Foreign artists shine in conducive local art scane

By Pavan Kapoor

JAKARTA (JP): In a country where art and culture are not only discernibly appreciated but also revered, international artists revel in the atmosphere of credence granted to creative art.

The Hilton Executive Club is presently hosting an exhibition of oil and watercolor paintings by two talented expatriate women, Barbara Evans and Lauretta Libby Agolli. The exhibition, held until Monday, includes about 50 paintings, mainly watercolors but also some works in oil.

Agolli, who is from America, commenced her formal art education at the School of Visual Art in Rio De Janeiro. Evans cannot say when she started to paint because she all she remembers is "painting all my life".

She studied art at the Joseph Wright School of Art in England. Although she admits to deserting her brushes when she was a teenager and then again when she had her children, she rekindled her art when her husband began traveling on business trips.

Agolli has sold her paintings wherever she has lived -- Seattle, Washington, Brazil and now in Indonesia, where she has resided for the past three years. Upon arriving in Jakarta with her husband in his new work assignment, she immediately began participating in workshops and teaching in the International Cultural Activities Center at Kemang. She is a member of the Group Sembilan of nine female painters, which has been in existence for about 26 years. Most of the Indonesian painters in the group have remained the same, with the international members changing as they move on to new lands.

The works of the two artists point to the fact that today, despite sophisticated video technology and other visual stimuli, there are more people than ever wishing to paint. Perhaps the reason lies in the inborn urge in people to create, and painting is the most exciting, easily accessible medium which effectively fulfills that urge.

Although there are the usual themes of flowers and still life in the exhibition, it is apparent that each painting has an unusual center of impact. In Agolli's Chimps At Play, it is the layered foliage that builds the theme and the opaque red sun on stark white that carries the impact. Both the artists agree that unusual themes attract people more than usual ones like still life, flowers and conventional landscapes.

Another Agolli painting, Two Monks, shows the back of two boyish figures of monks. The folds of their saffron robes stand up against a lightly washed background with minimum detail.

The special radiance of watercolor comes from the light being reflected back from the white paper through the transparent layers of colors is one of the first lessons for a beginner.

"Although pigments spread out and swirl at their whim, control is important and the old adage less is more applies here vehemently," says Agolli.

In oil painting it is easier to correct mistakes because the paint takes longer to dry and can be wiped off completely, but the "happy accidents" that characterize watercolors are not easy to encourage or control for that matter.

The painter plays with the thickness and thinness of the paint in oils to create the desired effect whereas in watercolors, layer over layer of tonal pigments is what creates the fresh and lively effect.

While oil painters and watercolorists usually run a constant barrage of rivalry against each other on the respective advantages of the particular medium, these two artists happily maintain an easy truce.

They realize that a culturally inspired country raises its people with a high degree of cultural awareness. "There are many countries where artists are discounted, but Indonesia with it's traditional batik, beautiful sense of sculptures, modern and traditional architecture is an extremely culturally aware country and it is an honor to be a part of it," says Agolli.

Evans does not adhere to one particular style or theme, but insouciantly indulges in everything from flowers and landscapes to portraits. She likes to mostly paint scenes from real life but indulges in photographing her subjects as well. After photographing her subjects from two or three angles, she gets down to work often shifting her subjects. This is the case with the painting of the ISKY Country Club in South Jakarta, where she has conveniently relocated a tree she thought looked better on the edge of the lake than about hundred meters inland. She loves playing with light shades to create the impact of the central theme.

In one of her paintings there are a group of children squatting in almost a circle, in the center of which one boy stands and orates from a book. This is a brilliant work of light and dark, where a strong shaft of light falling on the standing boy illuminates the rest of the scene.

Evans has sold her paintings at numerous exhibitions. Her works can also be found at the biannual charity exhibitions put up by Gay Warren where paintings are sold at discounted prices.

Luck

She says luck plays an important part during an exhibition or sale. But she adds that people will always go for good works.

What does luck have to do with it? "The painting might be an excellent piece of work but the customer might be wanting something bigger or longer for a particular wall," Evans says. "Sometimes it's the coloring that would not suit the customer, although he or she loves the theme of the frame. So I would put a lot on lady luck's credit."

According to Agolli, large oils are what really sell well among Indonesian buyers. Watercolors sell among the expatriate crowd and also among those Indonesians who frequently travel abroad.

She believes the market for watercolors is catching up in Indonesia despite some extenuating hindrances. "The fact that the climate of Indonesia is not as conducive for watercolor painting as oils, because in the tropical, moist climate the paper does tend to pucker up. So the lack of watercolorists in Indonesia is not due to a lack of culturism but an environmental necessity."