Drowning in waves of black and white at Dr. Lau's latest exhibition

Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta

If the paint brush is taken away from Dr. Lau he does not despair, for he will pick up a camera and begin to create quite another kind of magic on film.

Dr. Lau wastes little time worrying over tiresome topics that wonder whether photography is art or not.

He calls himself an artiste as opposed to an artist or one who believes only in the conservative definition of fine arts. He is in fact prepared to pursue any artistic activity that will help him to come to better terms with himself and his environment.

After having splurged in an ocean of colors for years, he went minimalist in his last exhibition to concentrate only on primary colors. At that time he painted large pieces often with just one color, forsaking all images for marks left behind by the brush as it stroked each canvas repeatedly.

In Beyond Stillness, his latest show, Dr. Lau chooses to drown himself in waves of black and white.

At this stage in his life, even primary colors distract him. He is out on a desperate search at present that begs for direct communication with the people and objects surrounding him, minus all ornamentation, especially color.

After having gone through many a storm and stimulation in life, he is trying to grasp that moment which he describes as one that is beyond even stillness. That special although fleeting station in life when the music of Maya Hasan or Iravati Sudiarso is able to unite the creator with the created into such a complete whole that all petty quarrels over war and peace, good and bad and man and woman become meaningless.

The 50 exhibits are divided into several series and include still shots of Hasan on her harp and Sudiarso trying to ring out the secret of life from the different keys of a piano. In the series Body and Soul, Dr. Lau tries to help his anonymous model to seek her soul. For her bared breasts and limbs so sinewy seem to have put under tight lock and key the real feelings of the model.

In the series titled Stillness, Dr. Lau has made a loose roll of toilet paper almost dance before his camera while a closeup of the pages of an open book are about to take flight, it seems. Yet the exhibits are not so esoteric that they can be said to be totally remote from all reality. It is true that at first glance some may look even out of context but look again and begin to wonder what is a wastepaper basket doing atop a chair? This one cries out for an answer from the pompous politicians, perhaps?

Standing before yet another black and white shot it is difficult not to think that a piece of stone is often capable of more gentleness than some human beings. And the most telling of all the exhibits is yet another closeup of a sponge, definitely imported, that is trying to scrub away at a glass window. Is the sponge capable of cleaning all the dirty glass, remains the million rupiah question, and most importantly when?

Beyond Stillness, Dr. Lau's photography exhibition will remain open until Nov. 6 at the Regent Hotel, South Jakarta.