28 painters display their sketchings in Denpasar
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.