Ken Pattern's art takes a new turn

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.

-- Inbox

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.