Astari Rasjid: Modern metaphors for ancient issues

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

Many of Astari Rasjid's previous works were stirring revelations of gender situations in the Javanese traditional life of the upper classes, done with a trenchant albeit refined critique.

Her painterly style was realism with a surreal touch -- and one from which her Javanese background was always identifiable -- while her three-dimensional works were one-of-a-kind, stunning metaphors of a woman's life.

The new works of Astari, now showing as an installation in the CP Biennale 2003 at the National Gallery in Jakarta, signal another focus, but one which may also be interpreted as a modern jacket on the old phenomenon.

Fear, shame, insecurity, denial, win or lose -- these are all issues relating to the human psyche from the beginning of time until today. Advanced information systems are rapidly closing the wide global distances, evoking a sense of uncertainty in people. In the past, people wore amulets and other objects believed to have magical powers of protection to free them from fear and uncertainty.

Substitutes for protection in "modern" society can be found in the use of luxury goods with Western labels, clasped by the upper classes as tangible symbols of self-esteem and reassurance.

It is closely tied to consumerism, the zeitgeist of the present time, and a phenomenon that is expanding by the day, including in this country.

Just as she used to question negative values of her Javanese culture and tradition, one of the country's most acclaimed artists is now taking aim at human behavior in modern times.

Her large and heavy iron-made three-dimensional work The Politics of Seduction is a mockery of "modern" women for whom security comes with toting a Hermes bag. The bag is "decorated" with words -- Shame, Fear, Insecurity, Denial, Win or Lose, Addiction -- which strike at the heart of the nagging anxieties haunting people today.

On the wall in the background is a painting of seven Indonesian women in sarong and kebaya (traditional blouse), each holding a bag with a picture of the issues plaguing the country.

Since the issues encompass both women and men, there is also a painting featuring a Harley Davidson, a potent symbol of modern masculinity. The three-dimensional work tells of men's fixation with macho representations, with a quintet of men in traditional attire admiring the motorbike upon which a beaming youth in a T- shirt proudly sits.

In the accompanying heavy sculpture from mixed media of a motor, Astari places an "energizer" in the form of a red rose. Is she saying that as macho as a man may be, he still can't deal with the female invigorator?

The works signal an alarming situation, when amid the sorry state of the nation, people refuse to recognize the catastrophes happening around them, grabbing onto material symbols as flimsy life preservers in their unending storm.

It's another stunning, thought-provoking work from Astari, who became a serious artist only some 15 years ago, although her inclination toward creativity and the arts showed since she was a student in secondary school.

Her work was particularly interesting since she delved into her own Javanese culture and tradition. Marked by redefined values of the tradition in which she grew up, her paintings signaled a new genre of art.

As she explored Javanese culture and traced the traditions of her ancestry, she discovered the depth of impact they had on the lives of people, including herself. Trying to reconcile and reinterpret the traditional concepts, she created paintings and three-dimensional works born out of perceptions and angles of observation that were in line with life as it shifted with time.

It was only natural that hierarchy and regulations that ruled gender relations became the first issues of attention; her earliest paintings hinted at an inner impatience and with having to hide true feelings behind the various masks stipulated by society.

She later created the "Loro Blonyo" series, from the traditional Javanese figurines of a man and woman. These were stirring tales centered on women's lives and marked by somber hues, a closed door, dripping red paint from the roof and a stiff white-faced female figure in traditional attire sitting outside the door, with a mask, a wayang puppet and other elements symbolizing tradition.

Symbols and symbolism became a major part of her intriguing works. In one of her self-portraits, the Borobudur Temple became symbolic of the womb as the most sacred place of the life cycle's beginning, and the sanctity of women, with the lotus flower emphasizing the sense of sacredness.

An installation about marriage and equality between spouses indicates woman's position, with a bare upper body behind an old antique door, with a cinde marriage cloth placed to the left and the right of the center and pairs of the same sandals at the end of each.

Shattering a cultural glass house full of taboos yet acknowledging the universality of issues encountered in Javanese society, Astari proceeds in bringing out the traditional into her contemporary artworks, relating both to the political, the social as well as the personal.

Remarkably, her penetrating comments are accomplished with subtle signs and refined esthetics, revealing an enduring legacy of her Javanese background.

Selected among the 20 best of 22,000 entries of the worldwide Winsor and Newton Exhibition (1999), her painting No U-Turn used Javanese symbolism as a metaphor for persistent feudal practices and the emerging forces of change and equality visualized by the woman's straight gaze and the same position of man and woman at each side of the door. There was also the inclusion of the lotus flower, to express the wish for new life and rebirth.

The painting offered plural interpretations, including the gender, human, political and social perspectives in Indonesia at the time.

Astari has now moved to another stage, as her art seems to be increasingly relating to social change, evident by the fine works in the current exhibition.