Eddie Hara, Nyoman Erawan show off their talents

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): After the opening of their exhibition Wednesday night, Eddie Hara, Nyoman Erawan and a group of friends had dinner and talked about the opening of their exhibition. In the catalog of their exhibition, critic Agus Dermawan had called Eddie Hara an internationalist or cosmopolitan artist. A friend commented: "People called Eddie an international artist, while Nyoman an ethnic artist."

"That is all too much for me!" exclaimed Eddie Hara.

"Well it would not be appropriate to say: Eddie Hara is a city painter, and Nyoman Erawan is a village painter," said Nyoman.

"Then they'd say I am a promising young artist!" exclaimed Eddie.

"But the worst, I feel, is when people start giving me the predicate of 'promising' or 'talented' artist," said Nyoman.

"Well, I have been exhibiting for some time now. Therefore, I hope that I am talented!" responded Eddie cynically.

The two artists, both in their late 30s, are contemporaries to one another and their works seem to greatly contrast each other. They are currently holding an exhibition together at the Galeri Santi, South Jakarta. Eddie Hara uses strong vivid colors to paint his whimsical creatures, while Nyoman Erawan's paintings continue to depict Balinese rites of passage through subtle compositions of motifs and color.

Most people who will see Eddie Hara's work, will immediately think of children's paintings and label them as naive. In Mainan Yang Tak Pernah Kumiliki III (Toys That I Never Had III), he shows figures which represent some of the toys which remain as part of his childhood memory, but that he never had the privilege of possessing in reality.

The large figure which dominates the right part of the canvas has a human-like face but its body seems like a domestic animal of sorts. The middle of its body is hollow and a hand is placed within the cavity. The left of the canvas consists of some other figures, which include a plastic windmill, a robot-like figure and a toy snake. "The snake is supposed to be a toy snake made of plastic or bamboo and will wiggle if you hold it by the tail," he explained.

"Memories of my childhood are lifelong. I can still laugh or marvel at the events, joys and fears I experienced then. Some of them have left profound imprints on my life that will never entirely disappear," he stated in an essay titled Peculiar Vibrations from beyond the Java Sea written by Basel-based, Swiss ethnographer Urs Ramseyer. "My own childhood was a happy one, so I have no trouble bringing my childlike spirit and my memories to my work. But as I have studied the theoretical and practical aspects of painting, I deal with these memories consciously and probe them with my painting skills," he continued. According to Eddie, the world of children is "a world everyone carries in himself, wherever he may go", and that is the reason he orients himself with the world of children.

Mahluk-Mahluk Di Musim Penghujan (Creatures in the Rainy Season) shows once again a creature with a human face with a body of a creature which seems to be taken from a Japanese cartoon. It has Mickey Mouse ears, and the head of this creature is its body. Its legs stem directly from this head-body. Its face, depicted in profile, has two eyes and two mouths, something reminiscent of the depiction of certain wayang kulit character types. However, whereas in wayang kulit the double eyes of a character depicted in profile are placed together in a horizontally oriented depiction, the creature's double eyes and mouths are placed one above the other, creating a funny effect. The influence of wayang kulit in Eddie Hara's paintings seems to be quite strong, as he often portrays his figures' profile in a bilateral dialog, one facing the other.

In this painting, he tried to portray his impressions of a rainy day. He uses a background dominated with a blue color, suggestive of water. The main creature's legs are stretched far apart, indicating that it is taking rapid long strides. At the end of one of the creature's feet, short yellow lines represent the splashing of water, showing the effect of the quick strides on a wet path.

In many of his paintings appear baloons which seem to be derived from dialog baloons in cartoons and conical elements which appear to channel out noise, represented by strong short lines. "Our culture is still very much an oral culture. Our oral tradition is stronger than our written tradition. This has made an impact on our modern attitudes, for instance, we tend to like to talk rather than work," he explained. Indeed, his paintings often include elements which symbolize oral communication, and these element also provide an aural dimension to Eddie's paintings.

Although, superficially, his paintings appear childlike, they are usually filled with various symbols which no longer seem appropriate in children's art. Sometimes they are explicitly vulgar, sometimes they seem more subtle, while other times they are rather esoteric and difficult to decipher.

Prominence

Nyoman Erawan started to gain prominence when his work was selected to be included in the KIAS Festival of Indonesia exhibitions in the United States in 1990/1991. Then, his works seemed to be bolder. In his work of that period, such as Pralina Putih (1989), he used a large canvas, which hung unframed and extended out of the main picture surface.

In other works of that time, he often incorporated the use of physical elements such as charred wood and burned cloth to provide a literal symbolism of transcendence through the Balinese ngaben ritual of cremation.

Since then, he has participated in many art events, including the First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, the ninth and 10th Jakarta Fine Arts Biennials and various other important exhibitions.

At the ninth Jakarta biennial at the end of 1993, influenced by the tendentious guidance of the main curator, he journeyed further in experimenting with installations. He continued to use his fully embellished long cloth, which seems to be derived from the lamak ceremonial cloth used to embellish Balinese shrines in major religious festivals. However, in this exhibition, a model of a Balinese sailboat, tipped over, was connected with plastic tubes to the cloth. Another element he incorporated was a bed, penetrated by spears usually used by Balinese Baris dancers.

Although this piece was clearly overdone, it gave Nyoman a wonderful opportunity to extend his ideas to limits that he had never considered previously. Nonetheless, by the next Jakarta Fine Arts Biennial last year, his work became much more subtle, and this new sense of refinement is also seen in the works presented at the present exhibition. Elements of destruction and decay, symbolized by fire and charred elements, can still be seen in Pralayamatra XXVIII-XXIX, but here the elements are no longer literal. Rather, they are included through the use of red colors which offer a sense of the burning fire, and dark colors which appear like charcoal and burned paint.

Nonetheless, the impact of his experiment with installations still remain in some of his recent work. In Pralayamatra XXXX, for example, painting surfaces are placed on bamboo structures affixed to the picture plane. In these pieces, Nyoman Erawan struggles to incorporate the element of installation, with which he has been identified so closely in the past, into a more conventional painting format. Unfortunately, this attempt often makes the added elements to be perceived as gimmickry.

Certainly Eddie Hara and Nyoman Erawan's most recent works will draw mixed reactions, some will praise them, and others are sure to criticize them. However, it is clearly no longer fair to call them merely promising young artists. First of all they are more than just talented artists, and second of all they are no longer young. They are both in their late, formative stage, a period of artistic development which is perhaps the most significant in their careers. Yet, I am still not sure what to call them now. Any suggestions?