Amrus hacks creative freedom out of wood

By Margaret Agusta

JAKARTA (JP): Amrus Natalsya does with a knife what most artists do with a paintbrush. Under his strong hands and sharp eyes, thick panels of wood take on images of human life and existence.

Amrus hacks these images from the surface of the panels with an ordinary kitchen knife, rather that applying layers of paint, or resorting to the hammer and chisel most artists would select for creating reliefs. The results of this unusual choice of instruments are as unlike the ornate, shiny reliefs of traditional artisans as they are different from the smooth surfaced, colorful canvases produced by painters.

"A work of art must be original," he told Jim Supangkat, the curator of his current exhibition at Lontar Gallery on Jl. Utan Kayu 68 H, East Jakarta. "I want to be free of all that is taught by others. What I create must come from me, not from someone else's knowledge."

Amrus, who was born in Medan, North Sumatra, on Oct. 21, 1933, began studying art at the Indonesian Academy of Art (ASRI) in Yogyakarta in 1954. He started out in commercial art, but soon became entranced by the sculptures his roommate, Michel Wowor, was creating. "One day he suggested that I try my hand at creating a sculpture from a piece of wood. Because someone had given me the chunk of wood, I was reluctant not to produce something."

Love affair

This encounter with wood was to begin a love affair with that material that continues some 42 years later. "I paint as well, but I have found it difficult to find originality in a medium that came to us from Europe. No matter what we try with it, we end up doing something that somebody else has already done," he said. "All I could think of was that I had to find something original, something of my own."

Wood and sculpture gave him the opportunity to explore not only a new material, but also a wealth of creative and esthetic possibilities.

"Wood has an essence, a special quality, of its own," he said. "If it were not for that essence, I might as well just take the wood panels and paint images on them. Wood offers a whole range of possibilities throughout the different stages of processing a work."

Above all, wood offered him a way to express himself in a way natural to his environment.

"I thought, Indonesia is a land of jungles full of wood. Why not use wood as a media of expression. It would be more natural and fitting. Who said a work of art had to be smeared with bright colors? Who said that individual expression could be accomplished only through the manipulation of a handful of colors'?"

Amrus demands the freedom to create in a way that is uniquely his own. It is this desire that has driven him throughout his career as both a painter and a sculptor. In 1979, when he was selling art out of a kiosk at the Ancol Art Market, North Jakarta, it was this obsession with new ideas and techniques that led him to merge the concepts inherent in painting and sculpture into what he calls "wood paintings".

"One day I saw this guy hacking away at a piece of wood he was trying to cut in two with a knife. It took him a long time, but that piece of wood finally split into two pieces. Then I noticed the gouges left by the knife in the surface of the wood. It intrigued me. Somehow, it was very beautiful to me," he said.

"That was when I began hacking into the surface of wood to see what kind of effect I could create."

Since then, although he has continued to paint and sculpt, he has experimented with gouging and hacking images out of the surface of thick panels of wood.

Wood paintings

"With this technique, I create wood paintings," he said. "By introducing cuts into a surface I am able to create a painterly effect, which I feel makes wood into a real work of art. In this way, a panel of wood can rank with a painting as art. I really believe this is a discovery. Through hacking and cutting into a surface, I am able to create expressive images like those in a painting."

Amrus is convinced that this approach offers creative freedom as great as that to be found in the spontaneous splashing of paint, or the squeezing and prodding of clay. "There is an emotional catharsis to be found in working with wood, which I have never found working with paint and canvas," he explained.

He is adamant that his "wood paintings" are as valid as sculptures or paintings as art forms, and most important of all to him, "wood painting" is an art form all his own. "I have the courage and the conviction to say that wood painting is my discovery, my creation. I developed the technique which results in the originality I was seeking. As far as I know, there is nobody else doing anything remotely like this. As for sculptures and traditional reliefs, our ancestors did that. If we just follow their technique, we are carrying on a tradition, nothing more."

Narratives

The wood paintings and sculptures now on display through Nov. 30 at Lontar Gallery speak not only of Amrus's obsession with originality, but his love for the environment and the way of life of the vast populace of Indonesia.

Not only are his unique reliefs expressive, they tell stories of the world around him and the people and creatures who inhabit it.

Not only has his love of wood led him on a creative journey in the urban jungle of Jakarta, it has also taken Amrus into the forests of Lampung and South Kalimantan. These treks have resulted in works which speak of the grassroots way of life, such as Pergi Kondangan (Going to a Wedding Party), Hutan dan Pemiliknya (The Forest and its Owners) and Rumah Tua -- Yang Tinggal Anak-Anak (Old House -- Only the Children Remain).

Other works by Amrus reflect the impact of his life in the nation's capital. The sculpture Pak RT (The Neighborhood Chief) offers a humorous look at the immense task of trying to regulate the activities of an overpopulated community.

His experiences in Jakarta have also motivated the depiction of the struggle of traditional people to come to grips with an alien, modern urban environment. The city scenes brought forth in works such as Dulu Mereka Naik Becak (They Used to Ride in Pedicabs) and Sehabis Menjual Diri (After Selling Herself) speak volumes about the desperation and frustration of the poverty stricken.

Amrus delves into more than just the possibilities of knife and wood when he creates his "wood paintings", he explores human emotion and experience.