Artist explores photographic realism in paintings

Text and photos by R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Realists believe that paintings are worth showing if they convey real and actual facts. Facts everyone can see without the need for interpretation. Facts without other meanings, just as they come.

To other people this is naked realism, which gives rise to a more extreme view -- photographic realism.

Photographic realism has become the most simplistic form of expression, although, in fact, it is technically the most complicated form. It tends to copy elements from prevailing reality.

Bambang Pramudiyanto's works illustrate that his expertise is strongly prevails in photographic reality.

The 30-year-old Bambang is one of the many realist painters that graduated from the Faculty of Arts at the Indonesian Arts Institute in Yogyakarta. The institute is reputed to spawn strong realist painters, as reflected in the high technical ability of Bambang's paintings.

Winner of the Asean Art Award 1995, he took the automobile as an object of personal identity. He didn't paint the entire car, only certain, unique parts. Some times it is the front, or a detail of the front lights, other times he focuses on the back or side.

Bambang deploys a technical angle to enhance his message. The right angle underscores his expression and adds sharpness, much like a close-up photograph discloses every detail.

The work entitled Family's Heritage, depicting only the front of an orange sedan, is a good example. Visually, it is just an old, but well maintained car.

The work's attraction is that Bambang paints the car as if he had taken a photo. For instance, technical explorations of sharpness in photographic space cannot be denied, since objects outside this space are out of focus, while those within the confines show up quite clearly. The car, being the focus, is sharp while foliage in the back is fuzzy.

The work is clearly photographic realism, since the only interpretation can be the vision of an old, carefully maintained car. The same applies to Yellow Apache In Three Angles, the front of a yellow Chevrolet dissected into three pieces.

The painting is true to detail and lighting. The car's hood ornament is clearly visible.

His other works, however, tend toward realistic explorations on canvas. His Back To Nature, for instance, which won the ASEAN Art Award 1995, depicts the remains of the front of an old truck. The utter uselessness of the rusted truck, from which lights and engine have long been missing, rushes from the image. This old carcass lays partly hidden in bushes, giving the impression of an iron graveyard.

Bambang draws attention to an environment filled with disposable iron which should actually be recycled.

The same applies to The Last Stop of the Journey, which, once more, features the front of a car seen from the side. The car's dulled colors, once a livid green, are now specked with a chocolate brown rust. The futile impression is emphasized with flat tires and a dry leaf on the ground. He makes a start with symbolism in this work. The plain picture symbolizes the casting away of an object for which there is no further use.

In Distance Of Two Worlds, a toy jeep sits under the back of a semi-classic, fire engine red car with sharp pointed corners. The new and old, the toy and the machine, sit together. The realistic visual image, however, draws more attention than the symbols.

Bambang differs from other realist painters, like Dede Eri Supriya, who transform visual facts into metaphors concerning social realities.

Bambang's successfully treats realism in the true sense of the word, showing things as they really are. His only effort to bring something more to his works is to add more color.