28 painters display their sketchings in Denpasar
By Putu Wirata
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The arts of sketching and drawing suddenly received serious attention when 28 painters displayed their works at Gedung Kriya, the Culture Park of Denpasar.
Opened on Nov. 1 and running until Nov. 28, the exhibition was initiated by Balinese painter Made Budhiana, 39, a Yogyakarta Art Institute dropout in cooperation with Matahati Group, a cultural working group.
"Through this exhibition, I mean to show the public that a sketch is a finished piece of art work, not the beginning of a painting," says Budhiana.
Budhiana is known as a painter who likes traveling to villages throughout Bali carrying his painting equipment. Once he was seen drawing the breathtaking landscape at the foot of the scenic Mount Agung with his pencils and markers.
A sketch is generally considered "unfinished work". The late legendary painter Affandi defined painting as colored sketches.
The exhibition at Gedung Kriya is rich in variety because also on exhibit are the conventional "drawings" where painters show off their sensitivity and ability to harmonize lines.
A major attraction is the works of young artist Agung Mangu Putra, which are outstanding for their fine intertwine of lines. On exhibition is a figure he built with a combination of wild lines filled up with soft white spots looking like a bamboo shoot. The softness of his lines are comparable to that of his oil painting on canvas.
The works on display worthy of mention because their contribution enriches Balinese and Indonesian arts are those of Ivan Sagito, Sucipto Adi, Made Djirna, Wayan Sika, Pande Gde Supada, Aant S. Kawitsar, Made Supena, Nyoman Wirata, Nyoman Erawan, and Awiki.
The painters feature different themes. Ivan Sagito, a realist painter from Yogyakarta, presents his usual absurd figures: headless or bodiless human beings he scribbled with pencil.
Then there is a large standing figure overshadowing a smaller figure of an elderly woman. The larger figure's head is invisible -- it is as if unites with heaven. His works represent his criticism of social injustices.
Nyoman Erawan, who gained fame from his colossal Ruwatan Seni Rupa Indonesia '98 (Purification of Indonesian Fine Arts 98), also displays a sketch and drawing representing his criticism of sociopolitical realities.
In his acrylic sketch titled Gantung (Hang), Erawan presents figures hanging like shirts on a line along with obscure human figures. The work alludes to the Hindu Balinese and their recent protest against a cabinet minister they accused of insulting their religion.
Another work titled Seni Multi Media (Multi Media Art), Erawan faintly criticizes the bureaucracy. There are broken syllables that form the words "Depdikbud" (Ministry of Education and Culture) and Pol... (Police) under a police helmet. Elsewhere in the piece, there are footprints, palms and a heap of human skeletons.
Wayan Sika and Nyoman Wirata clearly express their culture: Balinese. Sika plays with black and white while Wirata with quick stroke.
The contemporary reality of Bali, which has been very much influenced by international tourism, does not received much attention from the artists.
Most of them have apparently turned their back on the contemporary socio-political realities and go back to nature: flowers, mountains, hamlets, rocks, fish, ancient artifacts.
Their works are representation of resi (spiritual gurus) concerned with asceticism rather than politics.