Ancient and modern art sits side by side

Ancient and modern art sits side by side

Christina Schott, Contributor, Jakarta

Two longboats with two families aboard floating on the water.
They are probably in search of a better life.

One of these families is from Flores, East Nusa Tenggara,
immortalized in terracotta by an unknown sculptor, who probably
lived more than 200 years ago. The other family is Javanese made
of fiberglass and copper plating made just some days ago, created
by Taufan AP, a 27-year-old artist from Yogyakarta.

Even if different in age, origin, material and style, both
sculptures are amazingly close in their archetypical idea. Taufan
did not know about the Flores boat when he got the inspiration
for his piece. "I was inspired by the story of Adam and Eve", he
says, "It represents simply the way everybody had to go -
starting with the first family and their children."

Both works are part of the exhibition 1,000 years of
Indonesian Sculpture, which opened at Club Bimasena in
Dharmawangsa Hotel on Tuesday night. Although the collection
shows works from different ages from all over the archipelago -
including pieces from the Dongson Culture on Java from the Bronze
Age 3,000 years ago - this is not an antique show. This is a
courageous attempt to show the tremendous variety of Indonesian
art, both ancient and modern - by stressing the contemporary
impact of historical artifacts.

Consequently, none of the objects were chosen because of their
cultural, ethnic or historical importance, but because of their
esthetic expression.

"We really wanted to show pure sculpture", says Irwan Holmes,
consultant of Dharma Mulia Galleries and curator of the
exhibition. "For the first time in this country we have set up a
direct comparison between ancient and contemporary art. A lot of
people think this would be a completely crazy idea - but I
believe this will be the most exciting exhibition Jakarta has
seen for some time."

The 21st century will be represented with sculpture by young
artists Renjani and Taufan AP, as well as by Awan P. Simatupang
and Hariadi Soeroso - highlighted by the latest works of Dolorosa
Sinaga, one of the best-known sculptors in Indonesia today.

"We included contemporary art because we wanted to show the
ongoing process of Indonesian sculpture, and to show the process
of development through the work of living artists from different
generations," says Sinaga, who conceived the exhibition together
with Irwan Holmes.

Looking at Sinaga's deeply moving woman figures - like for
example the three bronze dancers titled Jaipongan, who express
their desire to be free with energetic steps and arm movements,
they appear to be in contrast to the mostly static ancient
figures. But, in fact, a many of the sculptures are united in
their archaic expression of mental power and in their struggle
for freedom. Take for example the early 20th century wooden
statue of a man from Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara: His strained face
and raised hands express that he is freeing himself.

"The big difference is that the ancient sculptures have mainly
been created for reasons of worship, animist ceremonies or other
rituals. Today, we only do art for art's sake", Sinaga says. "But
what all these sculptures have in common is their expression for
certain life conditions. You will always find this continuing
theme."

There is no doubt that some basic aspects of life never
change: birth and death, belief and fear of God or Nature, male
and female, oppression and the desire for freedom. These motifs
go all through the exhibition. There is even a wooden
hermaphrodite from Kalimantan (Dayak, around 1900).

This figure seems to unify all of Nature's forces so as to
remain in contact with a supernatural power. The modern version
of a hermaphrodite with a Superman-like body, but female breasts
was created by 25-year-old Renjani. Her bronze sculpture titled
Direct call to God also tries to contact some higher power, but
in this case with modern telecommunications: A telephone receiver
seems to be fixed to the figure's head, while another receiver is
perched in an outstretched hand.

"Ancient artists didn't create their sculptures for the
present, many of them were made for the afterlife. Therefore,
there is almost no connection between their art and their social
or private lives, which is our main source of inspiration today",
Renjani says. "But still you will always find parallels, which
makes this direct comparison of antique and contemporary art so
interesting."

The most amazing effect of this exhibition is how modern the
old works look beside the new ones. One realizes how strongly
ancient ethnic art has influenced a lot of contemporary artists
all over the world.

The 19th century squared animist deity with four faces and two
breasts from Timor looks like it could have been the inspiration
to some of Picasso's works: a very simple, abstract corpus - but
a highly sophisticated concept of expression.

The exhibition takes place at the Lobby Lounge on the ground
floor of Club Bimasena, Dharmawangsa Hotel, Jl. Dharmawangsa Raya
39, Jakarta. It will be on until June 30, and is open from 10
a.m. until 8 p.m. Free admission.