'Made Wianta's Evolution' rocks Tokyo Station Gallery

'Made Wianta's Evolution' rocks Tokyo Station Gallery

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): Balinese artist Made Wianta, 51, is back to
shock the overseas art community. Last year, he had an
exhibition, Catur Yuga, in a museum in Basel, Switzerland, and
since Oct. 10, through the end of the year, Wianta's works have
been exhibited at the Tokyo Station Gallery.

This unique gallery was actually built in 1914 as a train
station, and was once bombed by the United States army during
World War II.

In his exhibition in Tokyo, titled Made Wianta's Evolution,
Wianta exhibits a retrospective of hundreds of his works.

"I am personally pleased, this is something I am proud of
because they (the organizers) handle everything professionally,"
Wianta commented.

What brought him to the Tokyo Station Gallery was the East
Japan Railway Station and The Yomiuri Shimbun, a foundation which
is funded by telecommunications company NTT Data Corporation.

Wianta was not only pleased, he was also touched, because
exhibiting the evolution of his art is a demanding task. Wianta's
works consist of hundreds of paintings, thousands of sketches and
other works in various mediums.

These mediums include tissue paper, metal sheets, nails,
roots, tree trunks and various other tridimensional art works,
which, in order to display, requires intense patience and
professionalism.

Preparations for the exhibition, handled by the Tokyo branch
of the Cipta Budaya foundation and headed by Made Bandem, took
more than three years. The Tokyo Station Gallery is an esteemed
gallery which once hosted an exhibition of the works of Leonardo
Da Vinci, including the famous Mona Lisa.

"This is the first time ever in my life, to have an exhibition
with such a high-level of professionalism," Made said.

NTT Data, the main sponsor of the event, is an influential
company in Japan's computing industry. However, aside from its
high tech supremacy, NTT Data has begun to pay attention to the
aesthetic world of arts and culture.

Why did NTT Data choose to sponsor Wianta? Dr. Shoji Yamasiro,
an intellectual who is earnest about Balinese artwork, is
impressed with Wianta's productivity and creativity. Shoji, who
was involved in the collection of information regarding Wianta's
works, noticed that Wianta is so dedicated that he never wastes
time.

"He can work anywhere; in a toilet, on a train, in a waiting
room and, obviously, in his studio", Shoji commented.

Wianta's works which are on display in the Tokyo Station
Gallery depict the artist's journey. From the beginning of his
career in the 1970s, what he calls the Karangasem Period, when
Wianta painted on plain paper and cheap canvasses, he created his
surrealistic works.

This was a trying period for Wianta, unable to afford proper
canvases or paint. Yet, he never gave up.

"That was because the creative drive inside me can be
expressed through any type of available medium," he explained. If
all he had was paper and cloth, that would be enough to
accommodate his creative drive.

During the 1980s, Wianta began to use proper canvases,
painting dots all over the canvas. The theme for his "dot"
paintings were often from nature: the moon, a mountain, a beach
or a tree.

Still working in dots, Wianta began to paint geometric themes:
triangles, squares, pentagons and his play on the perspectives of
rooms. Soon, dots and geometric themes were not sufficient to
express his creative drive, so Wianta began a period of
expressionism.

Wianta began to create works of abstract expressionism, even
surprising tridimensional works. He "dances" with a peeler made
from metal, creating his work titled Worms. He shapes torsos from
shards of stone and turns a hair clip into a composition which
depicts boredom.

Once, in his home village of Apuan, Wianta composed a music
accompaniment for dances taken from the concept of pengelamusan,
which is an ironsmith's tool which creates hissing sounds when
used. Another time, from the top of a steep cliff, Wianta threw
out a ball of fire which flew like a meteorite, and, like a
child, he was fascinated. It was these stories, and other like
them, which made Yoshi Yamasiro decide to exhibit Wianta at the
Tokyo Station Gallery.

The question now is whether Wianta's works can equal those of
Leonardo Da Vinci's. The answer to that question is difficult,
however, holding an exhibition where works of art such as the
Mona Lisa once hung is something to be proud of. Especially since
Wianta manage to sell six of his works for Rp 2 billion
(US$250,000). A fantastic price for an Indonesian painter.