Artists of different ethnicities join as one

Artists of different ethnicities join as one

Ahmad Solikhan, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Discussions in political and religious forums, as well as in
the world of art, are nothing new.

But when these dialogs emerge from paintings by artists from
two different ethnic groups, they become interesting, in terms of
the varying development of art.

Visitors can appreciate this uniqueness at the painting
exhibition Dialog Visual Dua Etnik (The visual dialog between two
ethnic groups), to run until Jan. 30 at Jogja Fine Art Community
gallery.

In their 19 paintings, four artists, Made Arya Palguna and I
Nyoman Triarta, both from Bali, along with Aidis Sukri and
Jumaldi Alfi, from Padang, depict the current fluctuating
conditions in society. Their paintings also show great variation
of expression.

These four young artists, all from different ethnic
backgrounds, have been able to convey their dialogs through each
of their paintings. However, the titles of the paintings seem to
have been chosen hastily, with the simplistic use of certain
idioms. This prevents the smooth flow of the dialog between the
paintings displayed in the hall.

In visualizing their work, some of the paintings by the
Balinese artists are stronger than the others on display, in
terms of their brush strokes and definition of line, as well as
the choice of colors.

This can be seen, for example, in one of Made Palguna's work
-- a 100 x 120 cm mixed media on canvas -- titled Gopala Jaya
(the name of a god from the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata), which
depicts a bald woman, sitting cross-legged, in a transparent
white cloth, her lips painted red, both ears extended to the
side, the clear curves of her plump body and her two hands
holding white champac flowers, which are in full bloom.

Behind the woman there are donkeys standing as if wishing to
accompany her in unending meditation.

Made Palguna, who has exhibited his paintings in several
countries, such as Singapore, the U.S. and Denmark, wishes to
convey the specter of unending social suffering. Only through
silence and prayers is it possible to achieve peace and serenity.

By contrast, in the 200 x 145 cm painting titled Terikat
(Bound), I Nyoman Triarta attempts to capture the sadness of a
corruptor being judged by the people. The man found guilty of
corruption is depicted with the head of a boar, whose nose is
pierced before he faces execution by the mob.

Paintings by I Nyoman Triarta, who once participated in a
Philip Morris sponsored exhibition in the National Gallery, have
quite strong expressionist lines and use dark colors in their
visualization.

Aidis Syukri's painting Menuju Rumah Ideal (Toward an Ideal
Home, 2002), measuring 127 x 90 cm, acrylic on canvas, depicts a
head -- from the neck upward -- on a leaf, with eyes watching
several houses on a snowy landscape dotted with Eskimo igloos. As
a young painter, he uses dark colors to depicts unreal hopes,
full of future rigidity and stagnation.

Another young painter, Jumaldi Alfi, in his painting Cukup
(Enough, 2001), measuring 200 x 145 cm acrylic on canvas,
visualizes his imagination in a very simple way, just by
featuring a hand holding a stone on a bright red plane.

The painters, who currently live in Yogyakarta, have not shown
many changes or development in their artwork. Each of them does
not display any noticeable cultural domination because they seem
to prefer to step back and see the reality of the environment at
a distance, and not simply hark back to their ethnic roots.

This fine art exhibition is not a competition arena in which
to find out the best artwork, but serves as a place for paintings
to evoke dialog without it necessarily being translated by the
painters. However, visitors and art lovers generally tend to
gauge the quality of painters behind their works of art.

Sutanto, the owner of Mendut Gallery on the slope of Mt.
Merapi, mentioned that, "Even without painters, Balinese society
displays an artistic talent, but people in Padang may be unable
to show their artistic abilities without painters".

Thus, Balinese painters are generally more skillful in
painting than those from other regions because they grow up in an
intrinsically artistic environment. But creativeness,
imagination, visualization and the way of featuring expression
are the main foundation of fine arts.

A similar remark to Sutanto's came from Gusti Raden Ayu (GRAy)
Nurmagupita Suryokusumo, the second daughter of Sri Sultan
Hamengku Buana X, who opened the exhibition.

She expressed her hope that the two ethnic groups in the
exhibition room could at least provide separate colors for the
rich cultural fabric that has emerged in Yogyakarta.

Hopefully, the exhibition organizers and fine arts
practitioners will be able to fulfill GRAy Nurmagita's wish for
artistic and cultural development, especially in Yogyakarta. The
outstanding message is that it is necessary to find and hold
dialog with painters of different ethnic groups, in order to
enrich all of us.