'Flashback' show, where are the artists?

Boudewijn Brands, Contributor, Jakarta

Although not all artists want to participate, the Philip Morris art competition has always had an appeal for a relative large number of artists and many have submitted their works.

Each year, a different jury selects the 100 most interesting works from photographs. These are being sent to Jakarta for viewing and from these, the 10 best are selected.

After still another selection, five get a prize. The competition was always held in close co-operation with the Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation (Yayasan Seni Rupa Indonesia, or YSRI), founded on June 8, 1994.

This year YSRI wanted to celebrate it's 8th birthday with an exhibition. This has to do with Javanese tradition where a windu is completing an eight-year cycle.

The criteria for exhibition were to exhibit works from the 10 top nominees in each annual Philip Morris Award. This should have resulted in works by 80 artists according to Edwin's introduction in the catalog of the exhibition called Flashback, which is currently going on in his gallery.

Beside Edwin, curators Rizky Zaelani from Bandung and Suwarno Wisetrotomo soon found out that not all could participate: some are not artists any more or rarely exhibit, some are "commercial" (or decorative) painters and just got lucky with the one they made for the competition, some moved to unknown places or out of the country, some died of lung cancer and so on.

This resulted in 37 artists being invited to send recent work. They were obviously given a deadline and the result was that only 20 of them found their way into the catalog. Although this was not planned, this exhibition, or rather the way it was realized, gives us more insight into the Indonesian art world.

First of all, as Edwin rightly remarks, "The artworks were chosen, not the artist. This, unlike the Venice biennial, is where artists' backgrounds are extensively checked".

Further, to be selected by a jury does not mean that the artist consistently makes good works on a regular basis (quality and productivity), or is highly motivated to continue his/her life as an artist and will be productive in the future, at the same time maturing and increasing control of his/her hand and materials.

Eight years is not really a long time span but they might have developed their style. This, however, cannot be concluded from the exhibition.

An example is Yunizar. He submitted relatively figurative works for this exhibition. His works recently exhibited in Selasar Sunaryo Art Space in Bandung and Rumah Seni AIR in Jakarta are much more abstract.

Salability is not the criterion for Edwin who commented "He did the selection himself". If one cares to see a bit further than just the paintings in the exhibition, the theme and the selection process could reveal a lot about the Indonesian art scene and it's developments.

This is a missed chance to do some exact data collecting. However, if the YSRI is serious about art in Indonesia, they could have done the research thoroughly and writing down the observations. This would have resulted in a serious paper from which to conclude new policies.

In Europe, researchers estimate that only 0.5% of art works still have a value after 30 years. This process is also going on in Indonesia: unless what he/she makes is really special, if someone stops being an artist, his/her works usually don't have value any more.

The YSRI should bear this in mind when giving the works a sale price when they are exhibited after the competition concerned. It might also take a closer interest into the artist before and after the selection.

A question unanswered here too is: what happens if an artist does get selected? It can create havoc on an immature character. The artist might declare that the prices in the Philip Morris exhibition are from that time on his/her level as he/she finally got "institutional appreciation".

They also get solo exhibitions in galleries that so "discovered" them. So there is a lot more to learn from birthdays in the art world. Checking the c.v.'s it is also obvious that most participants have studied at ISI (Yogyakarta) and ITB (Bandung).

They mostly have only a bachelor degree and none studied at the Jakarta Art Institute (IKJ). The resulting exhibition is of a high level with very different styles. Putu Sutawijaya and I Putu Wirantawan can no doubt paint beautiful bodies.

But they paint them in a slightly distorted way leaving it to the mind to reconstruct the painting to wish. That keeps us alert when we see their works.

Dikdik Sayahdikumullah surprises us with a new and telling style. Entang Wiharso shows his consistency and surrealistic works hang beside decorative and "contemporary". The exhibition is an interesting overview and offers something for everybody to enjoy.

Kilasbalik (Flashback) exhibition in Edwin's Gallery until August 18, 2002. Jl. Kemang Raya 21, South Jakarta, tel. 7194721, E edwingaleri@cbn.net.id.