Heads and faces haunt Pande's solo exhibition<\/p>\n
By Chandra Johan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A painting, made up of 30 panels of canvas --
\neach on of them 30 cm x 30 cm -- depicts various kinds of faces
\nwith various kinds of expressions. We could be at a loss for
\nwords to explain each facial expression on each of the panels.
\nThe faces are recorded on the canvas with a variety of signals.
\nAs one panel has one signal, the 30 panels contain 30 signals.
\nOur limited vocabulary could interpret that one expresses fear,
\nand another one anxiety; in one panel the face looks rather
\ndazed, in another it looks surprised; another face laughs, and
\nanother appears muted.<\/p>\n
We are lost for words because each painting does not help us
\nunderstand the detail of the shape and movement of each face.
\nThese paintings successfully avoid details and anatomical
\nstructure. However, in fact, these faces contain unlimited
\nsignals. This is art. Art, as is the case with painting, can
\nreveal an experience and awareness of an unlimited reality,
\nespecially of humans. We are aware of ourselves as human beings;
\nwe physically recognize the hand, foot, body and other parts.
\nHowever, have we ever specifically pondered one part of the body?
\nAt least one individual has: Pande Ketut Taman, 29, a young
\nartist from Bali, has been mesmerized by the human head.<\/p>\n
It is the reason why in his solo exhibition at the Milenium
\nGallery in South Jakarta from June 17 through July 7, Pande does
\nnot present us with a complete image of the human body. In the
\nexhibition titled Pongpongan (an empty coconut, usually with
\nholes made by squirrels) we observe the human head only, mainly
\nthe face, in the medium of acrylic paintings and two
\ninstallations.<\/p>\n
It is said that Pande, who comes from Ubud, was overwhelmed
\njust thinking about \"heads\" and became obsessed about offering
\nthis phenomena as a discourse or a concept, whether as a proverb,
\nsymbol, or metaphor. In the case of a proverb, for example, he
\nattempted to form an analogy of the head with myth and symbols of
\npower and truth -- the head contains brains, the center of the
\nmind. As a symbol, someone promoted to the position of headmaster
\nmeans that he masters discourse and truth. But according to
\nPande, at the moment that the \"head\" tumbled down (he refers to
\nthe downfall of Soeharto as president) he was stunned and said to
\nhimself: \"If I am not able to carry my head well, one day my head
\ntoo will fall.\"<\/p>\n
Perhaps Pande has romanticized the concept too much and become
\nenchanted with discourse, overloading his concept with problems
\nthinking this would simplify and confine meanings implied in his
\nworks. In fact, although Pande investigates heads without faces,
\nit is those very faces which are important to him. Isn't it true
\nthat the soul, the mind and our emotions can be read and
\nrepresented through our face? That's the reason why Pande could
\nnot avoid the face.<\/p>\n
The painting @ Rp...(l6), made up of 30 panels of canvas,
\nepitomizes this belief. In this painting we are faced with odd
\nhuman faces that disturb our human existence. Isn't our face also
\nour mask? What kind of mask is used by someone to create
\ndifficulties in guessing the true identity of its wearer?<\/p>\n
Ex-president Soeharto, for instance, is known as \"the smiling
\ngeneral\". But, are we able to understand his smile? This is what
\nPande explores through his works. With anatomical deviations and
\nminimal but sensitive lines and brush marks, Pande makes each
\nface \"unguessable\", vague, shadowy and mysterious. That is, in
\nPande's eyes, a human being. That's why he doesn't define each
\norgan in the face anatomically and accurately. Essentially, Pande
\ndoes not paint the individual, but human beings in general; his
\ninterpretation of what it is to be human. The eye, for example,
\nwas painted with a black dot or circle; the nose with a thin line
\nor only the trace of one, while a larger circle could be
\ninterpreted as a mouth.<\/p>\n
Sometimes Pande sticks a piece of newspaper or magazine on
\ncertain parts of the faces and makes pencil or paint brushes
\nadditions, as in @ Rp...(4) and @ Rp...(7). What is he aiming for
\nwith these collages? Again, he was expressing the burden of
\nstereotypes. The inner workings of the head are already
\noverloaded by news, because of the influence of a relentless
\nstream of media. In this manner, Pande simplifies the meaning and
\ncharacter of his works. Because, it is a fact that those collages
\ndo not increase nor decrease the implied message from his work.
\nIn the end the function of the collage is limited only as a
\nvisual element, as with the texture and nuance in his works. Even
\nif the collage had never been applied in the first place to
\nPande's works, the images would stand up on their own. Why must
\nthe artist be burdened with actual messages? Why must he be
\nafraid of not being called \"contextual\"?<\/p>\n
The \"head\" obsession was particularly focused on two
\ninstallation pieces called Pongpongan, which were made of
\ncoconut shells and bamboo roots with part of the stem. Pongpongan
\nmeans an empty and punctured coconut. In Bali it is used as a
\ntalisman against misfortune, after first being given a swastika
\nsign on the forehead. The bamboo roots are used because the shape
\nresembles a head with hair. For Pande those two objects arouse a
\nfantasy of the human head. In pongpongan the head is empty, a
\nform without content. In the bamboo roots we are unable to guess
\ntheir contents.<\/p>\n
It seems that in Pande's eyes the human head is sometimes like
\na pongpongan, and sometimes like the bamboo roots. Therefore, he
\nplaced some mirrors in the installations. Let the human reflect?<\/p>\n
In Pande's installations we finally see formation, while in
\nhis paintings we are presented with deformation. In the
\ninstallations a fantasy element was absent in order for him to
\nassociate each thing with a reality. He only decreases or
\nincreases the focus on the object in order not to stray too far
\nfrom this intended sense of reality. While in his paintings, he
\naltered the whole anatomical structure of the reality into a
\ndeformed truth.<\/p>\n
Although Pande only graduated from the Indonesia Art Institute
\nin Yogyakarta a year ago, the artist has exhibited works since
\nl989. He is active at Sanggar Dewata, the meeting place of Bali
\nartists in Yogyakarta. In l997 and l998 he was a finalist in the
\nPhilip Morris Awards.<\/p>",
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