Bandung artists explore the physique

Bandung artists explore the physique

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

Lines made with a black pencil and white paint are spread on a
large canvas measuring 100 cm by 290 cm. On the left of the
canvas, they form two white hands covering a buttock. In the
middle of the canvas, the fingers on both hands are covering the
face, letting part of the eyelid to be visible between the ring
and little fingers. On the right, the fingers on both hands are
covering one's genital.

The painting, titled Malu, Malu, Malu (Ashamed, Ashamed,
Ashamed) by Rosid, 34, is one of the art works by three Bandung-
based artists.

The other three are Arin Dwihartanto, 25, Gusbarlian Lubis,
31, a graduate of the School of Fine Arts and Design, Bandung
Institute of Technology (ITB), and Rudi St Darma, 38, a graduate
of Bandung Teachers' Training Institute - now being exhibited at
Galeri Lontar in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta.

The theme of the exhibition, of which the curator is Agung
Hujatnikajenong, also from Bandung, is Tubuh 4 (Physique 4).

Rosid, once an apprentice at Studio R 66 and spent a stint at
Sunaryo's Art Workshop is amazingly excellent. Technically, this
photography-based drawing needs great patience and observation in
enlarging the size of a particular part of a human body.

Unlike his previous works, which he exhibited at Selasar
Sunaryo (Sunaryo's Gallery) in Bandung last year, in this latest
work, Rosid placed the body against norms, morality and the way
to respond to it.

When he depicts fingers that are covering the face, Rosid,
with embarrassment, seems to be watching the drama of our bodies
in confrontation with norms, either constitutionally or
conventionally. In a predominantly Muslim country, how can
community members freely display their genitals? Many of them
even make this display of genitals a source of easy money. Isn't
this really an embarrassing phenomenon?

What about the other artists? Arin Dwihartanto, winner of 2003
Indofood Art Award, has long believed that a human body is not
like a machine, of which the spare parts can easily be changed.

This time, he displays a configuration of four paintings
dominated by the red color in different sizes. These paintings
have been made on acrylic as well as with charcoal on canvas. Two
of the paintings, called Barbed Fire and Jagged Backbone", depict
two weird figures.

The two figures have their backs on the viewers while parts of
the body are visible to the naked eyes as if they were being X-
rayed. The structure of the backbones looks like the back of a
dragon on the roof of a Chinese temple - swaying and thorny.
Behind the skull there is another skull with the mouth agape and
the eyeballs gazing in despair.

In the case of the other figure, which is shown to be firmly
standing, there are two fists in a red flame of fire. Despite its
weirdness, is it the embodiment of the spirit of Ever Onward and
Never Retreat?

Unlike Rosid and Arin, Rudi St Darma, who usually explores
great narration about human beings and civilization, is now
featuring a "simpler" body.

His flexible pencil-made lines and solid shading with a
character show female bodies in various positions and as
different subjects. What we can interpret from these works -
either on canvas directly or on a piece of canvas placed between
two transparent glass sheets - is the problem of the body in the
face of solitude.

Is this a "pause" of sorts for Darma so that he can obtain a
"key" for his creativity after indulging himself in the
celebration of festivity for quite some time?

If this is the case, Darma's "pause" is not merely concerned
with the physical body but also the body of a creative existence
of an artist that has shown his superior class in Philip Morris
Art Award competition and other art contests at ASEAN level.

While his three fellow artists feature the human body in their
works, Gusbarlian comes out with a configuration of colored
photographs about his own body in six frames under the title of
Passion.

Each of the six photographs shows the interaction between his
naked body and a brick, either in the position of sleeping on it,
licking it, carrying it on the head, hugging it and even sitting
on it. This work is part of his ideas about the brick as part of
a partitioning wall.

Obviously, unlike other similar exhibitions, which are market-
oriented, this one is discourse-oriented, a feature in tune with
the spirit of Galeri Lontar.

The curator Agung Hujatnikajenong said that the manifestation
of the body in fine art, particularly in the art and sculpturing
tradition, can be traced back to the Renaissance period, long
before modern artists like Matisse and Duchamp began their
figure-painting.

At least, since the late 1990 decade, the human body as a
subject has gained popularity in discourses about fine art in
Indonesia. Some people suspect that this discourse is
attributable to the contact between the discourse on Indonesia's
fine art and social and philosophical sciences.

One relevant to ask at this junction is whether or not the
market has no share at all in celebrating the use of the human
body in Indonesia's contemporary fine art. To borrow from Rosid,
we should not feel "Ashamed, ashamed, ashamed" to own it up.

The exhibition is under way until July 25, 2003 at Lontar
Gallery, Jl. Utan Kayu 68 H, East Jakarta (Tel. 8573388).