Indonesian art shows paintstaking realism

By Amir Sidharta

TOKYO (JP): Some of the biggest names in Indonesian contemporary art are on show at The Mutation: Painstaking Realism in Indonesian Contemporary Painting at the Japan Foundation Forum, Akasaka Twin Towers, Tokyo, which ends today.

The show, curated by Jim Supangkat, features the works of Dede Eri Supria, Rahmat S. Irfani, Melodia, Chusin Setyadikara, Probo, Sudarisman, Agus Kamal, Lucia Hartini, Ivan Sagito, Sucipto Adi, and Asri Nugroho. The nine painters are known for using a meticulous technique in their handling of realism.

Many of the works are formidably large pieces, although some like those of Melodia and Rahmat S. Irfani are medium sized. The smaller paintings are arranged in an attractive composition in a corridor leading to the main hall.

Large sizes and the striking imagery offer a different vision from the stereotypical images of Indonesia found in tourist brochures and guide books. The impressive exhibition has managed to attract, surprise and intrigue viewers in Japan.

The curatorial interpretation of the exhibition still seems to be very much an unproven hypothesis. Masahiro Ushiroshoji, curator of the Fukuoka Art Museum, writes in the exhibition catalog that Supangkat admits that Painstaking realism "does not have a clear concept and is far from being a movement".

It is likely the show will draw mixed criticism from the art world. Hopefully, this will inspire the artists to provide a clearer vision of their thoughts and ideas so their work can form a substantive and significant discourse in the development of Indonesian art.

For Supangkat, Melodia's paintings, most of which depict vehicles, reflect the artist's drive towards mobility in the modernizing Yogyakarta. There is no doubt that the artist has tremendous technical skill. However, if the paintings are meant to express mobility, they are ironically static depictions of the vehicles without any trace of human figures.

"I never depict human figures in my paintings. However, through their vehicles, and other signs and symbols in the painting, I also portray the user or the owner of the vehicles," he claims.

Rahmat S. Irfani's paintings also show the artist's understanding of technique. He even offers some clich trompe l'oeil, painting wooden frames into the picture plane. Yet, the subject matter of his paintings seems too simple, too obvious, and fails to offer any further insight into the issue.

A large composition by Sutjipto Adi, Welcome to My World II; Dream of Love, greets the visitors as they enter the main hall. Two panels hand on the wall facing the corridor, a collage of silkscreened images, pencil drawings, and painted images, arranged in a faceted composition on canvas.

The images, which include Mother Theresa, an Australian aborigine, a young toddler who appears to be the artist's son, an eagle, lotuses, and a fragment of a crucified figure viewed from the back, convey messages of the artist's social concerns. "My recent works have gone beyond the confines of my personal life," says the artist, as they address world issues.

The repetitive drummers in Dede's 3 x 11-meter-large Dancing and Fatally Buried under Canvases and Palettes draw visitors to enter the hall towards the left. Directly opposite the painting, is an almost equally large painting. Between Two Gates III, measuring 3 x 10.5 meters.

Two large garbage disposal truck appears on both ends of the composition discharging images of corporate signs, packaging, advertisements and other objects bearing various brand names toward the center of the painting.

"Perhaps it has to do with globalization, the influences of culture from outside Indonesia, the influences of globalization, and even further the influences of the free world market of the year 2000-something," Dede explained.

The two earlier paintings in the Between Two Gates series, each measuring 2 x 4 meters, are also presented.

Dede's gigantic works were undoubtedly the main attraction of the show.

Some of the artists have been working in a much larger format than they are usually accustomed to especially for this show.

Chusin Setyadikara who normally works an canvases measuring about 50 x 150 cm or less, has created a painting which measures approximately 250 x 400 cm divided into two panels. The painting, Kintamani Market I, shows fruit vendors selling Balinese grapefruit and passion fruit, taken from a high vantage point.

The faces of figures in the painting seem to be purposely turned away from the viewers. Some even look towards the upper part of the canvas, which is treated differently from the rest of the canvas using blocks of color in three separate segments. The image of the Starship Enterprise appears in one of the segments. The artist uses this imagery to as a symbol of foreign influences that directly or indirectly and consciously or unconsciously affect life in Bali.

Kintamani Market I seems untouched by any pretentious social commentary, but perhaps it is Chusin's work which has the greatest potential in conveying a compelling message.

Through this painting, he talks about the activities of the market beyond that which he explicitly renders. At the same time he also hints at society's indifference toward the problems of waste and the environment.

Opposite Chusin's painting are two large paintings by Asri Nugroho, all in sizes larger than his regular canvases. Unfortunately, his paintings seem less developed compared to his previous works, in which transitions between scenes or objects are subtly handled as to make the paintings subject matter less obvious.

Ivan Sagito's interpretation of eternal life in his Immortal Eternity series uses ironical images which suggest aging and decay. The figures are transformed from the brick columns of wells, which signify source of life, and banana leafs. Ivan's paintings seems to be loaded with symbolism which are not easy to comprehend, but their intensity and significance are reflected through the quality of his works.

Archaeology has been S. Probo's favorite subject matter. Through an archaeological landscape in The Limit, the artist explores the notion that everything, even the great traditions, decay. In The Multidimensional Beauty, the artist attempts to incorporate images of the modern world, combining it with the archaeological elements which have become his trademark. As a result, the painting seems too manufactured.

Agus Kamal focuses on morbid images, such as shrouded corpses laid on rows of deathbeds. One rendition is more gruesome. The fetuses of twins are depicted neglected on the dirt floor below the feet of a figure who seems to have committed suicide by hanging. Chickens feeding on the dirt floor inch nearer to the dead.

Sudarisman's works sometimes incorporate realistic renditions of human faces, or other realistic elements, but the rest of the composition departs from the techniques of realism.

Lucia Hartini, the only woman in the show, features three works which depict scenes that are clearly beyond any reality. The surreal images seem to depict the artist's personal journey in settings taken from her inner consciousness. The more surreal they appear, the more successful the images become.

In Umbrella Two Thousand, the figure uses an umbrella which transforms into the sky and the constellations. It intrigues as it depicts something so distant from our consciousness. By contrast, The Silent Prayer, shows a woman dressed in white meditating on a bed of white lotuses. It is an image with which viewers are familiar, although it also does not stem from reality, and therefore becomes less interesting.