Agus Suwage swims against the current

Text and photos by Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): In the history of Indonesian art the 80s generation might be called "the restless generation". Generally they have university backgrounds. Some have degrees while others dropped out.

But they share a mutual degree of concern: disappointment with the art environment and the education they received. In pursuing their profession, they just take "another road" they call "self- searching", "resistance", "opposition", "experimentation" and so on.

In discussions, they load their arguments with terms like "formalism", "conservatism", "dogmatism", "domination" and "establishment".

Among this 80s generation of artists are Arahmaiani, Tisna Sanjaya, Semsar Siahaan, Dadang Christianto, Heri Dono, Irawan Karseno, Udji Lirungan, Nindityo, Nyoman Erawan and Agus Suwage.

They live in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and other cities. They were born in the "period of silence" after the clamor of the New Art Movement. In fact they did not initiate a "movement" or "manifesto" and sometimes they perform off the art stage in the open air, at the beach, in housing complexes or on the streets.

Because they did not make anything revolutionary, people thought that nothing happened in the world of art in Indonesia. But in fact, these artists have been swimming against the current. They are opposed to the tradition and ideology of fine art or the formalism of the modernists who are filled with great rules and narrative.

In the arts "boom" in recent years when arts underwent degradation in every aspect, the artists of the 80s generation came out with an alternative without having to succumb to market rules that make the boom possible.

They use media other than conventional oil paint, such as pencil, coal, conte, Chinese ink, paper, which used to be sneered at as "second class".

It is on this background that Suwage's single exhibition in the Millennium Gallery in South Jakarta, is a must see.

The 40-year-old alumni of Bandung Institute of Technology's (ITB) school of graphic design once worked as a commercial artist in several advertising agencies.

He has shown signs of "restlessness" ever since he started his career as a designer and as an artist. As a visual designer, his works "deviate" from the usual design principles.

In times when designers discard their original creativity and submit their will to the public or clients' will, Suwage maintains a great degree of subjectivity. It is this determination that made him choose to become an artist.

To become a visual artist, Suwage believes he does not have to paint with oil. As artists in his generation who are also "restless", he doesn't want to choose an already "established" media. He tries to explore, from the media as well as from the idioms he uses. Isn't exploration the most important aspect in contemporary art?

Many Indonesian artists have enjoyed the art boom. They are busy trading in paintings and they use the same old idioms without them exploring new possibilities.

Exploration, as far as Suwage's work is concerned, is not seeking retinal sensation or "aesthetic aura", like shape, color, line texture with the principle base of balance of harmony.

Let us forget the conventional adage that art should be "interesting, sweet and wonderful for the eyes", so that we can enjoy Suwage's nonconventional drawings done between the 80s and 90s.

Therefore, in Suwage's works, first we are presented with idiom exploration. Idioms could appear from somebody's subconsciousness which was suppressed because of prevailing norms.

Psychology, for example, knows the term "death instinct" and "masochism" in human beings. Generally, this tendency is not practiced by our artists because it is not allowed by the existing aesthetic rules and social norms.

However, in Suwage's works like Dance with Others (1985), Mama I, 1986, Mama II 1986, such instincts are set free. The drawing space becomes a kind of arena to spill out suppressed instincts, whether it is the dark side of life, a trauma from an unpleasant experience, or a pleasant and at the same time misery, like in Dance with Others. In this drawing the dance is not brought forward because of its ritual and aesthetic meaning, but because of the aggressive instincts of the dancers.

Humans, basically, can become more aggressive than animals. Dances and other rituals are parts of the arrangements of life that control human aggression which is sublimated into meaningful and normative activities.

However, in a decadent society nowadays Dance with Others like crazy partying and killing for fun is commonplace but never expressed in an explicit way.

Symbolically, Suwage presents a black figure lying with blood gushing from a stab wound. On its side are two naked figures dancing.

"They are all kinds of forces that coerce us, which cannot be opposed, and which leave us with no choice," he said. "Those forces aren't necessarily evil, but the reality is that they bind us, hurt us, and make us afraid".

In another picture, we are presented with a terrifying reality, strange shapes, mutilated body, fallen body, blood and a monster as in Sejak 1945 (Since 1945), (1990) or in Untitled (1985).

In this drawings Suwage apparently wants to drag viewers into his nightmares. He gathered organs or bits of things to become an open idiom and text. Then he lets viewers remember, guess, feel and interpret for themselves.

In short, Suwage's works show more of life's absurdity. And he does not present them in a "polite" way. His charcoal and conte lines are very wild, cruel, ambiguous, and dance up and down. The colors are limited and raw: black, red, blue. However, those things do not mean that his works become "poor". Instead, really he has "enriched" them by raising again the value of a drawing medium as a medium with "class".

Beside exhibiting around 20 paintings, this winner of the Philip Morris Indonesia Award 1998 also presents an art book containing a number paintings on plywood. His exhibition at the Millennium Gallery will run until March 7, 1999.