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.