French artist uses copper to create unique sculptures

By Margaret Agusta

JAKARTA (JP): In the past few years a number of art galleries have appeared in Jakarta to cater to the varied tastes of an expanding upper and middle class of young professionals with an increasing amount of disposable income. Most of these galleries focus on displaying paintings, although drawing and graphic art shows are held now and then. Large-scale exhibitions of sculpture, in particular solo shows, are rare, sometimes years apart.

Part of the reason for the dearth of sculpture exhibitions is that the public continues to view art as something that hangs on a wall. Another reason is that a work of sculpture can take a great deal more time to complete than a painting, meaning that the creation of enough works for a solo exhibition of adequate size could take years. Also, sculptures generally require a great deal more space to display than do paintings, making it difficult for most of Jakarta's commercial galleries to even consider putting on a sculpture exhibition.

The major sculpture exhibitions of the past were almost always held at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Central Jakarta, or some other government subsidized or state-run gallery. In the last few years, however, hotels and other private-sector enterprises have begun using the vast spaces of their buildings, such as Wisma Metropolitan, to support the efforts of both local and foreign sculptors as public awareness of the importance of art in an urban society has grown. Most often, these exhibitions have been joint displays, with two or more artists showing their creations. There have been few solo sculpture exhibitions of the scale and import of the current exhibition of works by French artist, Rashad Carre, at the S. Widjojo Center on Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta.

Rare

This exhibition provides a rare and impressive look at the possibilities of copper as a medium for both small and large- scale works of three-dimensional art. Rashad Carre, who was raised in Jakarta, and returned to Indonesia after completing studies at the Loughborough College of Art and Design in the United Kingdom, and the L'ecole des Beaux Arts is Strasbourg, France, creates works of great sophistication from this metal which is more closely associated with plumbing, or electrical installations than art.

Rashad Carre's sculptures are displayed throughout the S. Widjojo Center building in South Jakarta, whereas most of the other exhibitions in office buildings and hotels here have been focused in ground-floor lobbies. Although this innovative approach to the space available in commercial property is not as convenient for art lovers as the traditional gallery layout, it does open up all kinds of possibilities for artists to display their works, and for a larger segment of society to be exposed to works of high technical caliber and esthetic significance, such as those of Rashad Carre.

The largest of the sculptures in this exhibition, which will be open through Jan. 26, are on display on the ground floor, as are three wall hangings of copper, in which Rashad Carre has skillfully exploited the tendency of copper to discolor when exposed to heat, chemicals, oil and even air.

Color

One of the most intriguing aspects of Carre's sculptures is the play of color, light and dark over the surface of the metal, which he creates through the skillful and creative application of a torch. This young artist, who found inspiration in the flowing design of wrought iron throughout France during his stay there, plays with texture and color on curving metal surfaces that appear to rise or float into the air. It is this kinetic quality, as well as the surprising richness of hue on metal, that combines with intricate and daring play with positive and negative space to create sculptures with an esthetic clarity which is deeply moving.

Carre's approach to the metal and wood he combines in his sculptures is one directed toward the "vibration that exists between the spirit and man". His works tend to draw the viewer more inward toward introspection than outward toward awareness of an individual artwork, as the intricacies of movement, shape and color emerge through the perusal of his sculpture.

"I deal with the inner world more than the outer, natural world," Rashad Carre said of his sculptures, whose bases are mostly found objects. He makes a point to carefully combine the metal forms he creates with the pieces of wood he discovers, while walking near his home in Cilandak, in such a way that they seem integral to the works themselves. The result is works of art that seem more organic than fabricated.

Intuitive

His Force of Nature series of three sculptures that can be found on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the S. Widjojo Center building, strongly reflect his concern with bringing together objects whose forms relate to one another in a natural, as well as intuitive, way. Although the observer might assume that the natural object, such as stump or slab of wood, came first and inspired the metal shape it holds in place, the opposite is true. Carre works with a piece of metal, curving, bending and heating it with a torch to induce changes in the surface until the piece reaches a state which satisfies him. Then more often than not, he sets it aside and goes on to work with another piece of metal until he comes across an object he feels would be an appropriate base for the already completed form.

This way of working is highly intuitive, with the artist manipulating the material, as well as responding to the reactions the material has to his efforts. Carre says that much of what occurs, particularly during the process of coloring the surface of the copper with oil, chemicals and heat, is "accidental" in that the result cannot always be determined beforehand. These "accidents" then inspire further manipulation of the qualities of the metal itself. Carre's triptych wall hanging titled Birth, and his other two wall hangings of metal sheet and wood frameworks, titled Batik I and Batik II, introduce the idea that "painting" can be achieved with materials other than canvas and pigments.

Nature

Yet nothing that the artist does with copper is alien to the nature of the metal itself. In fact, it is the natural lightness and flexibility of sheet copper than lends it so well to manipulation into the kinetic forms created by Rashad Carre. It is also the lightness and flexibility of the metal that enables the artist to achieve such masterful tension between positive and negative space in his works.

And it is this interplay of positive and negative space carried over into kinetic forms that lends the sense of the organic to Carre's works. The large sculptures titled Pursuit and Emanate, in particular, seem to grow out of the floor upon which they are placed, while in many of his other works, the curving pieces of metal mimic the uncurling of the tendrils of a vine or the unfurling of young leaves.

Perhaps it is the artist's reflective and intuitive references to the beauty and power of nature that initiate a reflective, introspective response in the viewer of his works. Whatever it may be, Rashad Carre leaves the people who view his works with the feeling that they are as much about the natural world as they are about the nature of man.