Irma returns to her true love
Irma returns to her true love
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor/Jakarta
When Irma left painting, her first love, to excel in the world of fashion she may not have thought she would ultimately come back to it. But the 30 paintings on display from Aug. 30 at Paulinart Art Space and Studio here, show her love has never died.
Portraits of Javanese women with their fine transparent kebaya (Javanese traditional women's blouses) fill a great number of Irma's canvases.
They show Irma's keen observation and obsession with Javanese fashion, and were painted in a kind of nostalgic mode that reminds one of the paintings called Mooi Indie (Beautiful Indie).
Among these, Girl in the Mirror is particularly interesting. Depicting a woman dressed in a transparent maroon kebaya and traditional brown sarong standing before the mirror, Irma seems to have wished to document this scene that may still be common in some areas, but seems to be disappearing for the most part. Her depictions of different types of Javanese girls in various poses also shows the kebaya in its various versions.
Irma obviously remains partial to still-life paintings, which to many artists, the genre is considered a minor form of artistic expression and invention. As is widely known, the still-life type of painting is derived from the Dutch word stilleven coined to describe a new genre at the beginning of the 17th century, and associated with the Northern European schools.
Consisting of fruit, flowers or daily household objects, these used to only appear as a supporting role to the bigger picture of human action, in many instances clumped as "women's work', itself denoting the low status of women in society.
Fruit and flowers can be seen in Irma's acrylic paintings Glass Bowl and Tropical Delight while household objects are seen in Ceramic Blue. Her watercolor entitled Dry Leaf, radiates with sparks of light, bright orange fruit on a brown leaf and set on a yellowish brown floor.
Painting for Irma was a continuation of her drawing talents when she was a kid. "I have loved drawing since childhood," said Irma, who once was crowned Miss Indonesia.
As a kid she shocked her teacher with color combinations of purple and green, colors that later became the fashion. After high school, she entered the Bandung Institute of Technology's art department and majored in painting, taught by such masters like Sadali, AD Pirous, But Mochtar, Srihadi and Muchtar Apin. No wonder that her earlier paintings showed this kind of academically abstract mode.
Yet, as fascinated as she was by painting, she has also been in love with fashion since she was child.
"At eight, I started copying from magazines, I had a scrapbook with my own fashion sketches, pictures and beauty notes," said Irma, who started making her own dresses as a teenager, then went on to make designs for friends. On a few occasions, Batik Keris asked her to help on their shows abroad.
Irma became a fashion journalist and editor when the women's magazine Femina emerged over 30 years ago.
She studied in the U.S. and later came back and opened in 1995 a beauty consulting office called Rona & Gaya Image Consulting.
"I love and enjoy my profession as a Color & Image Consultant, she says, it feels good to make other women fell good," she said.
Irma has actually never left painting. Throughout the years she has participated in painting exhibitions, though not in the main. She became serious about painting in 1998.
"At that time, I could not do anything else," she said.
But once she had started, painting became a passion, and the upcoming exhibition is proof of her time well spent.
From here we look forward to the fruit of her true love of painting.
Exhibition of Contemporary, Romantic Realism; Irma Hardisurya; Opening Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m.; Paulinart Art Space & Studio; Jl. Denpasar Raya C IV/24; Kuningan, South Jakarta; tel. 522-1642