Exhibition marks Made Djirna's turning point

Exhibition marks Made Djirna's turning point

Amir Sidharta, Contributor, Jakarta

Balinese artist Made Djirna is not a new name in the world of
Indonesian art. He is perhaps best known for his paintings of
female figures formed using curvilinear shapes in a simple
palette of red, white and black and gritty sand-like texture on
terracotta background which have been popular since the mid-
1990s.

Yet, his work dating back to the late 1980s has been
recognized in various exhibitions. Among others, his piece Life
in Our Surrounding was included in Singapore Art Museum's Soul
Ties exhibition (1999) and his painting Inspirasi dari Seni
Aborigin (Inspiration from Aboriginal Arts, 1988) is a
significant artwork in Crossing Boundaries: Bali A Window to
Twentieth Century Indonesian Art that is currently touring
Australia.

Around the turn of the millennium, he shifted from his
simplicity and clarity of form to embark upon a more expressive
style. His paintings drew mixed reviews. Some hailed his new
paintings for their fresh dynamism and spontaneity, while others
criticized him for the sloppiness evident in his busy canvases.
Since then, his works have undergone a significant evolution.

Today, Made Djirna is at a turning point. His latest
paintings, featured in an exhibition entitled Milestones of
Modesty held at Galeri Inggil, Jakarta, mark a progressive
development in the course of his artistic career. He seems to
have much more control over his paintings. While the subjects of
his paintings remain rather busy and tend cover the entire
surface of his canvases, they have become much more subdued. Such
loose, hurried and even uncontrollable brushstrokes that seem to
be predominant in his paintings dating from the year 2000 do not
seem to appear any more in his current work.

Djirna's signature abstraction of the late 1990s, which
reduces figures into simple curvilinear forms of lines and
colors, have also been replaced with a new cubistic abstraction
of a more analytical kind. He breaks down three dimensional
volumes into two-dimensional facets or planes of hues, as can be
seen in as can clearly be seen in the faces of the women in
Wanita Nelayan (Fisherwoman) and of the men in Di Arena (At the
Arena).

Volumes once again become shapes, but they are no longer the
flat simple shapes in the paintings of the late 1990s. Built up
using layers of brushstrokes, the new shapes such as the figures
in Pasar Pagi (Morning Market) are more volumetric. The shapes
are modulated, providing a substantial sense of three-
dimensionality.

In the new paintings the artist also uses a brighter palette
of colors. The three main figures in Sandal Jepit (Sandal) wear
bright red sandals, underlining the artist's point of focus. Yet,
the figures themselves also wear bright colored kebayas, which
appear much bolder than any other figure featured in Djirna's
earlier paintings. Rilex initially would seem to be a simple
rendition of bright colored sunflowers, but after closer
observation into the painting the viewer would decipher a
whimsical rendition of two figures cuddled up underneath a thick
blanket of bold patterns with their dark feet sticking out.

In summary, his recent artistic development is characterized
by his use of a more analytical, cubistic and volumetric shapes,
built up with a more diverse palette of brighter colors, and
executed with more controlled brushwork, filling up the canvas.

"To me this development is simply a progression of time and
space. It happened naturally without any conscious plans for
artistic or stylistic change," claims the artist.

While there seems to be a rather clear line distinguishing the
artist's recent style from his earlier paintings, the artist
continues to explore themes of everyday life which he has
consistently depicted in his art over the years. He has been very
interested in the life that surrounds him in the village of
Kedewatan, Bali, where he has lived all his life.

"As the world becomes more sophisticated and as technology has
drastically changed the way people live particularly in big
cities, there are still people living the simple life in small
remote villages that have not changed much for centuries," he
notes. Many of the most luxurious, internationally renowned
hotels have been built around his village, yet many members of
the community continue with the modest daily life they have
always been living.

Djirna does not capitalize on the irony of the stark contrasts
of lifestyle that he sees happening around his village. Seldom
does he include paraphernalia of technology that symbolizes
modern sophistication within his renderings of simple everyday
life. Yet, as seems evident in the awkward interaction between
the mother and her child in Bermain (Playing), it seems that the
artist has also started to question the psychological and
sociological ramifications of modernity on village family life.

For the most part, Djirna's paintings are modest, matter-of-
fact renditions of daily life. The artist claims that through his
paintings he simply intends to draw attention to the everyday
life of the common people that surround him, and at the same time
show appreciation for their significant role in society and life.
It is, in fact, an artist's humble hope for a life of modesty.
His peculiar combination of stylistic transformation and
continued thematic exploration has brought him to a unique
turning point, a milestone of modesty.

Made Djirna's Milestones of Modesty is on show at the Galeri
Inggil, Jakarta, until 24 April 2003.