Guruh paints dance movements and politics

Guruh paints dance movements and politics

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Guruh Soekarnoputra, son of the late President Sukarno, is known as a choreographer and composer. However, a small exhibition which opened last week at his residence revealed that his artistic talent extends beyond the performing arts. The dozen or so paintings that are exhibited also evidence his latent talent for painting.

The variety in style of the artwork on show suggests that heis still exploring a variety of stylistic paths. His painting, Indonesian Beauty and the Beast, is executed in a style akin to that in children's books. The title is even spelled out on the canvas, making the entire presentation even more child-like.

"Artistic creativity should be based on freedom. Therefore, I should be free to explore different techniques," he claims.

With that in mind, although his favorite subject matter is the human figure, he feels a need and desire to also try his hand at painting still lifes, such as flowers. Flower and Burnt Pot is his first attempt in painting this new subject matter. Later he also painted Jambangan Tergeletak. They show that Guruh knows how to paint shapes, understands composition and color, and in all, has artistic talent. However, they are by no means his best paintings.

Guruh began painting at a very young age. His first painting on canvas, which he executed with the determination of becoming an artist, was done when he was in junior high school. He took an old dilapidated painting from his mother's storage and painted on the back of the canvas. The subject: Ringo Starr. "Although my favorite Beatle was either Paul McCartney or John Lennon, the best photograph from the magazine I used as a reference was the photograph of Ringo." The painting has since been lost, but fortunately it appears in a photograph, published in a magazine which had an interview with Guruh.

The subject matter of his best work are naturally his paintings of the performing arts, in particular dance movements. Since a very young age, Guruh was trained to dance the Javanese classics by some of the best instructors in Indonesia. Later, he studied Balinese dance under the master Anak Agung Gde Ngurah Mandera, popularly known as Gung Kak or "Grandpa Agung". He often visited Bali to further his knowledge of Balinese dance.

During one of his extended stays in Bali, he took up painting. Inspired by the movements of his colleagues who also studied under the guidance of the revered Gung Kak, he painted Legong and Baris dancers. It seems that painting also made him more observant and sensitive to the intricacy of the dance movements he was studying.

The two examples shown in the exhibition, Melancholic Legong and Baris Dancer in the Ngopak Movement (1971), were painted when he was still in high school. Using swift and fluid brush strokes, Guruh depicts the dynamic motion of his impression of it. In addition, he also seems to succeed in expressing the emotions and spirit of the dancer. Unfortunately, the two paintings are presently in a rather poor state because they have been rather neglected all these years. Nonetheless, they are the material evidence of Guruh's original style.

Inspiration

Although also expressive, Guruh's more recent paintings are less successful in presenting his personal style. Rather, they reveal his source of inspiration and influence.

In Anak Agung Gde Raka Dalem (1981-1994) for example, Guruh's subject matter and choice of media -- charcoal and pastels -- suggest the influence of Rudolf Bonnet. The way Guruh has posed the sitters also reminds us of Bonnet's portraits.

However, due to the limited choice of materials available in Bali at the time, the work was done on cardboard, a medium that is actually not suitable for charcoals and pastels. Hence, Guruh developed a technique rather different from the one used by the Dutch painter.

Some of Guruh's other paintings, such as Portrait of a Woman from Goa (1992), are reminiscent of the Indonesian painter Agus Djayasuminta. This is of course no surprise, as many of the works of the late Agus Djaya also exist in the Sukarno Collection.

In his recent paintings of dance, Guruh places less attention on visual impressions of figures. Instead he uses shapes that are deformed, elongated and askew to depict the expressions of the dance movement in a style seemingly inspired by the German expressionists of the Die Brcke association.

Here he also seems influenced by Agus and his brother Otto Djaya's more expressive work. Although Agus Djaya's paintings were often derived from temple reliefs, and therefore are rather static, in some paintings he uses swift brushstrokes to blur the subject, thereby creating a sense of dynamic movement. In Legong and Pejoged Kidal, Guruh uses a brush stroke similar Agus Djaya's to enhance the sense of movement.

Guruh himself claims that he is inspired by many more artists, many of whose works are in the Sukarno Collection. His favorite artists include modern masters such as Gauguin, Van Gogh, Monet and Matisse.

"Since I first started painting, I was able to produce works like Melancholic Legong, which is one of my very first paintings," he said.

Now, he wants to try different techniques to depict different subject matters. "I want to know if I can paint using other techniques than the one I am already familiar with," he said.

Guruh admits that he feels his very first paintings are the strongest, and that he will eventually return to his original style and technique.

Guruh's most interesting painting is perhaps Three Slurs, Three Colors (1995), which at first glance seems to be a rendering of three women who are not particularly attractive in appearance. The viewer's attention, however, is drawn toward the inscription on the bottom of the painting: "if you would like to know the meaning, view using a mirror". The letters to the right are indeed inverted, and the use of a mirror is indeed necessary. It reads: "3 Slurs = 3 Contestants, which one will you choose?"

Now the content of the painting becomes more obvious. The three women are dressed in three different colored slendang (shawls), red, yellow and green. It seems that the painting was done with the upcoming general election in mind. Through painting, Guruh conveys a harmless political message to his viewers. If he needs a special permit to hold his dance performances, will he also need a special permit to hold this exhibition as well?

Guruh's paintings are on show until June 1, 1996, at Puri Fatmawati on Jl. Sriwijaya 26 in South Jakarta.