedy, Contributor, Jakarta, d_kenn@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
Mention the name Ken Pattern to most Jakarta art lovers and you
\nwill get a nod of recognition. His intricate pen and ink
\ndrawings, documenting the dramatic changes in Jakarta's cityscape
\nin the 1990's have made him almost a household name.<\/p>\n
The chaos of ramshackle houses and city farmland, juxtaposed
\nwith the sharp angles of skyscrapers leaves the viewer of his
\nphoto-like art in no doubt that this is a peculiar city.<\/p>\n
His everyday scenes show a way of life that was almost erased
\nfrom the city during that period of frantic building when
\nthousands of homes were demolished. Between 1991 and 1996 he
\nproduced more than 80 pen and ink drawings that are a subtle form
\nof social commentary, highlighting a turning point in Jakarta's
\nsocial history.<\/p>\n
The 61-year-old Canadian artist is less widely known for his
\ncolorful paintings of rural landscapes and bright surrealist
\nexplorations of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Gallery Kafe Linggar in Kemang, South Jakarta displayed these
\naspects of his work over the last month in an exhibition entitled
\nEmerging Expatriates. Ken's sketches of Jakarta do not feature in
\nthis exhibition, his twelfth in Indonesia in 14 years. These
\npaintings and lithographs (hand made fine art prints) of country
\nscenes and surrealist themes have a softer tone, more color.<\/p>\n
So has he mellowed out? Not quite. Ken explains, in a soft
\nCanadian accent, that he is doing what he has always done. He is
\nstill a campaigning artist, concerned with environmental and
\nsocial issues but he is also a landscape artist committed to his
\nart.<\/p>\n
"Some Indonesians used to ask why I was always painting the
\nslums. I reply that I'm just trying to show the many faces of
\nIndonesia that I experience. I was spending as much time painting
\nromantic colored landscapes -- no poverty or pollution, just
\nbeauty for beauty's sake," he recently told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He uses color to create effect in rural landscapes and in
\nsurrealist, often allegorical, paintings. The latter are heavily
\ninfluenced by his work in the 1970's as a graphic artist for a
\ngrassroots environmental group in Vancouver where he grew up.<\/p>\n
"It was a very surrealistic symbolic type of art that dealt
\nwith the conflict of man and nature and it's still there -- that
\ntheme has reoccurred over and over again throughout all these
\nyears, though in the meantime I've gone off on other tangents and
\ndone other things," he said.<\/p>\n
His studies in Sociology at university, which he left a year
\nearly to pursue a career in art, have also influenced the themes
\nhe has chosen to work on.<\/p>\n
The foreigner's difficulty in understanding Indonesia is one
\nof those themes. Pattern believes that Western logic, with its
\nlinear way of looking at things, makes it hard to understand how
\nthe country works.<\/p>\n
The complexity of Indonesia for the outsider, he said, lies in
\nthe complexity of Java which he likens to a labyrinth. His
\npainting Key to the Empire is an attempt to fathom Java from a
\nmental or psychological point of view rather than a visual one.
\nIt features a map of Java inside a bright green labyrinth. The
\nmap itself is covered in labyrinths and repeats into infinity.<\/p>\n
"Even if you discover Java, there's many layers to it and
\nanyone who spends any time here probably realizes that just when
\nyou think you've started to figure it out you've not really got
\nanywhere yet," he said, laughing in mock exasperation.<\/p>\n
Pattern arrived in Jakarta in 1989 when his wife, a
\ndevelopment expert, was posted here. At first his paintings were
\nawash with vivid colors and showed icebergs melting on tropical
\nseas. "When people asked how I liked the climate here," he said,
\n"I used to say that I feel like an iceberg melting."<\/p>\n
Fascinated by Jakarta, he spent days exploring the streets,
\nmarveling at how a city with more than 10 million people could
\nstill have the feeling of a series of connecting villages. His
\nenthusiasm is infectious when he describes his first forays into
\nthe city's kampongs armed with a camera to capture scenes to
\ndraw.<\/p>\n
"You have all these glass and steel towers hovering above all
\nthe little orange roofed buildings which surround them. What an
\nincredible city ... I'd been in cities before where all the slums
\nare in one place and the rich people in another. Here it was all
\njust thrown together," he said with genuine amazement.<\/p>\n
Pattern however stopped doing pen and ink sketches of the city
\njust before most development ground to a halt with the 1997
\nfinancial crisis.<\/p>\n
"I felt I'd gone as far as I could with the scenes I was
\nworking on. I'd moved on to looking at Indonesia from another
\nperspective."<\/p>\n
Although he does not readily speak out about political issues
\nKen's unique brand of "hyper realistic" and surrealistic art
\nlends itself naturally to political satire.<\/p>\n
In 1999 he painted the Indonesian legislature building with a
\n"Toys R Us" sign on the roof and a playground in front. He said
\nhe never expected to take it out of the closet and only painted
\nit for his own amusement. But when then president Abdurrahman
\n"Gus Dur" Wahid called the assembly a kindergarten six months
\nlater he decided to display the piece called Playschool along
\nwith some similar satirical work.<\/p>\n
"I felt that though Soeharto had gone and the new government
\nwas in power nothing really had changed," he said. "It was a
\nlegislature full of people just having a good time and it
\nreminded me of a playschool."<\/p>\n
Ken sees freedom of expression as the single biggest change in
\nIndonesia since the end of the New Order. In particular he
\nappreciates the unfettered access to news sources in the country
\ntoday. He is scathing when he compares the media in Indonesia to
\nthat of North America which he sees as inward looking and almost
\ndevoid of any world news.<\/p>\n
Lately, he has been spending up to five months each year in
\nVancouver where he works on lithographic prints in a studio he
\nhas used for 22 years.<\/p>\n
The wanderlust that brought Pattern to Indonesia in the first
\nplace also draws him away time and again. He is continuing a
\nworld tour he began in his youth and he still prefers
\nbackpacking.<\/p>\n
"Indonesia for me. I love it and I hate it but I gotta get out
\nof it sometimes. I need some distance. I think I have the best of
\nboth worlds being able to work in two places and also have time
\nto travel to other countries."<\/p>",
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