Agus Suwage swims against the current
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.