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.