Artist Winkler finds his paradise in Bali

By Amir Sidhartha

JAKARTA (JP): Bali has long attracted painters with its lush and beautiful landscape, and these artists have responded by filling their canvases with images of the island as a Garden of Eden. The works of young Swedish artist Richard Winkler, while unique and distinct, belong to this long tradition of romantic and intriguing portrayals of Bali.

Born in Norrktping, Sweden, in 1969, Winkler opened a design studio after his graduation from the Beckmans School of Design in Stockholm. He began receiving commissions from Swedish corporations, but also remained focused on his own painting, participating in several joint exhibitions and holding his first solo exhibition in 1992, which was followed by five more solo exhibition over the next four years.

Winkler's fascination with the tropics, combined with an interest in pursuing a friendship with an Indonesian woman, Regine, with whom he had been corresponding, led him to journey to Sri Lanka. Friendship turned to romance and Winkler and Regine married and moved to Bali, the island from which he would draw much of his inspiration.

The fertile island seemed to offer him the solution to the artistic form with which he had been struggling. To this point, Winkler had painted strange, almost surrealistic forms, abstract fragments of human limbs and bodies which resembled wooden sculptures. In some of these early works, traces of Henri Rousseau were already evident, with the warm flesh tones of the abstract forms contrasted with the green vegetation in which they were set.

In Bali Winkler discovered his Garden of Eden. The lush greens of the island inspired him and the abstraction with which he had been struggling in his earlier works took a more natural form.

Inevitably, the paintings of Walter Spies come to mind when viewing Winkler's works, for they continue the tradition of romantic depictions (by foreigners) of the Island of Paradise. It is also apparent, in viewing his paintings, that Richard Winkler found what he was searching for and resolved what he was struggling with after his encounter with the nature, culture and art of Bali.

Winkler will be presenting his latest works in an exhibition titled In the Garden of Eden, to be held in the Narcissus Room of the Hotel Mulia on Jl. Asia Afrika, Jakarta, from Aug. 8 to Aug. 15. Art observer Amir Sidharta talks with the artist about the exhibition.

Question: Your early works resemble abstract wooden sculptures. Have you ever studied sculpture specifically?

Answer: No, I never studied sculpture at all. But I have always been very interested in forms and shapes. In Bali I have tried sculpting in stone a little bit .... Later on, when there is more time, I would like to develop the sculpting part. I like stone as a medium.

Q: Your 1995 painting Woman Waiting by the Lake is a kind of transition from your "sculptural" works to your current style. In that work, there seems to be a touch of sensuality or even sexuality. Can you comment?

A: Yes, I think that is a very sharp and correct way to describe the development of my paintings. In that painting especially there is a lot of sensuality, eroticism and even sexuality. But I also think that sexuality and sensuality is very present and strong in all my paintings.

As I see it the whole world is full of sexuality, a strong desire (maybe the strongest) to duplicate and to develop and grow. The whole world, including humans, animals, plants, microcosms and macrocosms, is created by this strong desire to find new combinations. For humans it is called sexuality, for plants fertility and for animals it is called ... reproduction?

Anyway, it is a strong desire within all and everything. Because of that strong desire me, you and everything and all was created. What created that desire is an even bigger question. However, I see this desire so clearly in everything. Especially in the tropics.

Q: Of the artists who have depicted Bali, who are you most influenced by?

A: I am very fascinated by the traditional paintings, especially the Batuan-style paintings from the '30s and '40s. They mixed a lot of mysticism in the paintings and got a nice twist that attracts me. I am a big fan of Nyoman Ngendon, who made fantastic paintings. My painting The Flute Player is modeled after one of his paintings that you can find in the Arma Museum here in Bali. Another fantastic painter is Ida Bagus Made, whom I admire very much. In general I think all the traditional paintings inspire me, with all the details and the way they shade their colors, which is similar to the way I work. Before I arrived in Bali, I did not know anything about the traditional painting style.

Q: Some of your works are similar to those of Walter Spies, and also bear resemblance to Henri Rousseau. Can you comment on this?

A: Before I arrived in Bali, I did not know anything about Spies or Covarrubbias (some people also compare me with him). I like both of them, and there are some similarities. But I don't think they have influenced me the way the traditional painting style has. I like Rousseau with his dreamlike paintings, his softness and his colors. Our paintings are still very different from each other, but maybe similar in the softness and dreamlike images. I think around 1994/95 I started to pay more attention to Rousseau's work. At that time I had already made two trips to Sri Lanka, and the tropics were beginning to come into my style more and more.

Q: How would you characterize your works, particularly in comparison with the works of other artists depicting Bali?

A: My paintings are a mix of reality (things I see, hear and even smell), my own imagination and my dreams. Sometimes I am more realistic with just scenery, sometimes it is twisted with my fantasy or dreams. I use all the colors and patterns from people's clothes, their offerings, the plants and flowers, the sky and so on that I see around me. But, for example, when I paint a sarong it is mostly just plain. Not often with a pattern. The pattern might come back in the form of plants in the nature I paint, the color of the sarong might come back as the sky or a mountain.

I memorize a lot of things I see, but it comes out in another form and shape on the canvas. All my paintings are made from my imagination. I don't use models or paint or sketch in front of scenery. I want it to be all my imagination and my feelings. Not exactly reality. It has to be some kind of twist. Lately I have been painting a lot of snakes. I often see snakes around, even in my studio .... The snake for me is feminine, sexual, beautiful and dangerous. As a Christian you also cannot run away from the story of Adam and Eve in Paradise.

So to answer your question, my paintings maybe do not just describe Bali and its culture, society and religion. They are more mixed with my own expressions of the relationship between humans and nature, my own religious background (even though I am not a very religious person) and my own imagination about peace and harmony between man and nature. Maybe something we lost long ago in the West.

Q: The title of you current exhibition is In the Garden of Eden. Why did you choose this title, and what is the philosophy behind it?

A: I think it is a good title because when I look at my paintings I see a lot of images of Paradise. Lush gardens, harmony and peace, balance, love, but also something dark that threatens to ruin it all. And somehow I think I see all that here in Bali. The Balinese are also very good at balancing good and evil, black and white. Trying to find that balance.