Impressions of Australia through Indonesian eyes

Impressions of Australia through Indonesian eyes

By Parvathi Nayar Narayan

JAKARTA (JP): One of the most interesting aspects of Jerry
T.'s exhibition of sketches and paintings is that it brings
together two cultures in a way that's slightly different than
what we're familiar with here -- a foreign country through the
eyes of an Indonesian artist rather than the reverse.

Jerry T. was born in Bogor, West Java, and began his art
studies at the Jakarta Art Institute (IKJ) in 1984. This latest
exhibition, his second solo show, arose out of a month spent
traveling in Western Australia, from Perth down to Albany. The
reason for picking Australia was as simple as the fact that it's
his wife's home country, but sketching as he travels is something
that Jerry does as a matter of course.

The exhibition has a slightly odd balance in that 61 of the
works are sketches and only four are paintings -- a pity since
the latter are some of the most appealing. For the first time,
Jerry says, color via the application of paint makes its
appearance in his work -- the color otherwise being provided by
the carefully layered sheets of rice paper over the base black
drawing on white. In the Australian paintings there are traces of
blue and a soupcon of orange-yellow delicately applied. The
touches of gold leaf (obtained from a Chinese medicine shop in
Glodok (downtown Jakarta) are not new, but part of his ouevre.

The forms used are abstract if organic, but some recognizable
images -- aboriginal symbols like the rainbow serpent or stylized
representations of cloud patterns -- do appear. In the two Images
Of Australia paintings, the strong geometric forms of rectangle
and square create the background matrix against which the layers
of the painting are anchored. The paintings do not make bold
statements; it would seem their intention is not to force
themselves upon us, but rather offer an almost meditative point
of view with their stillness and symmetry.

The sketches are end products in themselves, not preparatory
studies for the artist's studio paintings. Still they did
indirectly help in the creation of the latter, acting as a visual
record of the artist's memories, experiences and impressions of
Australia. It is important to exhibit sketches because they are
"...more spontaneous and honest, " explains Jerry. "It's done on
the spot, you can't 'fix' them. If it's wrong, it's wrong."

The black and whites evoke a feeling of Chinese brush painting
and calligraphy in their delicate treatment of line and values.

The artist admits to a brief brush with calligraphy when he
tried to teach himself, but grew more interested in absorbing and
transferring to his paintings "the expression of calligraphy and
the power of the line".

Though he has never studied Chinese brush painting, he is
nonetheless very familiar with it. He studied Taoism and Taoist
influenced Chinese painting extensively for his thesis at art
school. Other influences he cites are those of the Indonesian
artists Srihadi, Nashar, A.D Pirous, Amang Rachman and Popo
Iskandar.

Jerry's animal sketches are very easy to connect with. One of
the best in terms of economy and sureness of line is Lappy,
Stan's Cat. In The Crow, by contrast, the image is saturated with
black but retains an innate simplicity of form and conception.
There are numerous versions of the alpaca, in which he explores
the facial characteristics and expressions of the animals. One is
tempted to look at them as character studies or portraiture. Even
so, Jerry is an artist who prefers drawing nature and so far has
had no interest in drawing human beings. In his less successful
sketches, however, the lines seem to lack clarity and sureness,
of which the demanding nature of the black and white technique
tends to be rather unforgiving.

Jerry T. is the first Indonesian artist to hold a solo at the
Australian Embassy. Lee Choon Siauw, the embassy's cultural
counselor, explains it as the result of the coming together of
many factors. Jerry is an Indonesian with a relationship with
Australia and his sketches of Australia showed a sensitivity for
the country. And, at an average of 18 X 25 cm, his works were
even the right size for the embassy's small gallery!

It was also very interesting, said Lee Choon Siauw, "to see
what he was interested in, in Australia. For instance, he draws
landscapes with no people. One can travel for days in Australia
without seeing anyone." Equally interesting was the fact that he
was attracted to simple, everyday objects that were
quintessentially Australian: the hills hoist, the pot belly stove
or the telephone poles that stretch across the landscape. In some
sketches he has used collage on the bark of the paper bark tree,
again a very Australian substance, sometimes used in aboriginal
painting.

The hills hoist, of which Jerry has sketched three versions,
is a large contraption that moves in the wind and is used to dry
clothes. The artist saw it in his mother-in-law's backyard, and
it seemed to symbolize the vastness of Australia, since a
considerable amount of space is needed to put one up. However, an
Australian viewing the exhibition remarked that a hills hoist is
not just a familiar sight in Australia, but has come to symbolize
an anti-cultural statement -- a fascinating insight into the
potency of images and their meanings, which change constantly
with context.