Wianta broadens language, content of abstract art<\/p>\n
By Jean Couteau<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP): The international image of Bali owes much to
\npainting. But this image is, paradoxically, the source of the
\npainters, and particularly Balinese painters. The role artists
\nplay in the creation of the myth of Bali as "the island of the
\ngods" is, sadly, more important than their contribution to the
\nworld of painting. To be Western and married to a Balinese is a
\nbetter guarantee of success as a painter than making a real
\ncontribution to painting. Whatever the talent of Westerners such
\nas Spies, Bonnet and others, none of them has been a Gauguin.
\nTheir work is more often of a documentary quality rather than
\nimportant artistically.<\/p>\n
But the Balinese artists might succeed where the Westerners
\nhave failed: they are now regaining control of their art and the
\nproducing their own image. Instead of being made into something
\nby Westerners, they are now regaining control over their art and
\nthe image-making of themselves as Indonesians and Balinese,
\ncontributing their share to the definition of the new
\ninternational art, as shown in the exhibition "Contemporary Art
\nof the Non-Aligned Nations" now being held in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
These artists are not the village painters who stick to a
\nstifled idea of themselves as Balinese. They are city boys like
\nErawan, who reacts to the "shredding effect" of tourism and
\nmodernization on Balinese culture, or like Made Wianta, who
\nbroadens in a Balinese way the language and content of abstract
\nart.<\/p>\n
"I don't care what I make," says Wianta, 46, stomping around,
\nfull of nerve, will and energy, sporting a wry Balinese smile.
\nThere's a brush in his hand, a splash of color on his canvas. "To
\nme the medium does not matter," he carries on. "I am a painter,
\nbut if I cannot 'do' it in shapes and color, I do it in words,"
\nhe says, referring to his upcoming poetry book. Poetry written,
\nwith archetypal drawing, on a metro ticket, on toilet paper,
\n"while abroad," he eagerly adds, or on the page of a magazine,
\nwritten while waiting at the doctor's.<\/p>\n
"The process of drawing, painting, dancing, writing,", he
\nsays, "is to me all the same, just like making love. One does it,
\nand one thinks of the result later. Love could not be great
\notherwise, nor painting," he says, laughing.<\/p>\n
Although a highly spontaneous artist at times, Made Wianta,
\narguably Bali's most famous artist, can also be at his best with
\npaintings full of painstaking details. Much of his work of the
\nlast ten years -- he moved into abstraction in 1984 -- is based
\non the principle of pointillism, with color dots lined, one after
\nanother, in an almost infinitive variety of hues, leading to the
\nimpression of rich detail and Eastern delicacy which is, indeed,
\nhis main contribution to abstract art. How can Wianta combine the
\nlabor-intensive lining of dots with his compulsive and
\nspontaneous creativity? "We are in Bali," he answers, looking me
\nstraight in the eyes.<\/p>\n
"I was fed up with geometrical abstraction," he says, refer
\nring to his highly popular impressive series of triangles mostly
\nin reddish and golden hues. "So I broke it." The demonstration
\nfollowed: He "broke" the colors before my very eyes, looking for
\nthe "vulgar", then the obnoxious. First pure spontaneity of
\ncolor, a world far from the systematic dot lining shown on a
\nnearby canvas. Then pure spontaneity of form: broken sticks
\nhanging out in a yellowish haze, in apparent contradiction to all
\nthe rules of composition, and a fair cry from the symmetry of his
\notherwise geometric works.<\/p>\n
Spontaneous<\/p>\n
Wianta is both systematic and spontaneous. Systematic in
\ngeometric form and the color of his dot lines. Spontaneous in
\nbreaking the symmetry and bringing out "archetypes" as well as
\nspontaneously splashing color.<\/p>\n
He constantly hovers between these two -- one after the other,
\nor one inside the other -- as when he inserts "archetypal"
\nspontaneous signs within otherwise geometrical works. He thus
\ncombines at several levels both formal and thematic elements.<\/p>\n
Here is where the Balinese comes to the fore. Balinese
\nclassical painting is made up of formal and iconographic
\npatterns, inserted within each other at several levels. It can be
\nseen on the flat horizontal level, the eye running around the
\ncanvas, or on the deep vertical level, the eye moving inside a
\npattern, then a sub-pattern.<\/p>\n
One should look at Wianta's painting in much the same way.
\nAlthough the general language is modern, he talks or shapes and
\ncolors in a highly plastic and striking way. In Old Bali the eye
\nmoves horizontally before penetrating inside the details. Instead
\nof the short and direct appreciation of the painting, as usual
\nwith abstract art, we get into a dialogue with a sophisticated
\npiece of art. A novel way to look at abstraction.<\/p>\n
Made was not always into abstraction, though. He started his
\ncareer with minute, compulsive black and white drawings of
\nBalinese ghosts, unlike the highly patterned ones of Balinese
\npainting. But Made's individual ghosts were born from the demons,
\ndancers and the lush nature of Bali. A revolted "individualist"
\nin a communal society.<\/p>\n
Some collectors would have liked him to remain there. But the
\ntemple priest's son and Java-educated artist had more to do.
\nHaving brought his ghosts to the fore, he had other ones coming
\nup: visual ones, archetypes of the colors, shapes and signs
\nhaunting the brain of man and the Balinese Man.<\/p>\n
From the caveman of Southern France to Jackson Pollock, the
\nlanguage of signs has a long story and Made Wianta brings his own
\ntouch to it. Some of his new works, such as those recently
\nexhibited at the Grand Hyatt in Bali, and now decorating the Hall
\nof the Grand Hyatt Jakarta, dwell on the Asian art of
\ncalligraphy. He brings in both the direction of action painting
\nand abstract expressionism, and that of a magical, allusive near
\nfiguration. Having shocked us, Made Wianta now makes us dream.<\/p>\n
What about his career? Brussels, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,
\nFukuoka, soon Bengalore, Dortmund, it has the hallmarks of an
\ninternational career. Not as a Balinese, but as an abstract
\npainter. His collectors read like a Who's Who list of the arts
\nand business. His activities from work with the Ford Foundation,
\nas head of the Ford Foundation Wianta Foundation Gambuh Project,
\nto his financing of poetry publishing to donations to Aids. Made
\nWianta, although well-rooted in his village, sees himself as man
\nof the world, in his mind and his works.<\/p>\n
Stomping once more, he throws his brush on the canvas, then
\ntells me: "let's have a cup of coffee". We are barely seated
\nbefore he is again scratching at his daughter's school-book. A
\ncompulsive and creative artist. Other surprises lie ahead. Always
\nabout translating the language of Bali into that of the world.<\/p>",
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