Pattern gives form to Indonesia<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Seventeen years may be a long period for an individual to
\nfully grasp the true nature of an object, but for Canadian artist
\nKen Pattern the duration is barely enough to achieve such an
\nobjective; his current art exhibition is evidence of a man trying
\nto make sense of it all.<\/p>\n
In fact, the lengthy period was what Pattern needed to go back
\nto square one.<\/p>\n
When he arrived in the country in late 1988, Pattern adopted
\nsurrealism to delineate his state of mind -- the cultural and
\nclimatic shocks he experienced landing in a tropical country
\nafter spending most of his time in a cold climate.<\/p>\n
These days, Pattern has once again embraced surrealism to
\nportray the conditions of a country he thought he knew well after
\nhis lengthy on-and-off stay.<\/p>\n
The recurrent style bookended Pattern's sojourn into the realm
\nof realism he adopted to give an account of the city's loss of
\ninnocence.<\/p>\n
Pattern's current exhibition, the 12th he has held in
\ncollaboration with the Canadian Women's Association (CWA),
\ndisplays drawings from all styles and periods.<\/p>\n
Although a large number of items on display at the exhibition
\nshow the juxtaposition of rich and poor -- traditional
\nneighborhoods and glass-and-steel modern construction -- some of
\nhis early works hint at the style Pattern took when he first
\narrived here.<\/p>\n
Hanging next to his realist paintings are pictures of icebergs
\nfloating on a sun-soaked tropical beach adorned with tall coconut
\ntrees.<\/p>\n
Pattern jokingly said that some visitors at past exhibitions
\nbelieved that the portrayal was realistic. "A couple told me that
\nthey had seen them somewhere," he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Although surrealist in their theme, the drawings looked
\nauthentic -- just like photographs of actual views. Pattern said
\nthat one small drawing could take 100 hours to complete and the
\nblue of the seawater was made up of dozens of layers of color.<\/p>\n
The main attraction of the exhibition is Pattern's signature
\nblack-and-white, portrait-like drawings of Jakarta skyscrapers
\nand their very antithesis, the city's shanty towns.<\/p>\n
Pattern has also devoted a lot of his drawings to portraying
\nthe detail of shanties, especially those built on the banks of
\nthe Ciliwung River.<\/p>\n
One of the drawings shows rows of makeshift houses built on
\nthe riverbank close to Manggarai railway station, South Jakarta.
\nTowering above the shanties is the building that contains the
\nerstwhile plush shopping mall, Pasaraya Manggarai.<\/p>\n
"When the picture was drawn, Pasaraya Manggarai was still one
\nof the city's luxurious shopping centers," Pattern's wife Helen
\nVanwel told the Post. Helen added that despite their filthy
\nappearance, the shanties were clean and neat inside.<\/p>\n
Also on display at the exhibition were a handful of Pattern's
\nrecent surrealist works, which dealt with his confusion at
\nIndonesians -- especially Javanese people and their culture.<\/p>\n
He uses the symbol of a labyrinth to represent the people's
\ncomplex behavior.<\/p>\n
However, there was a period when Pattern just played simply
\nwith his pallete. A number of drawings are straightforward
\nportraits of beautiful landscapes.<\/p>\n
Pattern's latest drawings show idyllic beaches in New Zealand
\nhe visited recently.<\/p>\n
"In these pictures, there is nothing to say other than to
\naccept the beauty of the earth and that we should appreciate the
\nbeauty all around us," he said.<\/p>\n
Ken Pattern charity exhibition runs through May 28 at the Lobby
\nLevel I of Gran Melia Hotel, Jl. HR Rasuna Said, South Jakarta.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pattern-gives-form-to-indonesia-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}