A Basque in Bali opens fine arts program

By Jason Tedjasukmana

JAKARTA (JP): The centuries-old relationship between artist and patron has generally been a fruitful one. The Medici family's commissioning of Donatello and Michaelangelo in 15th century Florence, for example, resulted in a number of Europe's most important works of art. While Europeans have long realized the importance of cultural patronage, the practice has again come under attack in the United States, where a Republican-controlled congress is determined to do away with virtually all government spending on the arts.

In light of such philistine axe-wielding, any initiative of the public sector in the cultural arena is all the more welcome. This is especially necessary to Jakarta, where relatively few exhibitions are mounted with private funds.

The Embassy of Spain has stepped into the fine arts fold this week with its exhibition of paintings by Jesus Mari Lazkano, a native of the Basque country in northern Spain. Lazkano is the first of ten artists invited to participate in the embassy's Ten of the Best series, a cultural exchange program designed to introduce Spain's most prominent contemporary artists to Indonesian audiences. Spanish artists are given an opportunity to discover Indonesia, and the embassy hopes a program for Indonesians will one day come to fruition. Over the course of two years, each artist will spend two months either in Bali, Batam, Jakarta or Yogyakarta, compliments of Grupo Sol Melia, Spain's largest hotel group.

Private participation allows the embassy to price the paintings at a fraction of what the artists currently fetch on the international market. In the words of Ambassador Antonio Sanchez Jara, the challenge now is for collectors "to detect their genius" and buy accordingly. For, he adds, "a new generation of Picassos, Miros, Tapies, Gris and Dalis is emerging in Spain and some of its greatest members were selected for this cycle".

Worlds together

Lazkano has created over two dozen paintings for the exhibition -- an impressive number considering the average size of each work, 50 cm x 75 cm, and the relatively short duration of his stay in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Whether his activity was fueled by the beauty of the Balinese landscape or a desire to fill the embassy's fairly large gallery space, however, is less clear. Lazkano has devoted his undeniable talent to series of rather homogeneous portrayals of Balinese rice terraces and cliff-sides.

The 35-year-old artist breaks down the island's abundant vegetation into what he calls "architectural landscapes". All narrative elements are removed and humanity's presence is obvious only in the rice terraces that have been meticulously carved out of the hills by farmers and rendered with scientific precision by Lazkano.

An unadulterated silence lingers heavily in each landscape and one is left wondering about the improbable position of the painter and the light source in each painting. Moments are not captured in time, but interpreted more through photographs that allow Lazkano to impose his own order of space. Imaginary trees emerge in the foreground of several works, disturbing the serene balance of the Balinese countryside and thrusting the eye deep into a manipulated, yet believable, scenario. Lines dissect and create a rhythm that reverberates through the shallow pools of young rice fields and the towering palms that grace his lemon skies.

Because of the uniform color and subject matter of the works, the paintings make less of an impact when hung side by side. However, their collective arrangement in the gallery provides a vital and unique opportunity to evaluate this artist's "Bali period" and the impetus behind his latest creations.

In his catalog, Lazkano explains: "Bali's tremendous natural endowments simply crush everything in its midst and my growing interest has been prevailed upon by the expansive capacity of the landscape. The tension between 'architecturalized landscape' and nature almighty is noticed in the rice terraces (an authentic creation of landscape architecture) and its own self-propelling geography (volcanic activity and constantly growing surface vegetation)."

Lazkano's individual landscapes are neither romantic or intimate. Coming from one of Spain's most lush and mountainous provinces, his reaction to the majestic Balinese terrain was far from that of an awestruck tourist. Each painting is an isolated investigation. The series as a whole is an intense effort to get closer to his surroundings, to which he dedicates the same scrutiny applied to the neo-classical structures and industrial buildings of his earlier works.

Be it another exercise or a turning point in his promising career, Lazkano likens the experience to a good book. "You never know when you'll come back to it, but you do know that you'll read it again." He adds: "All exhibitions cover a more or less prolonged period of personal history, namely that of the artist. Some coincide with landmarks in their development, others define periods noted in previous shows while others completely break from the past."

Regardless of how the chapter unfolds for the artist, the embassy can clearly call their program a success. This first installation in the series has already provided an important step in Ibero-Indonesian understanding and an even more important contribution to the arts.

The works of Jesus Mari Lazkano will remain on display at the Embassy of Spain on Jl. Agus Salim No. 61, Central Jakarta, until Sept. 29.