Green dominates Fortun's lush landscapes

By Parvathi Nayar Narayan

JAKARTA (JP): It is practically impossible not to notice the color green at the exhibition of paintings by Ignacio Fortun at the Spanish Embassy.

In fact, as the dominant element in the pictures exhibited, the greenness registers even before the subject matter itself - essentially a record of the artist's first experiences and impressions of Bali, a place entirely new to him.

Impressions were gathered even before setting foot in Bali, as evidenced from the painting Flight 1101, Destination Bali, an aerial view that includes the wing of the airplane.

Fortun paints in a very realistic style, applying the oil paint thinly and on occasion allowing the canvas to show through the smoothly worked brush strokes. The palette -- dominated by green, blue-green, green-gray tones -- is also strong on shades of these colors with few examples of pure, raw hues. No doubt Fortun has always been a painter of landscapes in the realistic style, but his palette of preference is muted, even somber.

Ralph J. Dosch, director of Collection DOBE and a consultant to the project, remarked on the change in the artist's palette and on the "... elaborateness of the green" on show. Kusamba is one of the very few among the current paintings that echoes the bleaker and perhaps more appealing colors of the artist's previous work.

Thematically, and in terms of that sometimes misused word message, there seems to be a shift to, or at least the emergence of, a different point of view. Fortun has always wanted to draw attention to man's despoiling of nature. In the past, he has painted the ashes left in the wake of man's interactions with nature and contrasted the barrenness of the deserts thus created with the calm splendor of nature's deserts.

The current paintings show a more tranquil landscape with fewer elements of aggression. This is not a change in his world view, but probably a response to the lushness of Bali, a sensation the artist himself likens to being close to paradise.

Storm over Scarecrow is the most skillfully executed painting on show. The focus is a palm frond, at once fragile and enigmatic, standing alone in a desolate landscape of hazy foliage in the background, the curve of the rice fields in front and the presence of rain throughout. The artist says that he saw this lone palm leaf on of his numerous drives through Bali. He was deeply touched by this everyday sight, and later put it down on canvas in his studio. Somehow he was not satisfied with it as a painting and so, as any sensible artist would do, left it alone. Then one day while watching the rain he realized that that was what the painting needed - for the fragile frond to be seen pelted by the rain.

The artist is also successful where he picks a corner or small detail as the main element in his painting, as in Offering in the Street or Temple in the Street. The delicate painting of shadows created by wickerwork or the color in the ritual offerings scattered at a street corner, particularly, make for interesting points of interest. However, in some of the paintings -- such as Dawn of the World, a panoramic view that takes in Balinese rice fields -- one senses a certain lack of tension.

In Storm Over Scarecrow there is a definite inner tension created without visible signs of violent motion or overt drama. Perhaps because some of the other paintings tend to be descriptive rather than interpretative, it is as though the entire story is painted; it is almost picture postcard like, without depths waiting to be discovered. However, even if this realistic style does not suit everyone's artistic fancy, it is technically very well executed.

To appreciate the exhibition more fully it should be seen in the context of the Ten of the Best - Spanish Contemporary Painting, Jakarta 1995 - 1997 Series. Ignacio Fortun came to Indonesia as the fifth artist in this program. The Ten of the Best is a somewhat unusual project that was conceived by the Embassy of Spain, and has been fueled in a large measure by the enthusiasm and love of art of the Spanish Ambassador, Antonio Sanchez Jara. The embassy sponsors ten artists, carefully chosen as representative of the best in contemporary Spanish art, and arranges for them to visit Indonesia. They come one at a time and paint here usually for a period of one to three months. The results of their work are displayed at the embassy's exhibition hall.

The exhibitions, including the current one by Fortun, are the most apparent and visible results of the ongoing series. While some of the less tangible results will probably only reveal themselves over time, it cannot be denied that cross-cultural and artistic exchanges lead to a more comprehensive understanding of different countries and their people.

I am reminded of a (non-arty) example that stretches this supposition but is dramatic: A character in the approved sequels to the Star Wars trilogy, who determines the strengths and weaknesses of his adversaries by studying the works of art these different galactic races have created! In all seriousness though, multicultural artistic exchanges are usually successful in re- energizing artistic outlooks and broadening horizons.

It would also be interesting to examine the effects that the artist senses in his own work. Fortun says that while he immensely enjoyed his experience of Indonesia -- or more accurately, Bali -- it is hard to say how it will influence his painting. But he too feels that one of the highlights was the human contact. He recalls a particularly interesting exchange with a young man at the markets in Bali.

Though there were practical problems in communicating -- the absence of a common language -- they still managed to exchange ideas about each other's country, people and culture. Who says communication can only be through words?