Chusin delves deeper into body of work<\/p>\n
David Kennedy, Contributor, Jakarta, d_kenn@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
Chusin Setiadikara likes to shock people. When the 53-year-old
\nartist from Bandung starts a new painting he looks for something
\ndifferent that will challenge and disturb the viewer.<\/p>\n
Two recent works by the artist, Float & The Might, currently
\non display at Galeri Nasional in Central Jakarta as part of the
\nCP Open Biennale 2003 exhibition, certainly achieve just that
\neffect.<\/p>\n
Chusin has placed realistic, larger than life portraits of
\ngiant nudes in awkward surrealist poses. The audience, drawn to
\nthe ghost-like transparency of the bodies, feels compelled to
\ndelve deeper into what is going on in the pictures. The bodies
\nseem to be off balance as if falling; they also appear serene and
\nstrangely beautiful.<\/p>\n
\"The audience sees the image and knows it is different but
\nthey don't know why,\" says the quiet-spoken artist, adding that
\npeople become curious and look for explanations. The painter is
\nat the National Gallery this week participating in discussions
\nand tours of the exhibition.<\/p>\n
In the exhibition Chusin's recent work goes beyond simple
\nrealistic representation of bodies to explore the tensions that
\nexist in people. He creates a transparency effect in the
\nportraits through what he calls \"a technically very difficult
\nprocess\", using light and complex tones which render the
\npaintings realistic but at the same time surreal and almost
\nunimaginable.<\/p>\n
The last time the artist exhibited at Galeri Nasional was in
\n2002 with a solo exhibition of hyper-realistic paintings entitled
\nPost-Photography Realistic Portrayal, but since then he has moved
\non to new things. His inspiration comes from many sources which
\nare constantly changing, but the basis of his work is from
\nEastern philosophy.<\/p>\n
\"I always use the philosophy of yin and yang. It's about the
\nbalance between strong and weak, light and dark and man and
\nwoman,\" he says. \"Recently I have started to move on to something
\nother than realistic painting. It is difficult to say what as I
\njust follow my sensibilities and instinct... interaction with the
\noutside world is very important.\"<\/p>\n
Born into a large family in Bandung, Chusin's passion for
\npainting began very early, partly due to an older brother who
\nused to paint at home and read art books. Becoming an artist was
\nalways Chusin's \"obsession\" though he received no formal art
\neducation apart from a period of training under the senior
\npainter Barli Sasmitawinata in the Rangga Gempol Studio in
\nBandung.<\/p>\n
He moved to Bali in 1987 and like many of his peers he saw the
\nexotic island as an ideal location for an artist. Today however
\nBali provides no specific inspiration for his work which he says
\nfocuses on contemporary issues which he could paint anywhere.<\/p>\n
It is perhaps due to leaving his hometown of Bandung, combined
\nwith his reputation for being a maverick painter, that Chusin
\ndescribes himself as an outsider. In the past his paintings have
\nincluded Ikan Asin (Dried Salted Fish), associated with bad
\nsmells and the diet of the poor, as a metaphor for his own sense
\nof marginalization.<\/p>\n
\"Wherever I am it's not really my place; there is a distance
\nbetween me and my surroundings, the government, political things,
\neverything, also art,\" he says adding that it is through his art
\nthat he tries to bridge this gap and express himself.<\/p>\n
However, living in Bali has provided some inspiration for
\nChusin's recent work though not from the most likely of corners.
\nHe sees the rich cultural traditions of the Balinese, coupled
\nwith the islanders growing desire for all things modern, as a
\nsource of tension. Not surprisingly, given his interest in
\ncontemporary art and modern themes, this tension is often
\nreflected in his work.<\/p>\n
In Traditional Market, painted during 1997 and 1998, the
\nperiod of the monetary crisis and the resignation of then
\npresident Soeharto, he depicted an old market which was
\ndemolished to make way for a modern supermarket. An aerial view
\nshows local people scrambling about buying and selling food. In
\nstark contrast a spaceship, from the popular American science
\nfiction television series Star Trek, jets off into the sky far
\naway.<\/p>\n
\"It shows the tension between Western modernity looking
\noutward into space while everyone here is thinking about their
\nown situation on the ground,\" he says explaining that traditional
\nmarkets were particularly affected by the crisis.<\/p>\n
Chusin believes the monetary crisis marked a turning point in
\nthe development of Indonesian art and resulted in artists
\nbecoming more engaged with the world around them.<\/p>\n
\"Art became less closed. Before that few artists wanted to
\nparticipate in politics; they just worked in their studios. Maybe
\nit's subjective but it just seemed that by the year 2000 artists
\nwere ready to change and they learned how to interact with the
\noutside world, even outside of Indonesia,\" he says.<\/p>\n
Without regular changes in artistic direction, Chusin feels
\nthat he gets stuck.<\/p>\n
Constant interaction with modern life through the media,
\ndebates with peers and travel abroad provides him with a
\ncontinuous flow of inspiration with which to feed his creativity;
\nhis childhood obsession with art remains unabated and he follows
\nart exhibitions around the world whenever the opportunity arises.<\/p>\n
He exhibited at the prestigious Fukuoka Asian Triennale in
\nJapan in 1999 and more recently at the Circle Point (CP)
\nFoundation Artspace in Washington DC last year.<\/p>\n
Given his insightful explorations of identity and modernity,
\nChusin could be seen as a natural choice of ambassador for CP,
\nthe Indonesian art foundation based in Washington, which
\nchallenges what it sees as Western domination in international
\nart.<\/p>\n
Chusin seems unperturbed by this perceived domination. This
\nmost important thing in his view is the spirit behind the art
\nwhich, he says, has a unique Eastern flavor in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"In the East, peoples' everyday life is not traditional any
\nmore. Our culture has naturally changed but we've developed our
\nown forms of artistic expression which are quite different to
\nthose in the West.\"<\/p>",
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