Indonesian impulses of de Romanes' works

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

The island of Bali has been a particular haven for many foreign artists who sought inspiration from what they considered an almost forgotten world.

But Agostino de Romanes (b. 1947) went beyond all that. He immersed himself in the depths of the soul of people imprinted with the beliefs that their parents' parents had believed, the myths and legends that have governed the cultures of this rich archipelago, the scents and atmosphere -- colors -- and lights of the East that stirred a dimension of dream and a sense of the archaic.

The exhibition Rediscovering Indonesia, opening on Monday at the National Archives building, of 36 works in oil on canvas and cardboard and watercolor, attest to the uniqueness of such deep- felt sentiments that enriched his soul.

To blend such dynamics with his Western roots and schooling, de Romanes, whose first visit eastwards was in 1979, has used not only the conventional oil on canvas, but also sought to go along other avenues of material use, such as oil on recycled paper and on cardboard, mixed media on wood fiber, watercolor and oil on paper.

Measuring between 68 x 48 cm and 160 x 240 cm, the expressions of his dreamlike visions take the appearance of engrossed tales deeply touching the senses, but for which no specific narrative can be found. Only the titling gives a hint.

Through a myriad of planes of colors defining mood and atmosphere, an indefinite figure or face might loom, or is interwoven with the landscape and indicated only by a line or two, giving rise to that specific sense of state between the real and the unreal.

A typical example is the work in oil on cardboard (68 x 48 cm) titled Risen to heaven from the rice fields. Gorgeous green going over into blue and topped with brown and shaded ochre, the color planes induce a sense of rice terraces shaped by banana leaves, carrying some faces (brown and ochre) to the far heavens.

But faces may also be outspoken, though of an unrecognizable race and interwoven with the movement of his magnificent color planes, indicating specific stages or moments in life but always giving the impression of looking at images of myth, legend or the primeval.

In the prison of the rock (oil on cardboard, 2004) appears like stalactites, icicles hanging down the ceiling of a cave, but a closer look reveals the vague images of faces and bosoms.

Harvesters (oil on cardboard, 2004) suggests three women going through the green fields while the planes above them are filled with a darker shade of green, yellow and topped with blue. His watercolors blended with oil on paper show the same divide of color planes, as in Oriental nature (2002) that shows green, blue, brown and yellow planes.

His colors are not as luminous as one might expect from the tropical lights. On the contrary, in many cases they appear like foliage in the color scheme of summer or autumn in the European hemisphere, such as in The Knights of the Fire (mixed media on wood, 2002). An atmosphere within the grotto is also felt, while others like On the rice fields descending from heaven (oil on cardboard, 2004) reminds of the Italian color scheme in bright sunlight.

Indeed, as Vittorio Sgarbi, the curator of the exhibition states, there can be no telling how much is the reality of what he has seen in Indonesia, and how much is the dream of Indonesia he carries within him, and which finds expression with the pretext of the myths and legends of the East.

It is not the first time that works of an Italian painter have been inspired by and exhibited in Indonesia as well as in Italy, thus bridging the cultures that have come together in his paintings. De Romanes, however, boasts a style which is uniquely his own. In this sense, the exhibition compels admiration, as does the Italian Institute of Culture in Jakarta for bringing such outstanding works to the attention of the Indonesian public.

----------------------------- Rediscovering Indonesia

* Nov. 22-Dec. 7 National Archives building Jl. Hayam Wuruk, West Jakarta

* Jan. 15 - Feb. 7 Galeri Rudana, Bali