Mangu casts off shackles of traditional Balinese<\/p>\n
By Putu Wirata<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP): Agung Mangu Putra, 35, a painter who graduated
\nfrom the Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI), has
\nsurprisingly succeeded in exploring themes and objects which are
\nquite different from those usually worked upon by Bali-born
\npainters in general.<\/p>\n
While the latter usually explore Balinese religious icons
\nbecause of their strong traditional bonds, Mangu has chosen fish,
\nmountains, sand, stone, the sky and so forth in ways obviously
\nshowing that he has set himself free from the shackles of
\nBalinese traditional culture.<\/p>\n
\"I don't reject Balinese traditional symbols. No, I don't. The
\nfact is these traditional symbols simply don't attract me,\" he
\nsaid, after realizing that he had never explored the themes
\noriginating in the culture of his place of birth.<\/p>\n
In his exhibition at the Chedi Gallery, Payangan from Nov. 21
\nthrough Jan. 4, 1998, the themes center around fish, stones,
\nmountains and the sky.<\/p>\n
Mangu Putra was born in Banjar Selat, Sangeh village, Badung
\ndistrict, in 1963. After graduating from ISI, he returned here
\nand took up a job as a graphic designer.<\/p>\n
In his free time, he will take his brush and start painting
\nbut, of course, in this way he could not achieve his best in
\npainting. Yet in 1994 one of his paintings Undersea Imagination
\n(mixed media on canvas, 100 cm x 75 cm) was included as one of
\nthe top ten in the Indonesian Art Awards and this painting was
\nexhibited in the ASEAN Art Award exhibition.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Agung Mangu Putra was relatively unproductive.
\nHe spent most of his time doing his job as a designer.<\/p>\n
\"I used to contemplate my work as a designer. I felt then that
\nif I continued to work as a designer I would never be able to
\nexpress on canvas many of my ideas,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Then he decided to spend more time painting. He took part in a
\nnumber of joint exhibitions in a number of galleries throughout
\nthe country. Unfortunately, few collectors were then interested
\nin his works. However, 1998 will be the year when Mangu's lucky
\nstar shines brightly. Chedi Gallery, a gallery in a hotel, has
\noffered to exhibit his works.<\/p>\n
\"I have accepted the offer because the vision of the gallery
\nis clear. It is not intended only for commercial and profit-
\nseeking purposes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mangu is exhibiting at Chedi Gallery over 20 of his paintings
\nthat depict nature, both inanimate and living: fish, mountains
\nand the sea.<\/p>\n
Why is he interested in fish? The inspiration stimulating him
\nto paint fish was that a fish has a plastic shape. The shape of a
\nfish can be easily represented by making only some free and
\nsimple strokes, a dot for the eye and a line for the fin or the
\ntail.<\/p>\n
Having painted his fish, Mangu began to explore \"freedom
\nwithout having to turn into an abstract painter.\" Yet, Mangu
\nPutra has not drawn a fish in its realistic detail. A fish is
\nsimply a source of inspiration because in fact Mangu is
\nfascinated by the entire environment where a fish exists: rocks,
\nsand, bait, boats and so forth.<\/p>\n
\"While drawing these fish, I felt as if I had been really
\ntransported to the natural environment of the fish such as hard
\nrocks and whitish and light brown sand, Also I was reminded of
\nthe lines of small fry I had just bought in the market, or even
\nof the fishermen far at sea,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In a work entitled Footprint in Sand, Mangu draws the shape of
\na small black fish. It simply lies on an expanse of dry sand.
\nThere is a line forming the shape of a poisonous snake on the
\nleft side. The footprints in the sand, given the color of dark
\nand light brown with real sand as the medium, have become a sort
\nof way for him to express hardness and scorching heat with which
\nfishermen are acquainted.<\/p>\n
However, in Fossil II and Fossil III, Mangu draws fish bones
\nalready turning themselves into old sediment. \"When drawing this
\nfossil painting, I felt as if I had been an archaeologist
\ncleaning his discovery with a chisel or a broom,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A mountain is another object he is interested in. \"I greatly
\nadmire mountains because this silent giant body keeps in it an
\nextraordinarily powerful force. I have nurtured an ambition to
\nscale the mountain but this will never come true because I have a
\nfear of heights,\" he said, honestly.<\/p>\n
So, in his work called The Silence of Stone (oil painting on
\ncanvas, 80 cm x 100 cm, 1998), Mangu draws his mountain from a
\ndistant perspective. Visually, this work shows two perfect shapes
\nof mountains: one is green with a crater at the top and the other
\nis barren, also with a crater at the top. Behind the mountains
\nthere are white clouds floating in the blue sky.<\/p>\n
\"I can get to the top of a mountain only in my imagination,\"
\nhe added.<\/p>\n
Mangu also exhibits in this solo exhibition his painting
\ncalled Undersea Imagination, which earned in 1994 a citation in
\nthe Indonesian Art Awards. Of course Mangu is not a snorkeler or
\na deep diver.<\/p>\n
Once in a while he saw films about underwater life where fish
\nfreely swim as if moving in an expanse of water forming a giant
\ncanvas. It is not easy to distinguish which are real fish and
\nwhich are only heaps of stones or perhaps some garbage. It is
\nthis imaginative atmosphere that has inspired him to create this
\npainting.<\/p>\n
Now, in this era of reform some people may ask whether Mangu
\nwishes to escape social responsibility as the themes he works on
\nseem to be separate from the tumultuous social reality of today.<\/p>\n
Indeed, he is no social activist but he is not 100 percent
\nkeeping his eyes closed to the present-day political reality,
\nwhich is fraught with demoralization.<\/p>\n
In his painting entitled Contending for Food II (acrylic and
\ncharcoal on paper, 60 cm x 35 cm, 1998), he shows avarice at
\nwork. In this painting he satirizes human behavior as he sees it
\ntoday. Scores of fish move fast towards a heap of God knows what,
\nwhich they will contend for.<\/p>\n
\"Just like the fish, many of our political elite are only
\nvying for material gain. They no longer know the limits within
\nwhich they must keep themselves under control in order not to
\nunrightfully seize what belongs to other people,\" he noted.<\/p>\n
It is a pity, an atmosphere of beastlier and wilder contention
\nin the society is not well manifested in this Contending for Food
\nII.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mangu-casts-off-shackles-of-traditional-balinese-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}