Arts according to I Made Wiradana

Tri Vivi Suryani, Contributor, Denpasar, Bali

A few months ago, young painter I Made Wiradana caused a stir in the Balinese art circle with his "art declaration".

In one of his points in the declaration, Wiradana questioned the virtue of impressionism, an art movement fostered by French artists in the late 19th century, which uses colors to show the effects of light on things to suggest atmosphere rather than showing exact details.

His argument was that in reality, impressionism has been losing followers. Very few artists like the school of art.

Wiradana argued that if an artist worked outdoors and painted the landscape, it would be virtually impossible to record all the details of the atmosphere and the color of the panorama on his canvas.

"We have to be honest. In just a few minutes, the sunrise will move albeit slightly in some degree. This will certainly have a significant impact on the position of the sun and its rays.

"Therefore, the shadows of all the objects being painted will change as well," said Wira.

Ideally, if artists want to be consistent, they have to also make changes in accordance with the shifts in the color and condition of their subjects.

"But it is difficult to create a painting within only one hour or so, therefore impressionism is irrelevant," Wira said.

In his art declaration, Wiradana also challenged some standard practices in arts. And for that he received attention from reputable art critics, such as Helena Spanjaard from the Netherlands.

Graduated from the Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) Yogyakarta in l995, Wiradana decided at an early age to pursue a career as a full-time professional painter.

In his early years, his works were greatly influenced by the famous painter H. Widayat. Born in Denpasar, Wiradana began painting decorative works, particularly landscape.

Bored with decorative style, Wiradana shifted to another style: the deformation of objects, which he focused on primitive art.

Starting last year, Wiradana tried to satisfy his art explorations with post-modern art. Many of his works have been displayed in local museums and galleries.

A lot of art critics see Wiradana's works as "unusual and unconventional".

Wiradana said a canvas was not a mere flat space as artists usually see it. He often sees his canvas as a circular space in which all objects painted on it are related to each other.

In one of his works titled Kupersembahkan Setangkai Bunga, (I give you a flower), Wiradana painted a picture of a woman sitting on a chair and a man standing behind her with a flower.

The woman is portrayed with half of her legs chopped off, while the rest of her legs appear on the top of the canvas.

He used a similar approach to paint a dog lying on its legs. Wiradana presented a half picture of the dog, with the remaining body of the dog placed somewhere else on the same canvas.

In Coca-Colaku, (My Coca-Cola), Wiradana portrays a woman holding a bottle of coke. Wiradana cut her bottom in half in the front, while the other part was painted on the left side of the canvas.

By portraying deformed bodies, Wiradana wanted to convey his argument that a canvas can be used to portray a great variety of objects, regardless of their entity.

A finalist at the local Philip Morris Art Awards and winner of the best sketches of ISI Yogyakarta, Wiradana is regarded as one of the most promising young artists.

His subjects range from local heroes, such as Raden Ajeng Kartini, a women's rights advocate, to famous comic book figures and Western superheroes, such as Batman, Spiderman, Superman and some monsters.

His main aim is only to show that art is borderless and universal. To Wiradana, there is no longer the dichotomy of West and East, old and modern, men and women.