Artist Winkler finds his paradise in Bali

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.