Hardi's tiger paintings roar with color

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

A white tiger with yellow and blue spots stalks on full alert. Its eyes stare straight ahead, as if not wanting to let go of its prey. It walks through a million fireflies in the green foliage of the forest. Right on the back of the tiger, there is a circle resembling a red moon.

This is one of Hardi's paintings, called Macan dan Sejuta Kunang-Kunang (Tiger and a Million Fireflies, 2001), an oil painting on canvas. It is one of some 70 paintings and sketches by Hardi now being exhibited in his 17th solo exhibition at Galeri 678.

In the Year of the Horse, the theme of his exhibition, The Crouching Tiger, reminds us of the award winning film starring Chow Yun Fat.

In his paintings, Hardi presents a lot of tigers. These tigers mostly share a similar position; stalking with the tails curved upwards. Variation in these tigers is obtained by changing the color of the tigers' bodies, moving the circular elements and also manipulating the background colors. Moreover, he has introduced variation by changing the positions of heads along with facial expressions.

In his work called Crouching Tiger Merah (Crouching Red Tiger, 2002), oil on canvas, for example, Hardi presents a white tiger with stripes of red, purple, orange and blue colors in a watchful position with a fully opened mouth. The background is red. A golden yellow circle decorated like Chinese calligraphy embellishes the back of the tiger.

The tiger in Crouching Tiger Biru (Crouching Blue Tiger, 2001) shown on the envelope of the exhibition's catalog-cum-invitation doesn't give the impression of fierceness as what you find in the red tiger painting. The tiger has white and blue stripes on its body, bowing its head while its mouth is open wide, showing off its fangs. With its front left leg lifted, it looks as if it is about to pounce on something. Then the red circle above the hip is divided by a tail that curves upwards.

As a result, the king of the jungle becomes a graceful and patient creature in Hardi's hands.

As an experienced painter, and also a member of the New Art Movement, Hardi does not pretend to copy a fact (the tiger) on his canvas. For him, a tiger is only an idiom or a language of expressions.

Perhaps, a tiger is a portrait of Hardi himself in his social life. Despite his stern look and sharp tongue, he is a humanist.

Yet, why does Hardi present a tiger as a theme of his works in this Year of the Horse? The answer is easy. As Hardi has told a fine arts observer who is also the curator of this exhibition, Agus Dermawan T, the painter has not drawn a tiger for five years.

Although tigers are the exhibition's theme, not all of the paintings on exhibit are about tigers. Hardi also exhibits some objects which bear the stamp of his trademark, the "mooi-Indie" (post-social criticism) and are well known in the domestic art market. These objects include dancers (Betawi and Balinese), fashion models, a haj pilgrimage to the Muslim holy land of Mecca and even his sketches of Bali.

There are some paintings dwelling on social themes, titled, among others, Bulan Biru Pengungsi (Blue Moon Refugees, 2001), which portrays a husband and a wife along with their children and a goat looking confused under a blue moon. His painting entitled Rezeki Nomplok (2002) (Great Fortune, 2002), done with ink on paper, depicts a woman carrying two big fish and walking with her back towards a black circle burning on the waves.

Like the late painter Popo Iskandar, Hardi feels obliged to place the element of a circle on his paintings. The repetition of a circle in each of his works has enabled us to capture ritual tones, which perhaps are repetitive journeys, "going somewhere and returning to the departure point", with our individual body being the center point.

So, Hardi, an Indonesia Fine Arts Academy (ASRI) graduate once detained by the military after portraying himself in a silk- screening graphic work titled Suhardi, 2001 President, continues to roar in the market discourse circles.

The exhibition will run through March 18, 2002 at Galeri 678 on Jl. Kemang Raya No.32, South Jakarta. Telp (021) 71792164