Colombian artists view a new land

Colombian artists view a new land

Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, The Jakarta Post

At a time when misunderstandings galore seem to make the world
go round, the opening of a new cultural center in town is a cause
for much celebration.

"We look forward to welcoming guests here to get to know us
better and to share with us our art, cuisine and literature,"
said Luis Fernando Angel, ambassador of the Republic of Colombia,
as he escorted The Jakarta Post around the plush new cultural
center, El Guadual, adjoining the embassy at Jl. Sudirman.

Angel promises regular film shows and discussions on topics
both commercial as well as cultural at El Guadual that opened its
doors to the public with an exhibition of paintings by three
Colombian women living in Jakarta.

Nubia Seibert's life here seems to have converted her into a
colorful butterfly. She hops from flower to flower, as if
collecting the colors and patterns in her memory to return to her
canvas to put it all down in paint. The result is a life like
duplication of orchids and tulips, with those framed in black
wood looking far more attractive than the canvas imprisoned
within heavy, gold frames.

After studying economics, business administration and
specializing in political science what Martha Manrique Persson
seems to enjoy indulging in most these days is to document street
life in the city in paint and paper. The three canvases of the
bird, fruit an flower markets are typically and delightfully
Jakarta.

Her works on display also include a series of gates which
enchanted her to paint, and give them titles, like Way into
Heaven. There is much use of water and ponds full of lotus by the
artist, with some panels reminding the viewer a little of the
rowing boats and water lilies in all the blue and green water
scenes composed by impressionist masters like Monet.

Eliana Thorpe, who has probably gone to inspire many a
painter's fantasy with her own stunning good looks, seems deeply
immersed at the moment in making sense of all the mystery hidden
in the human body. At the exhibition she has on display about a
dozen nudes, including one titled The Woman in Me. Following
closely in the footsteps of her master, Teguh Ostenrik, the
industrial engineer from Bogota is learning fast in how to say
much within a minimum number of strokes.

Human bodies are what intrigue Thorpe but it is the female
figure that seems to tantalize her most. Just Sitting and Let me
Be are candid studies in lemon yellow and shades of brown and
rust. While she uses black-browns and earthy reds for her women
with defiant titles like Give Me a Reason, her males are in other
worldly colors of blue-greens and labeled with unexciting titles
like Lethargy and Sitting in Blue.

The new cultural center is a great place to showcase the art.

El Guadual means bamboo in Spanish, and it is an appropriate
name for the center here as the plant has played a central role
in the life of both countries for thousands of years.

To protect themselves in times of an earthquake or in areas
where volcanoes vomit out fury without warning, people have
always preferred settlements made out of bamboo that collapse
during calamity but without too much hurt to human beings.
According to Angel, architects in Colombia continue to use bamboo
to this day to thicken the walls of even some multistoried
buildings.

Beyond the main hall, El Guadual opens into two smaller rooms
with gigantic picture windows, allowing natural light to pour
into the premises on the 16th floor as if straight from heaven.

The vast skies outside and the picturesque view of the red
roofed
houses below makes for a heady background in which to leaf
through any one of the books full of hundreds of amazing tales
told by Colombian Nobel prize winner Garcia Marquez.

Three Colombian Artists

El Guadual, Plaza Sentral, 16th Floor,

Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Kav 47. (tel. 5256446/5701422).

Until Oct. 25.