City holds painting expo

City holds painting expo

JAKARTA (JP): An exhibition featuring 50 paintings by 17 of
Indonesia's most prominent painters from three generations will
be held at Santi Gallery, South Jakarta, beginning today.

The exhibition of the paintings which carry the theme "Barong
Emas" is scheduled to be opened by Mrs. Sri Harmoko, wife of
Minister of Information Harmoko, Mrs. Santi Dewi, the owner of
the gallery and the chief organizer of the exhibition, told
Antara on Saturday.

"It will last through Sept. 10," she said, adding that the
event is being held to mark the 50th anniversary of Indonesia's
independence.

Some of the artists are highly reputed painters who have made
names for themselves not only in Indonesia but also abroad.

Topping the list is the late Affandi, an internationally
acclaimed painter. The others are Bagong Kussudiardjo, Srihadi,
Sudarsono, Abas Alibasyah, Suparto, Nyoman Gunarasa, Popo
Iskandar, Roedyat Martadiarja, Sunaryo, Dede Eri Supria, Gunawan
Hanjaya, Neif, S.Yadi K, Rudy Pranajaya, Yuni A. Wulandari,
Soekanto and Nyoman Meja.

Explaining about the theme, Santi said the Barong is a
Balinese mythical creature that brings good and spiritual
cleansing. A traditional Balinese dance exists depicting how the
Barong struggles hard and eventually manages to defeat the witch
Rangda.

"The Barong always triumphs over the witch because it is
siding with the people. Perhaps this can be used as an analogy as
to how our independence fighters eventually beat the Dutch
colonial rulers because they fought for the sake of the people
who were oppressed by the Dutch," Santi said. (bas)