Journey into the spirit of the times of the Asmat

By Teguh Ostenrik

JAKARTA (JP): Perhaps it would be interesting to look at the problem facing Asmat art in the context of a worldwide phenomenon.

May I cite the example of Montmartre, Paris, where Picasso once lived and created many of his masterpieces. And where at the same time his neighbors were busy producing "instant" art for tourists.

Is it justified to say that because tourist art was produced in Montmartre, all the artists there created, and painted only for money?

In seeking a framework and justification for receiving Asmat art, we often do not posses the relevant points of reference in line with what we would like to envision.

Every time we attempt to place their art in the "fine-art" context, we are placing, and "risking " art which posses a very rare and dangerous aura.

Naturally I am confident that the Asmat themselves will be able to safeguard the magical value of their traditions.

Modernization progresses very fast destroying space and time boundaries.

This means that men have an incredible ability to dominate space and time in a way that will carry positive and negative effects.

This is applicable also in Asmat art.

In today's context Asmat art can not be prevented from being modernized.

The issue is: whether the Asmat aura will have the same value as before, or whether its impact will be lessened or increased?

Only when we figure this out can we find a solution to the problem of how to "safeguard" the Asmat against a "negative" impact, through establishing positive modernization "support" methods which should be constructive, rational and effective.

We begin with the most common.

Is it possible for traditional matters to last during the super modern era?

The answer is not easily concluded.

To sustain what is traditional, we do not, now, have an identical "space and time" context to the one in which the tradition was born.

This signifies that tradition is very expensive, and conservation costs are high.

Honestly speaking, we can never defy the encroachment of modernization. So why not take advantage of the situation?

For example by creating interaction between existing traditional elements.

If Picasso approached tribal art at a more profound level than any of his contemporaries, this was because for some time he had been dissatisfied with the traditional western approach to the painting of form and objects.

In Les Demoiselles d'Avignon -- 1907 we have, albeit in a tentative and clumsy fashion, a new approach to the problem of representing three-dimensional volumes on a two-dimensional surface.

It is in this that the painting's supreme originality lies... (Cubism -- John Golding)

Roughly speaking we no longer have the same spirit as that which gave impetus to the birth of the great art of Asmat. And because of specific space and time boundaries, we can never turn back the clock. Just like our own deaths, which separate us from our worldly possessions.

But there is hope, we can remember our ancestors in a thousand different ways.

Look once again at the carvings and earthen colors used by the Asmat, and the almost straight lines that nearly form a geometrical order.

It almost begs the viewer to further touch the source of communication. It is apparent that during the creation process there was a binding communication with the Creator, and it is during this time, that the mathematical perspective is no longer needed.

Ornaments will later be interpreted into different meanings which relate to their daily activities.

Thereby a new symbolism will emerge which has found its uniting visual language: spirit, bone, fish fins, water ripples, currents, tail of crocodile, etc.

What we would now like to prove in theoretical terms is easier to do because Asmat art is not entirely extinct, perhaps just approaching death.

There are few methods of salvaging it, but one is through a global understanding of two principal matters:

* The pure art of Asmat, owing its impetus from a socio- cultural-religious spirit, is rich with an aura which we rarely find in other cultural heritages. This in principal will require efforts to save it.

* Today, the easiest way not "to be left behind" is to "join the others". Which means that without abandoning the Asmat spirit, we will find and even expand the aura of Asmat.

For now, let the Asmat people live in their own world, because it is this very personal world which gives birth to the extraordinary forms of Asmat art.

The parting of the Asmat people and their ancient spirits is actually not too tragic, what is alarming is our fear and attempts to "over protect" them from the influences of modernization.

Through considerations which emphasize tourism value (read: Money) many efforts have been made by modern man to keep indigenous tribes in remote areas in their primitive states.

The initiative and efforts of Bishop Sowada in Agats to hold the annual Asmat Art Auction will have the following impact:

* Create a development forum for a contemporary Asmat art.

* Initiate a new traditional festival which is similar to the spirit of Sekatenan in Solo (Surakarta, Central Java) and Yogyakarta.

* Place Asmat artists in the established art market naturally.

Abstraction

Abstract art has become an Asmat necessity, especially as they attempt to portray their interrelationship with their ancestors' spirits, and homage to the powers of nature, and their spiritual and physical needs.

From their cultural heritage, they have learned how to make stylized sculptures, panels or relief carvings on shields.

When observing the works of humans, one can see similarities between the modern sculpture of a European artist such as Picasso and someone more contemporary such as Baselitz; who has been greatly influenced by African art -- where anatomical proportions dictated by academic art are distorted.

Looking once more at Kamoro contemporary art, one feels that one is looking at a masterpiece, "the mother" of European Cubistic art.

Adam Saimas, an Asmat sculptor, not only examines what his predecessors have achieved, but he dares to include in his art the various daily happenings of his village. A daily life based on making a living and surviving.

It is true that fish, snakes and boats full of Asmat warriors are often the subject of Adam Saimas' works, but its symbolism has been mutated in parallel with the development of its time.

The endorsement a new vernacular of art forms discovered by Picasso after he transcended the limits set by his culture, is the same as the concessions made by Asmat sculptors, as a direct consequence of the positive friction between their traditional culture and that of their visitors.

It is guaranteed that the distortion of forms experienced by the Asmat cultures will continue and develop, even will become the impetus for the birth of a new and more dynamic culture.