A new slang in contemporary Indonesian art

A new slang in contemporary Indonesian art

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Contemporary Indonesian art, as that represented
in works nominated for the 1996 Indonesian Art Awards, according
to art critic Agus Dermawan T., "showed a tendency toward the
odd, absurd, pathos, artificial and protest". The works nominated
in the 1997 Indonesian Art Awards were not much different. Dark,
daunting, and chaotic, was the title of an article about the
awards in Republika daily.

Most art critics familiar with contemporary Indonesian art
would agree that more and more works of art by young Indonesian
artists today show such a tendency. The same is true of works by
Yustoni Volunteero, S. Teddy D. and Hafiz presented in an
exhibition titled Sebuah Percakapan (A Conversation) at Erasmus
Huis, South Jakarta, that runs through Aug. 26.

The three young artists have been working together for the
past eight months establishing an art network. Artist and curator
of Cemeti Gallery, Mella Jaarsma, points out that they have found
similar approaches in their ways of thinking and expressing their
ideas.

The exhibition, a result of their work as a group within the
network, clearly shows that they speak a common language. Perhaps
what Agus Dermawan and the other art critics have seen developing
recently is precisely the development of a new prokem (slang) in
Indonesian contemporary art. Groups of young artists, such as the
group consisting of Yustoni, Teddy and Hafiz, seem to have
developed their own dialects, if you will, within this new
artistic language.

Their language, like Basquiat's, combines elements of visual
images and text, Yustoni claims to no longer trust the printed
word, especially that in the mass media, and uses cut-out
newspaper headlines combined with found or painted visual images
in "scrap-book" compositions, to create his own messages. He also
incorporates his own written text into the picture, and often
they are crude curses in English, which are overused in Hollywood
movies to which he is certainly exposed. These words certainly
suggest a tone of protest.

Born in a Central Java village in 1970, Yustoni entered the
Art Department of the Indonesian Fine Arts Institute (ISI)
Yogyakarta in 1991. He often participates in demonstrations
opposing government and campus policies and these themes are
predominant in his works.

Teddy was born in Padang, West Sumatra in 1970. He
entered the Indonesian Arts High School (STSI) in Surakarta,
Central Java, in 1990, and transferred to ISI Yogyakarta two
years later.

Hafiz was born in Pekan Baru in 1971. Following in the
footsteps of his father, a Riau artist, Hafiz became accustomed
to painting. In 1990 he entered the Jakarta Arts Institute and
studied printmaking.

Yustoni's visuals include icons of military soldiers, rural
farmers and rice stalks. He includes words like paddy (rice),
hidup (life), land, rice and people-land, and bumiputera
(indigenous people). Both visual and textual symbols reflect his
concern over abuse of power over the livelihood of common people
as well as the conservation of natural resources for our future.

Teddy's work epitomizes the spontaneity of the group's style.
His paintings seem to be completed very quickly using abrupt
brushstrokes. Once the image appears, the artist stops; there is
no further attempt to improve the depiction. Instead, he
completes the picture with English words. Yet the incorporation
of text in his paintings is not even an attempt to clarify what
he is trying to convey. His paintings seem to be purely an
expression of his confused thoughts.

Sculpture seems to be a more potent medium for the artist.
Three scorched yellow ironing boards in the form of human
figures, on wheels, are lined up in Jalan Menuju Generalissimo
(The Way to Generalissimo).

A glass of drink, a stool, a fan and the word "LIER" are icons
common in Hafiz's paintings. The images seem to be associated
with the objects which can be found in the artist's room; they
hint at his somewhat reclusive life. His woodcut, titled
Terbuang, dan Tidak Apa-apa (Thrown Away, and Does Not Matter),
shows a naked figure standing within the confines of a small
toilet stall. Sometimes the crescent moon and star, the symbol of
Islam, emerges in Hafiz's works, suggesting his strong ties with
the religion he embraces. Yet, the symbol often appears along
with other symbols which seem to be his temptation: a can of
beer, a television set and even a cross. His art works provide
him with a means for contemplation, while for other people it is
one way to be able to know and understand his complex and perhaps
even confused way of thinking.

The works of the three artists convey messages through
compositions of symbolic visual and textual elements. Although it
is clear that they are still struggling to fully master these
elements, their compositions indicate tremendous spontaneity and
present powerful expressions.

Jaarsma traces the incorporation of text in their canvases to
the incorporation of writing in the works of Sudjojono (1913-
1986), the pioneer of modern Indonesian art.

However, while Sudjojono's texts are usually narrative, poetic
and philosophical, and provided as a means of further explaining
the depiction, the text used by the three young artists often
have no association with the painted images, but is included to
add another dimension to the content of their paintings, often in
a rather bombastic way. Nonetheless, in both cases the text leads
the viewer to think beyond the image and even question its
validity. Even though the works by the three young artists may
not always be communicative, at the very least they are thought-
provoking.

Although Yustoni, Teddy and Hafiz have used a new language or
dialect in their artistic expression, it is certain that the
language is still developing and still needs to develop. None of
the artists have quite mastered the semiotics of their vocabulary
and the semantics of their grammar. As a result, the audience
they address also finds it difficult to comprehend their works.

On one hand, there is no doubt that the development is
necessary and will happen. Yet on the other hand, there is also
concern that it will diminish the spontaneous energy and
ambiguity in their current works. Should people be able to
understand what they are trying to say? Do they want people to
understand what they want to convey?

Prokem was developed as an esoteric coded language in the
underworld of Jakarta. Once the code was understood, it became a
language with a widespread popularity among Jakarta's young.
However, it never developed any further than becoming an
alternative language for regular conversation, and hence became
merely a short-lived fad.

The new artistic language which has been used by Yustoni,
Teddy and Hafiz, will also become widespread among the young
generation of contemporary Indonesian artists. Taking into
account the development of their prokem, it will be crucial for
artists continue to be innovative and creative in the use of
their new artistic language.