Exhbits show artists' sympathy for Bali tragedy

Exhbits show artists' sympathy for Bali tragedy

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

Several galleries in Jakarta are holding painting exhibitions
using the Bali tragedy as their main theme. They feature Balinese
artists in a show of concern over the Oct. 12 bomb blast in Kuta,
Bali.

The ongoing expositions are Kembalikan Baliku (Return my Bali)
at the Apsari Gallery on Jl. Arteri, Pondok Indah and
Contemporary in Traditional Breathing at the Hadiprana Gallery in
Kemang, South Jakarta.

Numerous art exhibitions with the same theme have also taken
place in Bali. For example Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA) in
Ubud, Bali, has just finished its grand exhibition, Growing
Inspiration.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), alongside
its Marketing Conference 2002 in Jakarta, from Oct. 29 through
Nov. 4, also held an art exhibition with Bali as its main theme.

While flaunting traditional and modern works on Bali by
Balinese painters, the ASEAN secretariat's art show also featured
notable pieces by other Indonesian and foreign artists to cover
the traditions of Lombok, Java and Sumatra.

This is perhaps the artists' way of expressing deep concern
over the misfortune befalling Bali, when powerful explosions
rocked Kuta, killing and injuring hundreds of people. The
culprits are still at large and Bali is deserted as foreign
tourists keep away due to travel advisories issued by their
countries.

At Hadiprana gallery's Breathing, lasting from Nov. 4 to Dec.
4, the struggle between truth and falsehood, compassion and
hatred, virtue and evil figures prominently in the works on show.

In Bali's artistic tradition, the Barong, a four-legged
mythological creature that symbolizes truth or virtue while
Rangda, a hideous-faced witch, represents evil.

Painter I Made Hantaguna, 29, a graduate of Denpasar's
Indonesian Arts College, in his pursuit of creativity has in
recent years explored the character of the Barong as a language
of expression, after investigating its masks and old rags. He has
realized that whatever one achieves has to face the test of
truth. And what he has done encourages fellow artists to remind
themselves and others of the need to emphasize truth.

Seven of his 30 works present the Barong with a focus on the
face: two bulging eyes, a rose-apple nose, complete with teeth
and fangs ready to rip Rangda (not shown) to shreds. Amid the
white acrylic fur spread or sprinkled over the canvas, was a
black-and-white checkered pattern done as a collage and in
brushstroke form, with diverse motifs of indigenous Balinese
ornaments.

The Barong face he places in the upper right corner against a
red backdrop creates an impression of passion, whereas the one in
the upper left corner, dominated by white with a light brown
accent, generates an atmosphere of peace. In Hantaguna's Barong
Putih I (White Barong I), he puts a left foot to serve as its
right hoof, which adds to its dynamic character.

In addition, this painter, whose works have been collected by
Hadiprana since 1996, also displays his artistic versions of
fish, countenance and abstract forms through mixed media. His
brushstrokes, wide and firm amid conventional designs, imply
harmony between modern strides and well-preserved traditions.

Along with the paintings are the sculptures of Syahrizal Zain
from Yogyakarta. Born in West Sumatra in 1960, the sculptor,
graduating from West Sumatra's Kayutaman arts college and
Yogyakarta's Indonesian Arts Institute, presents stout figures of
the Henry Moore type, skinny statuettes of the traditional domain
and mother-and-child psychological images in various moods.

His 30 bronze works give an air of intimacy and their titles
call to mind the virtuous sides of human life, such as Mother's
Love, Sharing of Love and Menguak Fajar III (Welcoming the Dawn).

The artists seem to wish to convey the message that love and
virtue should be combined amid the crisis of confidence among
Indonesians, as this crisis is more painful than the bomb terrors
in Kuta and elsewhere in Indonesia. And the Barong has to
immediately overpower Rangda.