Artist Rosjid steps forward
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor/Jakarta
As a solo exhibition of drawings by Rosid is almost coming to an end, both the owner of Edwin's gallery and the artist may sit back in satisfaction, as sales of the artworks have been more than satisfactory.
The rise of Rosid as an artist, whose early beginnings were outside the academic sphere, may not be a new phenomenon in the Indonesian setting, considering the process of art education in the early stages of modern art that centered on the sanggar, a traditional atelier system.
What amazes is how Rosid determined his own sphere of learning, by becoming a 'jack of all trades' to professional artists, not declining even to help in household chores.
From a high school student who practiced drawing by making portraits of his neighbors, Rosid (born in 1969) has now reached the stature of a professional. That is evident from his current solo exhibition, the sixth in eight years.
Twenty-one large works, the largest measuring 200 centimeters by 300 cm, attest to the meticulous skill of his drawings, marked by fine hatching (loose parallel lines) over an acrylic base.
This time, his works particularly highlight his joy as a father in viewing his toddler and baby grow up in the warmth of family love.
Similar to blown-up crops of photos taken at what will be remembered as memorable moments, the works show fragments of happiness, like the holding of a baby's foot in the palm of your hand, or a baby's getting hold of your finger, and other dynamics of simple action and reaction like the pressures on skin when touching, holding, pinching, kissing or rubbing.
Within the context of photorealistic works, Rosid invented the illusion of a dream by filling the canvas with a realistic image while leaving a part of the canvas blank, the contours of the face only slightly visible as in Mimpi Menggapai Awan' (Dreaming to touch the heavens). The line of the visible and the invisible is further drawn by a separate part which has been inserted into the canvas.
Rosid, who seems to have experienced a personal resurrection through his young fatherhood, further explores his realistic mode by adding the conceptual to his photorealism. In Tumpuan Harapan (Fundament of Hope) the child's hands are laid upon the parent's hands while a green-leaved branch symbolically emerges from the child's hands.
As Rosid avidly travels the wide horizons of ideas, artistry, imagery and techniques, there is no doubt as to his further proceeding on the path of excellence.
Larger than Life Solo Exhibition by Rosid Edwin's Gallery, Jl. Kemang Raya 21 South Jakarta through 28 May