Colombian center showcases beautiful art ------------------ 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 El Guadual, adjoining the embassy at Jl. Sudirman.

El Guadual means bamboo in Spanish, and it is an appropriate name for the Colombian cultural 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. Pieces of cloth made even more colorful by intricate patchwork embroidered on them are yet another commonality between the attractive folk art of these two traditional societies. Other similarities exist in numerous handicrafts found amongst people here and there and in many cottage industry products, especially in the fiery chili sauces that both countries are so famous for bottling.

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.

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 ponds 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 th 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.

Three Colombian Artists

El Guadual, Plaza Sentral, 16th Floor,

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

Until Oct. 25.