Geometrical shapes always give ideas to painter Elisha
Geometrical shapes always give ideas to painter Elisha
Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta
Even though she pined to do little else but painting, Elisha
was forced to study architecture. She went to Germany to finish
her study thinking that, perhaps, architecture might help her to
find a more lucrative career instead of a degree in fine arts.
When she returned home it was eventually to give up her
practice of painting full time.
It has not proved easy, however, to rid herself entirely of
the ghost of architecture that follows her everywhere, happy to
creep into her art as well. But whenever that happens Elisha's
work is only enriched.
Today it is easy to recognize her art as a series of extremely
colorful mind-shapes, in myriad moods.
Often the architect in the artist is seen lost in perpetual
play with geometrical shapes like triangles, rectangles, squares,
and straight lines. There is no evidence yet of the circle in her
works.
Her works, along with that of other artists Jeffrey Sumampauw
and Vukar, are being displayed in the Spirit on Paper exhibition
at Indigo Gallery, Jl. Ampera Raya 1, South Jakarta, through Dec.
21.
Today Elisha, 46, is concentrating mostly on drawing stark
straight lines that overlap from one boxy pattern into another
almost as if with a ruler.
"None of this is done consciously," she said, adding that she
never plans what she will draw.
Almost invariably she starts each piece of work from a state
of nothingness when she feels she is cleansed of all extreme
emotion and thought.
She has no clue as to what she is looking for in life. At the
moment she is content to be able to paint for every waking hour
of her life. What she is sure about, though, is that mere
imitation of Nature is boring.
She would be happy to see her work take on an even more
abstract and formless face. When that happens she can only go on
trying to probe what may be lurking behind what seems to be
reality.
While art is peppered with glimpses of architecture in
Elisha's work, it is music that spices its way into the art of FX
Jeffrey Sumampauw, 45, who tries to translate into varied shades
of color what a musician does with different scales of sound.
Just as a musician may juggle with the ascending and
descending notes of do re mi ... Jeffrey improvises with color.
He does not like to restrict himself to any one way of
expression as he tries to understand the cosmic reality and
truth.
"I feel it is almost my responsibility to explore different
mediums, surfaces and styles," he said.
The third artist on display at the ongoing exhibition here is
Vukar, 31, whose work is an amazing combination of Western
contemporary art and the traditional style of Chinese ink
painting.
The themes are as deadly as the impenetrable, slimy texture of
ink itself.
Neurosis reins rampant in his work as Vukar plays on paper
with the dark and mysterious shadows of black and white.
It is also obvious that all three artists, who are also close
friends, are still struggling to find a niche in the very
competitive art market here.
Exhibiting together at a gallery owned by another friend, the
show they have put on is modest in comparison with others held in
the air-conditioned comfort of larger and more affluent
galleries.
The works are simply framed and labels with the title and
price are informally stuck on the wall with sticky tape. The
gallery itself is located on a busy thoroughfare, with fumes from
heavy vehicles welcoming visitors. It looks like a former food
stall converted recently into a home for all those artists
determined to pour their very spirit on paper.
The Indigo Gallery is trying to enrich the lives of lovers of
art with the work of painters like Elisha.