Kho dips his brush in the cultural melting pot

Kho dips his brush in the cultural melting pot

P.J. Leo, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The use of various figures, symbols, colors and materials in
the works of painter Antonius Kho show that he has been
influenced by a variety of cultural genres. Art lovers are
required to fully use their senses to appreciate his works.

His use of lines and circular shapes, along with certain
colors and materials, form the basic elements of the artist's
paintings.

After successfully staging his solo exhibition titled Sosok
dan Perubahan (Figures and Changes) at 678 Gallery in South
Jakarta, Kho moved his show to the German Center Indonesia in
Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang, from Nov. 17 to Nov. 30, under the
German title Figur und Wandlung.

The exhibition -- which was opened by the center's director,
John Sautter -- has been promoted by the center to present
attractive artworks that display elements of Indonesia and
Europe, particularly Germany, to German citizens in Jakarta.

Born in Klaten, Central Java, in 1958, Kho's works are
dominated by acrylic colors and collage. When using collage, Kho
not only uses a paintbrush but also does some cutting and
sticking, combining Indonesian and European artistic elements.
Most of the works in this exhibition clearly show his interest in
combining a variety of different materials, which requires
special expertise and perseverance not commonly found among
painters in general.

Kho learned about art from his first teacher, Barli, in 1977,
who also introduced him to modern European art. Owing to his
roots and intimate relationship, since birth, with the Javanese
environment, Kho learned traditional handicrafts and batik in
Yogyakarta before going to Bandung to pursue further studies in
fine arts.

In 1985 he left for Germany to study painting at the
Fachhochshule in Cologne. Later he became interested in the
relationship between the Indonesian and European schools of
painting and developed his penchant for collage and the use of
acrylic colors.

Kho was engaged in one experiment after another using various
materials and combined them in his works. He has used gunny
cloth, fine batik ornaments and pulp, and also mixed them to form
different kinds of surfaces, which are both visually attractive
and sensuous to touch.

The works that are on display testify to the quality of these
works, though it is also true to say that human figures or parts
of the body are not clearly depicted.

His Erotik (Erotic) illustrates a woman's body without giving
the impression that she is dressed, but stops short of suggesting
sexual desire and instead offers the beauty of procreation. When
we follow the movement of the lines or the areas of color of this
figure of a naked woman, other impressions emerge to abort our
previous thoughts or blur the movement of the picture's lines.

Kho does not destroy, split or cut up the figure of a body or
parts of a body on his canvas. He arranges the pieces that he has
discovered into a shape with a new meaning. This is a feature
shared by all his paintings.

A good example in this respect is Crown V, in which a round
face with two eyes and a nose are depicted in a normal position
while the mouth is covered by a new face of a different size and
a number of cross-cutting lines.

As a painter using collage and acrylic colors, Kho has won a
number of awards from several countries. In 1989 he won first
prize at the Malen auf Liegestuhlen competition, Fachhochschule
Art Design Olivandenhof, Collage.

In 1990 he also won first prize at Art addiction Annual in
Venice. Eight years later he won the Gold Masks - Diploma of
Excellence at Palazzo Correr in Venice, Italy. In 1999/2000 he
was nominated in the First International Drawing Competition, in
Wroclaw, Poland, and in 2000 he was again nominated in the fifth
Sapporo International Print Biennale Exhibition at Hokkaido
Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan.