Fadjar Sidik resurrected in living color

Fadjar Sidik resurrected in living color

Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta

To look at the work of senior artist Fadjar Sidik is to be
filled with sheer anticipation of the birth of a vibrant new
experience in art -- for all the circles on his canvas, spiked as
they are, emerge so gloriously above muddy horizons like sunshine
itself.

In the series entitled Sangkala, his most recent paintings
seem to signal that much awaited dawn of expression that is no
longer a mere derivative of western art, or traditionally
decorative.

Fadjar has at last discovered the sphere, the cylinder and the
cone, the three forms on which the entire universe is said to
rest. His work is no longer the mummified imitation of nature but
attempts to capture all the sounds, smells and textures of his
day to day life.

The absence of any clearly defined subject matter and the
dominance of non-objective designs prove to be a liberating
factor for the artist, and provide a visual experience to the
viewer that tickles the imagination no end.

Yet there remains a long way to go. Dinamika Segitiga
(Triangle Dynamic) from 1999 is still a doddering pyramid as
multiple tiny triangles try to peak heavenwards under the patient
gaze of the sun and the moon.

The dominant mood in the Kala-Kala series, completed last
year, continues to reflect lingering insecurity as shapes, forms
and colors are arranged in regimented symmetry. By the time
Fadjar finishes Kala-Kala VI, a 60cm x 60cm oil on canvas and the
last work in the same series, all that is obvious seems to
gradually dissolve. Instead, a kind of spirit is seen shining
bright and soaring with such spontaneous speed that it leaves the
viewer gasping for breath.

There is much use of white and shades of gray here to create a
stunning effect of light here and shade there.

Although the Sangkala series was finished earlier, in 2000,
there is much more music to it than most canvases from the later
Kala-Kala series where the artist seems to be still struggling to
strum out the ultimate melody of his dreams.

Formasi (Formation) is the title of the third series and the
one worthy of a long pause is the ninth canvas where form and
formlessness come together in a way that provides much joy.

The circles, triangles and the journey to the moon perhaps
commenced with Segitiga Kincir, where Fadjar takes all the shapes
that have piled up in his psyche to make several wheels of many
cones. Then he lines them up for a march toward the kingdom of
the stars.

Menghadap Matahari (Facing the Sun) is yet another attempt to
reach out, this time to the sun.

When Fadjar was old enough to start a career in the world of
art the emerging trend was to move away from romantic and
conventional ways of painting people and places. The freedom
movement against colonial masters was gaining momentum and the
paintbrush of artists was dipped deep in the colors of
nationalism.

By the time Fadjar was born artists here had become
increasingly conscious of their national identity. In the 1940s
it was felt that art should not merely showcase technical skills
but also express the aspirations of the nation. It was
passionately felt that contemporary art should of course reflect
the personal view of the artist but more importantly keep in mind
the dreams of the nation.

Masters like Affandi, Hendra and Sudjono reflected in their
art the political ideology popular at a time when the country was
involved in a fight from colonial oppression to freedom and
aspired to move from an agrarian society to an urban one. New
economic and social relationships were being formed without
wanting to bid a final goodbye to the past.

The country chose to give birth to modern painting in the lap
of the nationalist movement in the hope of creating a new
cultural identity. Two groups of painters flourished here, both
using the triangle as a motif but for different reasons.

Painters like Sadali and Pirous used it as the traditional
symbol of the mountain, a metaphor for spiritual aspirations.
Fadjar preferred to portray a more realistic documentation of the
gap between the few wealthy people at the apex of the triangle
and the sprawling population of the poor at the base.

The intensely socially inspired art even thrived, until the
military coup of 1965 when work like Fadjar's was forbidden. The
circumstances shocked all like-minded painters and most of them
remained intellectually pulverized for a long time to come. Part
of the movement also branched out from spiritual and traditional
to the very attractive but repetitive, imitative and extremely
commercialized form of art.

It was painful to see the very raison d'etre of his art
crumble before his eyes. But the irrepressible spirit of Fadjar
soon wandered away in obvious search of new meanings and
metaphors. After a period of artistic coma, Fadjar found his
voice in countless little compositions that he painted in the
colors rust, brown and black.

It seems like the work of a child at play in a nursery, who
has painstakingly put together an imaginary world block by block.
The paintings of this period sometimes seem like parts of motifs
used in batik designs in Central Java and sometimes look like
Chinese characters.

With the start of the new century, the work of Fadjar too is
like a new beginning that is very exciting to behold. Unlike the
realistic paintings of silence from years gone by, his canvas is
now alive with the sights and sounds of life. And to celebrate
Fadjar's brand new way of responding to the world, Joanes
Sardjono of One Gallery has organized an exhibition of his
paintings here.

"When I stand before the art of Fadjar I am filled with hope
and happiness," says Sardjono, whose dream is to Share Hopes
Through Art with fellow human beings.

The exhibition runs until Feb. 8, the day Fadjar turns 72
years of age. The One Gallery is on Jl. Panjang 46, Kebon Jeruk,
Jakarta Barat. More information at 5321267 and
5321268.