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.