Exploring the world of sculpture

By Bambang Trisno

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Eclecticism is an art style which freely adopts choices by combining several styles without limiting trends, culture or periods of time. The result is exclusive art works, like those exhibited by two young sculptors, Sardjito and Basrizal Albara, at Embun Gallery from Nov. 2 to Nov. 19.

The sculptors use marble as the media for creating figurative and exotic art works. Exoticism in their works is more a reflection of the unity of different styles and cultures both primitive and modern.

Albara's works titled Ikan Hitam dan Kail (Black Fish and Hook) and Perjalanan Masih Jauh (The Trip is Still Far) are among such examples. Through the works, the sculptor reminds viewers of the works of two pioneers in the modern art of sculpture, Constantin Brancusi (1876-1975) and Julio Gonzales (1876-1942), who combined three-dimensional cubism and constructivism.

Yet unlike Brancusi and Gonzales, Albara also explored another element to show the response and the working process of his sculpture. In Ikan Hitam dan Kail, for example, he used a metal hook and stone to form a figurative pattern.

However, the use of alternative elements in Albara's works was not just based on experimental motivation. Through his other works, he also showed that the power of idea and concept were also very important in the process of creating artwork.

In Bercerminlah Indonesia (Reflections of Indonesia), for example, he used marble, palm fiber, water and metal to express his concern over the threat of disintegration in the country.

He expressed his idea about the unity of Indonesia as a red and white metal axe, which connected three stones made of marble. One of the stones was made as the base of a feature resembling a koteka (penis sheath), also made of marble, whose point was placed on a hole filled with water.

A koteka (with the phallus inside) symbolizes power. Water symbolizes life. Both were united with a red and white axe. Albara seemed to be asking viewers to imagine what would happen if the two parts were separated from the other. We would have a power without life or a life without power. It was there that the power of exotic eclecticism of Albara's art works was formed.

Meanwhile, another young Yogyakartan sculptor, Sardjito, through his technical capability and understanding of stone, has performed subtractive acrobats; that is, the process of reducing material to create particular form. It demands high skill and accuracy because the process does not tolerate mistakes as they are unable to be mended.

Sardjito's Saya dan Isteri (Me and My Wife) is an example. His technical superiority and matured mastery of the material are prevalent throughout it. Here he was challenged by the high risk of curve lines resulting with rhythmical turns in his work, especially as stone can be easily cracked or broken.

Stone as a media is actually considered conventional, especially compared with the growing development of contemporary fine art along with its use of various alternative media.

Yet Sardjito's intent struggle as well as technical mastery of the material, which required a lot of physical work, has thrown aside the negative view that fine art is something that can only be done by a handyman while the artist merely draws sketches.

In other words, the sculptors seemed to be showing that without their direct involvement in the process of making their artwork, nothing could be created. The complicated forms and irregular structures they made were obviously too difficult for a handyman to make. They were also full of imaginative works with results that were different from the ones initially sketched.

This can be seen from the works by Albara. He deliberately let the left part of the grindstone cut roughly into the stone as if he tried to create the impression of how hard the stone was.

These regular cuts seem to have emerged from an improvisation during its construction.

Observing the work of the two sculptors incites hope for a comeback of fine art, which seems to have been left far behind, especially when compared with other kinds of art.