Beny Achmadi finds freedom in mosaic

Reita Malaon, Contributor, Jakarta

In Western culture, mosaic has been a form through which to express creative energy for a very long time indeed. The work of Antoni Gaudi, the renowned Spanish architect, is to a large degree distinguished by his mosaic compositions.

Gaudi's expressive and cosmopolitan use of polychrome ceramic tiling in the Casa Battlo or the Sagrada Familia intensifies the haunting feeling his work inspires.

In Indonesia, mosaic as an art has hardly been a part of traditional artwork. The rich hues of nature's colors are mostly represented through Indonesia's painting and textile heritage. Thus, a great deal of interest was shown in a contemporary mosaic work exhibition that was held for two weeks at the Puzzle Gallery, Cinere, South Jakarta. The exhibition itself was closed on Sept. 14.

It was the first showing for architect-turned-mosaic-artist, Beny Achmadi. The Medan born artist started his professional career as an architect. He only turned to mosaic in the late 1990's.

"I found freedom to express myself in mosaic," he said. "Architecture is a collective work. There are so many interdependent variables in the process. I still and will always do architectural work, yet it is the liberation of mosaic work that inspires me for now."

The presentation titled Mosaic of Life featured various forms of functional art and mosaic painting, with mundane everyday objects transformed into a bright spectrum of colors enhanced with personal meanings.

In Satu Keluarga (One Family) he interprets the warm dialogue of a family through a set of Lombok terracotta bowls. The solitary toil of a gold miner is also presented through Pendulang Emas yang Kesepian (The Lonely Gold Miner), which takes the form of a teapot.

Various sources of design have influenced Beny's work. A Turkish influence is quite obviously apparent in his Pesona Timur Tengah (The Exotic Middle East) work. The Aztec Sun is visible in Matahari (The Sun), a brightly colored mirror frame.

In his Dunia Cucuku (My grandchildren's world), Beny tells a story about his grandchildren through a geometric composition. He uses the Winnie the Pooh character as a rather simplistic symbol for a toddler's presence in the work.

Among the exhibition pieces there were also pure mosaic compositions on display. One composition titled Fruity seemed to stand out from the rest. It contained an explosion of multirange colors with a platter of fruit in the center not unlike the eye of a storm. In this exhibit, Beny succeeds in conveying his passion to the audience.

Although highly crafted and giving much pleasure to the eyes, most of the items on display failed to render any emotional shock. The artist seemed to be still dwelling in an aesthetical presentation.

The use of functional objects mainly in their conventional form also hindered his exploration of shapes. Clay artist, F. Widayanto, is another artist who also produces functional art objects, including dinner ware. Yet Widayanto has succeeded in treading the fine line between his pure art creations and his more commercial products.

Then again, after this first showing it is clear that Beny Achmadi holds a lot of promise for the future. As the artist himself admitted, "This is just the beginning of my journey. I have a long road ahead of me and I'm going to take up the challenge."