Italian art on show at National Museum
By Mehru Jaffer
JAKARTA (JP): The closest Flavio Favelli ever got to this part of the world was Iran.
Born in Florence, Italy, Favelli, 33, has been working as an artist for only five years. While still a student, he liked the peaceful atmosphere at the Institute of Oriental Studies in his hometown and so he decided to take an advanced degree in Oriental history and literature, specializing in Persia.
Today the work of Favelli is deeply influenced by ancient Persian civilization and he makes liberal use in his art of artifacts and natural materials like palm leaves of Iranian origin.
One of 12 artists participating in Shapes of Mind, the first major exhibition of contemporary Italian art to open here at the still unfinished new wing of the National Museum, Favelli admitted the last thing on his mind, ever, was the world of Indonesia.
He traces his interest in the Orient, backward, from Rome to the pre-Islamic glory of Istanbul, Baghdad and Iran. His art is full of symbols representing the decadence of this age. One of two artists to accompany the Jakarta exhibition, Favelli's Cardio-writing (2000), a somber gray and black engraving on slate, is a typical example of the mere illustration of an idea by modern day minimalist artists.
He told The Jakarta Post that his one day trip to Jakarta was just another job. He was not exceptionally overjoyed when he was told that he was to visit the country, but he found after his arrival that he wanted to stay longer.
"Indonesia is so far away from Italy. It is so traditional and so different from my society," explained Favelli, a conceptual artist who accumulates experience before choosing a piece from multiple experiences for display. He concentrates on all those ideas that are continuously being modified by time in the spirit of conceptual art that was conceived out of a desire to shift aesthetic discourse away from traditional objects and materials.
Up to the 1960s, art was seen in terms of concrete shapes and objects. Conceptual art, by contrast, aims to find its own definition as it attempts to represent the actual experience of the artist. The work of art consists in the analysis and investigation of the language of art and the result often is "dematerialized" art, meaning art which is not committed to long-lasting materials or forms.
The materials of this art can range from sheets of paper, discussions about art to philosophical reflections on the artistic system, with art moving from a method based intuition and synthesis to one based on scientific analysis.
No wonder conceptual artists may find it a little difficult to identify with much of Indonesian art, where form and external beauty continue to take precedence over the idea. By good art it is meant here that art which will last forever. However, conceptual artists have now forced museums and galleries to expand their notion of exhibitions to include installations designed to be temporary.
It is possible for artists to be paid these days a fee to produce temporary artwork, capturing fleeting moments with mediums that may soon disintegrate. In painting, artists are known to form images in the heat of the compulsive action of becoming. That certain crisis or crucial moment of sensation or release involves a gamut of experiences not just full of anguish, but also ecstasy. Often what is realized in that instant is beautiful and even considered an important work of art, despite the fact that there is little intention to please. The aim forever favoring reflection.
Pino Casagrande, the curator who chose the exhibits for display and was here to put the exhibition up at the National Museum, regretted that in his gallery in Italy, he did not have even one piece of work by an Indonesian artist. Casagrande feels that traditions help in getting to the root of the soul and give each contemporary creation a solidity that is extremely meaningful. He is happy that at least a beginning has been made in an artistic dialog between the two very diverse cultures of this country and his own. His dream is to get Indonesian and Italian artists to exhibit together, both here and in Europe.
The other visiting artist, Elvio Chiricozzi, 35, was too jet- lagged to talk very much about his trip. "It is like a dream," he said simply.
Chiricozzi's artwork is compared to ontology and his exhibit, The Hands You Want (2000), in oil and mixed techniques, explains to a certain extent what conceptual artists are trying to do today.
Roberta Postiglioni, the architect of the exhibition, regretted that their stay was even shorter than all the hours they spent journeying here from Rome. She was inspired by the premises of the museum where she chose to display the 12 exhibits.
She was enchanted with the old world charm of the National Museum and the contemporary ambience taking shape at the new wing. Just like life itself, it is also involved in a continuous process of completion.
Shapes of Mind is at the National Museum, Jl. Merdeka Barat 12, until April 7.