Exhibition reveals artists' view of love
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta
Amid the horrors of war and a multitude of other acts of violence against humanity, the Love Bomb by Agus Suwage comes as a wonderful turn on the deadly weapon used to destroy. Made of wrought iron, the bomb, within which "love" shines out in neon letters, is carried by a four-wheeled vehicle.
To have the Love Bomb explode would appear to be in line with the aims of Nadi Gallery owner, Biantoro Santoso, and its curator Enin Suprianto, and probably many others for whom the art trend of focusing on violence and political issues contains within it the looming danger of replicating violence and horror instead of contemplating a way out.
Sixteen artists have been selected to accept the challenge of looking deep inside the self, and focusing on love as a personal, intricate matter. "Love is all you need," sang the Beatles. Could it be that professing the true meaning of love could make a better world?
But love is a different experience for different people and that is evident from the works in this exhibition, which takes its title from the Beatles' song All You Need is Love.
Bunga Jeruk Permata Pekerti (Bunga or BeeJay for short) gives us a wonderfully fresh and youthful picture of what it is to be in love. Tree paintings titled Crush I, Crush II, Crush III, all produced in 2003, have the name of her idol, guitarist Wes Borland, in several graphics in pastel colors. The first also has some flowers and an image of Wes Borland, the second only features the name, while the third adds a little girl in the midst of green. Bunga has had a crush on Wes ever since she saw a poster of him in a Dutch music shop, she says.
Other artists have focused more on love relationships in real life. It seems there is only a thin line between love and hate.
At least that's what is shown by Pintor Sirait's stainless steel sculpture of Love/Hate, a weighing scale where the left side represents "LOVE/Hate" and the right side "HATE/Love". In the middle is a book with text, and while turning the pages one finds that positive text will make the scale tilt to the right while negative text has the opposite effect.
The thin line between love and hate is also shown in the two paintings by Sekar Jatiningrum. One features a young couple, hand in hand, and flowers floating in the air, while the second painting features the same couple moving apart from each other, their arms akimbo, each staring obstinately at the ground; flowers are only to be seen on the young woman's blouse and just one on the young man's shirt, and the blue background with a whitewashed sky suggests the coolness of their relationship. S. Teddy has dived into the wisdom of the Javanese. The two metal swords along which the Javanese alphabet is written and which have human-faced wooden handles might strike the onlooker as a couple facing the sharp edges in their love relationship.
According to S. Teddy, however, the two parts are the two sides of one sword.
Teddy explains that the Javanese alphabet, called the Ha Na Ca Ra Ka..., has four lines, with each line having a meaning. The complete alphabet implies that disputes and quarrels are a fact of life. No one wins and no one looses, and in the end there is only death.
Iriantine Karnaya's installation titled Love ... Love Me Do (2003) appears to represent the female genitalia at first sight.
But the artist says it represents her heart, which goes out to whoever is in need, while her sculpture Inseparable (2000), made of bronze, wood and metal, denotes the facts of life.
Astari Rasjid has consistently delved into her Javanese culture. While she used to denounce its hypocrisy with subtle signs, trying to reconcile the traditional with values that are universally acceptable, this time she indicates that the time has come to firmly do away with hypocrisy.
Her usual images of Javanese couples dressed in posh traditional costumes with would-be serene expressions, has now made place for a Javanese couple stripped off the usual poshness of her previous images, leaving both the man and woman gazing soberly ahead.
Your Illusion is not My Reality (2003), consists of two panels, a green one for the woman, who has a lotus budding on her chest, which is linked to the red panel with the fruit of love on the man's chest. The woman's panel has the word "HOLD" and the man's panel has the word "ON".
To "hold on" of course may have various interpretations. Should one hold on in difficult circumstances, whether these relate to marriage relationships or otherwise? Of course, every person will have to answer that for themselves.
Sunaryo may have been thinking of this when he painted his friend, the physician cum Balinese dancer Bulan Trisna Gelantik, in Cinta di Akhir Musim (2003), with butterfly-like wings dancing into the "Love Space". Bulan Trisna is going to get married again; she has found love once more.
Other participating artists are Agung Kurniawan, Dikdik Sayahdikumullah, Firman Ichsan, I Gak Murniasih, Rosid, Rudi ST. Darma, Titarubi and Ugo Untoro.
All You Need is Love Exhibition at Nadi Gallery, Jl. Kedoya Raya 53, West Jakarta. Phone 021-5818129. Runs until April 3, 2003