Czech artist Jiri Chmelar wants to grasp infinity<\/p>\n
By Mehru Jaffer<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Czech-born artist Jiri Chmelar has finally made
\nit to Jakarta. He has come to Bali three times in the past, but
\ndoes not consider those trips as a visit to this country.<\/p>\n
\"That place is not Indonesia. It is not part of this world.
\nBali is a piece of paradise that is out of this world,\" the
\nartist told The Jakarta Post minutes after he arrived here all
\nthe way from the south of France.<\/p>\n
With him, Chmelar brings an exhibition of more than 30 pieces
\nof his latest work where he uses the medium of photography to
\ncreate images that are so stunningly surreal that they hurt. But
\nthey also provide much pleasure, which is, as we all know just
\nanother name for pain.<\/p>\n
Although Chmelar insists he is not alone in doing this kind of
\nwork, his work has a certain originality about it that is not
\noften seen at least not in this part of the world. The use of
\nprimary colors on glossy photographic paper mixed with closeup
\nshots of faces from around the world superimposed with other
\nmultiple images, serve as a great big splash of cold water rude
\nenough to wake up any sleepy imagination.<\/p>\n
When Chmelar says it is the process of deconstruction that
\nexcites him most, all he means is that he refuses to take
\nanything in life at face value. Desperately clinging to the way
\nhis mind worked as a child when he would spend hours putting
\ntogether something and then dismantling it all, Chmelar continues
\nto collect what you and I would call garbage and recycle it into
\na piece of art.<\/p>\n
The central European artist was introduced to Southeast Asia
\nin 1997 when Chmelar exhibited for the first time in Bangkok,
\nKuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hanoi using the title Playing the
\nGame as opposed to Playing Games.<\/p>\n
Actually his affair with East Asia started in 1977 when he was
\nposted at the Czechoslovakian embassy in Hanoi as cultural and
\npress attache for two years. On returning home, he could not get
\nhimself to work for a totalitarian government anymore and he
\nescaped, leaving his wife of three years and his place of birth
\nto start life all over again. His most treasured possession at
\nthat time, he recalls, was his dreams.<\/p>\n
He went to Germany without knowing a word of German and was
\nforced to use his art to communicate but found it very difficult
\nto make a living as an artist.<\/p>\n
Between making the rounds of art galleries where most rejected
\nhis work, Chmelar did odd jobs to earn money. A gallery in France
\nfinally acknowledged Chmelar's talent and the rest, as they say,
\nis history.<\/p>\n
Today the artist has lost count of the number of exhibitions
\nhe has participated in since those difficult days.<\/p>\n
Chmelar started his career in art by assembling boxes made of
\nwood, with a glass front and filled with colorful objects, shapes
\nand forms. He traces the inspiration to his childhood when his
\nfather found time to be with the family and brought out the
\nportable puppet theater. As he opened the box full of a thousand
\nand one items to entertain, the children waited without either
\nblinking or breathing. It is in imitation of his father's magic
\nbox that had made him so happy as a child that Chmelar has been
\nassembling and reassembling boxes for the past two decades.<\/p>\n
The box fascinates Chmelar because it imprisons and protects.
\nIt represents the world Chmelar was born into, a world devoid of
\ncivil liberties but also provided him with inspiration preserved
\nfrom the past on how to resist oppression.<\/p>\n
His greatest fear in this very fast pace of life is the loss
\nof primary pleasures from the psyche. His circumstances forced
\nhim to sever the most precious of human relations with his young
\nwife, and his country when he decided to go into self exile in
\n1980 and realized the pain of having done so only much later.
\nAlthough he has no regrets about the decision he made two decades
\nago, he does feel that nothing in this world is more important
\nthan the relationship between one human and another.<\/p>\n
\"It does not matter where you live these days in a world that
\nhas become so small but what is far more important is all those
\nyou love,\" says Chmelar, regretting that in our hurry we leave
\nlittle time to cultivate relationships with human beings. So
\nthese days he spends much of his time doing just that.<\/p>\n
From objects Chmelar is graduating to the human form whose
\nvarious moods he tries to understand. And no other face
\nfascinates him more at the moment than that of a Balinese. His
\nvisits to the island are preserved in several roles of film.<\/p>\n
\"They are still in a drawer and I wait for the right moment to
\nexpose them,\" smiles the very soft-spoken Chmelar who describes a
\ntypical Balinese face as one so full of joy that it makes him
\nnever want to stop looking at it. He claims that throughout his
\nstay in Bali he did not see one sad face. Although he imagines
\nthat many of them must have similar problems and anxieties as
\nothers in the world.<\/p>\n
In the Jakarta exhibition, visitors will notice there are less
\nboxes and more faces on display. But Chmelar does not like to be
\nlabeled a photographer. He calls himself an artist who uses
\nphotographic techniques like multi exposure and \"sandwiches\" to
\nmake sense of what lies beyond. After all it is infinity itself
\nthat the untiring artist wants to grasp more than anything else
\nin the world.<\/p>\n
The exhibition opens on Feb. 8. and runs until Feb. 17 at the
\nCzech Embassy Cultural Room in Jl. Gereja Theresia 20, Central
\nJakarta. The viewing hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>",
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