Made Wianta traces grace and beauty of calligraphy<\/p>\n
Alpha Savitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
History has recorded the superb works of the world's great
\nartists who have been inspired by East Asian characters.
\nAmerica's Tobey and France's Mathieu and Soulages are those
\nsuccessfully exploring the esthetic quality of Chinese characters
\nand transforming it into their fine creations.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's famed artist Made Wianta, likewise, mostly relies
\non his brush to move freely and spontaneously across a desired
\nsurface to form curved and wavy patterns that remind one of the
\nesthetic riches of East Asia.<\/p>\n
Wianta's calligraphic works are sometimes very big and
\nprominent, fully covering canvases. But he often also puts his
\ncalligraphic outlines on his geometric paintings. Textured
\nfabrics are no exception to his calligraphy, as many of Wianta's
\nfine art pieces are texture-rich.<\/p>\n
If you think the productive painter is amazed by East Asian
\ncharacters, with their shades of grace and profound beauty, you
\nmay be right. It's not wrong either to claim that Wianta's
\ncalligraphy accommodates some Japanese influences, as he began
\nusing the style after visiting Japan.<\/p>\n
Upon further observation of his works, however, it's not
\ncorrect to say he is overly obsessed by models of East Asian
\ncharacters. In many cases, one will find out that the calligraphy
\nworks of this father of two are virtually an extension of his
\nprevious graphic-toned creations. He is now only using the brush,
\nmaking the curved and wavy strokes more spontaneously.<\/p>\n
Still, Wianta, whose works are on display at Ganesha Gallery,
\nFour Seasons Resort Bali in Jimbaran until Jan. 5, has remained
\nproficient in graphic painting, as the starting point of his
\nartistic career. Through his graphic lines, he can express
\nwhatever obsessions and impressions he has, as a way of relieving
\nhis uneasiness. On various occasions, he has admitted that he has
\na very liberal mind. Moreover, he is never interested in
\nexpressing something by mere appearance.<\/p>\n
With his objection to accepting the legitimacy of reality,
\nWianta will always transform it as he wishes by following his
\nimpressions, enabling him to become his own self. As a student,
\nfor instance, when he was asked to draw a bottle, what resulted
\nwas a flying object, and thus a barong (mythological Balinese
\ndragon) would appear as a monster unknown to Bali's iconography.<\/p>\n
This artist had for a long time spent his spare time making
\nsketches of different representations, until the 1980s. He used
\nto draw animal forms, now and again he drafted human faces,
\nabstract and surrealistic images, as well as short wavy scribbles
\nlike calligraphy, which he did impromptu.<\/p>\n
Lots of paper was used to meet his primary need of artistic
\nsketching in black ink and with a pencil. When no paper was
\navailable, he drew on envelopes, ticket sheets, tissue and any
\nother materials. Since the 1970s, he has collected more than
\n15,000 sketches and drawings in free forms and styles. His black-
\nand-white paintings arose in the 1980s from his graphic works,
\ntoo. He calls it the period of Karangasem, the period when he
\nproduced a lot of surrealistic pictures.<\/p>\n
By the end of the 1980s, due to saturation, he started turning
\nto geometric paintings, apparently in line with the systematic
\naspect of his personality. Without abandoning his graphic basics,
\nafter a visit to Japan he explored short curves resembling
\nChinese and Japanese characters. Since then, he has been fond of
\napplying spontaneous brush strokes on canvases.<\/p>\n
After various innovations, he began to switch to canvas
\ninstead of paper, and apply colors to replace the pencil
\nmonotony, notably also combined with calligraphic scripts through
\nthe instinctive flow of his brush. In this period, Wianta created
\nmini sized calligraphy on his geometric paintings.<\/p>\n
His determination to give a more distinct nuance of
\ncalligraphy in 1993 eventually led to his larger, contemporary
\npieces, sometimes even with the script motifs filling the entire
\nsurface of the canvas. There are also canvases with dots
\nsurrounding the calligraphy, appearing like picture frames. Or,
\ncalligraphy-packed canvases are each divided into several spaces,
\nagain with the touch of geometry.<\/p>\n
Looking like a graceful dance, his calligraphy connotes
\nmobility and movement. In many cases, Wianta rightly appreciates
\narts with a tinge of motion in view of his artistic character,
\nwhich is incompatible with complacency and performance inertia.
\nAs a very productive painter, he also uses installations, poems
\nand other media apart from paper and canvases.<\/p>\n
Born into a religious family, his parents wanted him to become
\na Hindu priest to succeed his father. But he refused. Arts and
\nhumanism have been his pursuit. Like the Balinese in general, as
\na youth he was engaged in various dancing and theatrical
\nactivities. In this way he could also relieve the family pressure
\ndemanding his priesthood.<\/p>\n
As a dance and music school dropout in Denpasar, he moved to
\nthe Indonesian art high school (SSRI), where he studied more than
\nfine art subjects. SSRI was a modern school that expanded the
\ncultural horizons of its students. With teachers coming mostly
\nfrom Java, he was taught to think in a universal way. The
\napproach to fine art was not traditional either, thus encouraging
\nhis creative spirit.<\/p>\n
Graduating from the school in 1970, he furthered his studies
\nat the Indonesia Fine Arts Academy (ASRI) in Yogyakarta. There,
\nhis artistic concept was further broadened and his attitude
\nturned more modern. In 1975 he went to Brussels to enhance his
\nesthetic experience and taught Balinese drumming at Amsterdam's
\nTropen Institute.<\/p>\n
In 1978, the multitalented artist, who is also renowned as,
\namong other things, a poet, musician and dancer, returned to
\nBali. His works have been displayed across the country as well as
\nin Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore,
\nThailand, the United States and the Netherlands.<\/p>",
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