Eddie Hara, Nyoman Erawan show off their talents

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?