Eddie Hara bares his soul and mind in new exhibition
By Susi Andrini
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Painting mirrors its creator's soul and mind. It is true of the works of Eddie Hara currently on show at Bentara Budaya in Yogyakarta.
Called the Art of Eddie haRA, the exhibition, which ends on Sunday, presents the most recent artistic creations of the painter who now lives in Basel, Switzerland.
His paintings are packed with symbolic representations of animals taken from Hindu and Buddhist mythology such as the elephant, chicken, birds and fish. Interspersed with these are comic characters like Batman and his own imaginative figures.
His colors are cheerful, bright and provide contrast. He also likes to use multiple colors painted with an overlapping technique to create distinctive colors.
"By using this technique, it will be hard for people to imitate my paintings," explained Eddie, a graduate of the Yogyakarta Arts Institute (ISI).
Eddie gained a foothold on the local art scene in 1982 when he began painting animals as his main subject matter.
During his school years at ISI, Eddie was a vendor along Jl. Malioboro where he sold expressionist postcards and paintings.
He first used elephants, then fish but he said he no longer used elephant symbols.
He prefers today to paint strange monstrous faces, rabbits, birds and fish. "The fish is my lucky animal."
He began painting the animal in 1988 because "if I dreamed about fish, I knew that somebody would buy my painting".
In his early period, Eddie's paintings were comical and straightforward. When people viewed his paintings, they would promptly laugh at his choices of subject matter. Today, Eddie concentrates more on contemplative works.
In Jadi President, 1998 (Becoming the president 1998), a painting on paper, he was inspired by the shift in power from president Soeharto to his successor B.J. Habibie. He painted a man wearing a kopiah (Muslim cap), surrounded by skulls and people's heads. It is not a scary painting although Eddie skillfully created a satirical yet amusing work.
In Conversation With the Dog, Eddie recorded his own experience in Europe where people in general treat animals kindly.
His ideas come both from daily life and extraordinary events, such as in his Head Series '98-99, North-South l997-2000 and Should I Call You at 8 p.m.
"Titles are the most important parts of my works," he said.
He tries to avoid repeating his subject matter and painting techniques. After he graduated from ISI, he traveled around the world to exhibit his works. Eddie was also enrolled at AKI Akademie Voor Beeldende Kunst Enschede in the Netherlands (1989- 1990).
Between 1982 and 1999, Eddie exhibited his works on 50 occasions in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, India and Singapore.
In the exhibition, Eddie also provides a photo essay of his life in Basel.