Karya untuk Kawan, an exhibition of many flavors

Karya untuk Kawan, an exhibition of many flavors

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

At a time of bleakness and a never-ending need for donations, an
art exhibition at the National Gallery comes as a cool breeze
that soothes the senses.

Held by the National Commission on Violence against Women
(Komnas Perempuan) to benefit some fifty Women Crisis Centers in
the country, the charity exhibition brings together both
compassion and high-quality art.

Putting an accent on the quality of the exhibition are the
works of senior sculptors like Dolorosa Sinaga, Iriantine
Karnaya, Teguh Ostenrik, Yani Mariani, who are all widely known
in the art world.

There are also works by graphic artist/painter Tris Neddy
Santo and FX Harsono, whose graphic art and installations are
born out personal experience and linked to social and political
discontent.

Works by celebrated surrealist painter Ivan Sagito, Marintan
Sirait with her fascinating drawings, painter Magdalena Pardede
who experiments with photography, well-known photographer Firman
Ichsan who is also a painter of urban life styles, ceramicist
Lydia Poetri are also on display.

Artist Andar Manik, Titis Jabarudin with her soft pastel on
paper featuring the hardships of Iraqi women, and Wara Anindiyah
whose eerie paintings of Chinese faces have now taken a softer
look, are also featured.

The young and upcoming artists also have their say like
Renjani Damais, whose sculptures testify to personal depth, Ade
Artie, whose works are increasingly fetching recognition in art
auctions in the country; and Awan Simatupang and Taufan AP whose
works bring together social concern and innovative thought.

An interesting feature is also the presence of works by Farida
Srihadi who has been absent for a very long time, Ratmini
Soedjatmoko, who initiated exhibitions of wives with artistic
inclinations in Group Sembilan, and Nani Sakri, a onetime icon in
the fashion world-turned artist.

The works by expatriate artists, mostly sculptors, like
Jeannette Bijlmer, Birgit Ulrike Hau, Margriet Bos, Rhona
Polonsky, Lexy Anderson, and Nienke Attema add special flavor to
the exhibition.

The most eye-catching works made with professional skill and a
good sense of the imaginative, include those by Ice Mogi Tol, a
seasoned graphic art and oil painting artist, who manages to
bring a woman's focus without sticking to the suffering, by
bringing out the features of a goddess that is within every
woman.

In My Power, a painting in acrylic with gold prada layers,
measuring 195 cm x 95 cm, the artist hints at her Indonesian
roots; the liberation of her fellow women is indicated by the
finely painted batik sarong being spread wide instead of the
usual way of wearing it as a tight skirt.

The body and face painted in gold prada, accentuated by a sort
of aura, seem to rise out of such consideration. The same theme
is found in her painting My head flies, in which a woman
transcends her devastation.

There is also Sasha Tranggono, whose watercolor flowers are
one of a kind. While her work, Remember me this way, 80 cm x 113
cm, watercolor on paper, is a delicate piece of atmospheric still
life, her watercolor hibiscus on canvas (the first of its kind),
measuring 120 cm x 100 cm and titled Spirit of the Moment is
uniquely expressive and reverberates with depth and passion.

A fine piece of work is also presented by Aditya Tobing.
Suara2 Cello di Mercusuar yang Mati, watercolor and ball point
(72 cm x 52 cm), featuring realistically drawn cellos against a
surreal landscape under a somber sky.

Very close to our concern is the Tsunami painting by RW
Moeljadi. Measuring 125 cm x 175cm, the painting recalls the
giant wave that hit Aceh and North Sumatra.

The painting features the wave in all its devastation,
sweeping away men, women and children, and remaining as a huge
load carried by man, who holds a handkerchief in the colors of
Indonesia's national flag, as if to indicate that his burden is
the country's. In addition, Moeljadi's engravings in mezzotint
are unique.

Not every participant can be referred to or described, but the
above is meant as an illustration that there is ample choice and
good quality that would make anyone's charity gift worthwhile in
the collector's understanding.

With cases of violence against women rising from 3,160 in 2001
to 14,020 today, the money spent in purchasing a work at this
exhibition, will be well spent.

Karya untuk Kawan
A charity exhibition of visual arts
Through March 22, 2005
National Gallery Jakarta