Ken Pattern's art takes a new turn

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After nearly 13 years in Indonesia, Canadian landscape artist Ken Pattern still finds the country and its people perplexing.

This is reflected in one of his latest works, Key to the Empire, where a map of Java is placed in the middle of a green labyrinth. Another painting, This Way, portrays an underground labyrinth with green walls on the left and the right, leading nowhere.

Pattern has deviated from his theme of realism which was visible in his earlier works on Indonesia.

"I'm looking at another perspective. They (the labyrinths) are the perfect symbol of Indonesia," he said at the opening of his solo exhibition at KOI Gallery and Restaurant in South Jakarta in late November.

The perplexity, however, comes from the differences between Indonesians and Westerners in viewing the world.

"In Indonesia, what you see is not necessarily what you feel. It's like going into a labyrinth," said Pattern, 59.

In This Way, which was produced last year, he said he was interpreting the Javanese.

"The Javanese never say 'No'. When somebody asks a question to a Javanese, he or she will not clearly state that he or she means, or say, 'No'. It is confusing for a lot of foreigners, whose logic is linear. But in Indonesia, it's different."

He played with words in the picture of the labyrinth in Mine Field. He said 'a mine' could means a charge of high explosives buried in the ground or 'mine' could mean that which belongs to me.

"It's a joke on how you understand the visual and verbal pun ... 'mine' is peaceful but can be very dangerous."

Viewing his works is like looking at the real world frozen in time in paintings and lithographs. His creative process begins with a visit to his place of interest, where he takes photographs or makes a few sketches.

Once, he discovered that the object of his artistic work had disappeared. He realized at that moment that he was on a mission to record traditional scenes that could one day be swept away by modernity.

Lithography is a medium where the artist makes a master on smooth stone or a metal plate before reproducing it through the print process. He said that a single artwork took him months from spotting a scene to drawing the images.

In his works, he sees Jakarta as a city with two contrasting faces; the old and the new, the rich and the poor. A la Mode, for example, pictures clothes drying in front of small, low shack with a skyscraper as the backdrop.

"I like to play with the idea of juxtaposition, like the new and the old. Indonesia has a lot of contrasts. And Jakarta follows the same pattern. It has the rich and the poor in the same area," said Pattern, who came to Indonesia with his wife, Helen Vanwel, in late 1988.

The latest of his lithographs include four pictures on East Timor. But don't expect to see blood and gore, the military and militias on guard or scenes of people queuing to vote.

East Timor in Pattern's works reflects the tranquility and mystery emerging from a tree, houses and a church, all of them framed by stone walls. One of the pictures is from Manatutu and the others from Dili.

"The lithographs were produced in 2000, all of them representing the destruction in East Timor. The images look through the hope," he said.

Most of his works are almost devoid of living creatures.

"I keep people out of my work. My interest is in the land. If you put a person inside the land, your eyes will go to the person and the land, the city will stay in the background."

Some 63 lithographs and nine paintings are on sale at prices ranging from US$50 to $3,500 at the exhibition, which was opened by the Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia Ferry de Kerchkhove on Nov. 27.

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Ken Pattern's solo exhibition is held at KOI Gallery/Restaurant on Jl. Mahakam I/2 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. until Dec. 31. The Galeri will be closed from Dec. 15 to Dec. 21 for Idul Fitri.