Dewa Ngakan Ardana: Peeling back the layers to reveal the self
Dewa Ngakan Ardana: Peeling back the layers to reveal the self
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta
Still life painting as a pictorial genre has traditionally been
considered a minor form of artistic expression and invention.
But Dewa Ngakan Ardana's paintings of garlic onions in the CP
Open Biennale at Galeri Nasional here testify to its genuine
significance as a vehicle of artistic expression.
Derived from the Dutch word "stilleven" coined to describe a
new genre at the beginning of the 17th century, still life is a
tradition associated with the Northern European schools.
Consisting of fruit, flowers or daily household objects, still
life once appeared in a supporting role to the bigger picture of
human action, in many instances clumped as "women's work', itself
denoting the low status of women in society.
A closer look at the visual renderings of inanimate objects
reveals that they carry significant messages and have a life of
their own. It is not surprising that from the century's first
decade to the present day, from Pablo Picasso and Hendri Matisse
through to Cindy Sherman and Charles Ray, artists of many schools
have found a vital opportunity for invention in the still life.
For Balinese artist Dewa, the garlic appearing on his canvas
have nothing, and yet everything, to do with what used to be
called women's work. Isn't garlic one of the most popular spices
in the world, particularly in Eastern cuisine.
Garlic fills every little corner of his home, including his
studio. They are, in a sense, his daily bread. No, not as in
garlic bread served with the best vintage wine. Far from it -- it
is this humble but celebrated herb that sustains his life, and
his mother's, also a garlic seller, and supports his aspirations.
For, from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. every day, Dewa is a garlic seller
in the Badung market.
In the marketplace, the herbs that travel with him in the
darkness of the night are a commodity commanding a fluctuating
price. When Dewa returns home, he carries with him a wad of cash
to support his family.
After catching two hours of sleep, the garlic seller becomes
an art student at the Indonesia Fine Arts Institute in Denpasar,
where he spends the day studying how to express himself on
canvas.
His paintings at the CP Biennale show the onion evolving from
a photo-realistic image to the various stages of maturing, and
also where his imagery takes him. The meticulous details of the
inner layers are unfolded in a manner that reveal the artist's
intense relationship with the onion.
Set against a blue or white background, Ardana's cloves of
garlic are not laid on the table, as in a classic still life
painting. Instead, they are suspended in the air, "flying" to a
point revealed only to the artist's inner eye.
Garlic has always been part of his life, yet one may wonder
why he only started serious exploration one year ago. He was born
a Brahman, who in the Hindu Balinese tradition is supposed to
deal with spiritual matters. He tried his hand at religious
painting, but apparently found it incompatible with his inner
feelings.
Dewa finally came to the conclusion that it was the simple
onion that was closest to his existence as a man. It gave him a
better sense of the cosmic mystique that he had missed in the
other themes he tried before.
As Dewa's scope of imagery evolves with the fine-tuning of
inner senses and the advancement of his painterly skills, it
would not be surprising if the simple cloves of garlic become a
metaphor for issues touching the soul.
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CP Open Biennale Jakarta
Galeri Nasional
Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur, Central Jakarta
(opposite Gambir railway station)
Sept. 4 - Oct. 3, 2003
Open daily except Mondays
www.cp-foundation.org
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