Mexican artist Polin explores eastern philosophy

Mexican artist Polin explores eastern philosophy

Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta

For Marisa Polin, moving from Mexico to the Netherlands was
interesting enough. But two years ago, when she first visited
Indonesia, the Mexican painter was transported, quite literally,
into another world.

"There is a large Indonesian community in my neighborhood.
Indonesian food is almost the national cuisine of Holland. So I
presumed I knew a little about Indonesia, but nothing prepared me
for what I experienced once I actually got here," Marisa said, as
she prepared to open her first exhibition in Jakarta.

"I instantly fell in love with all the smiling faces around
me," says Marisa, who feels that back home if you smile it is
often suspected that you want something.

She does appreciate the hardworking, practical ways of the
western world, but after being with people here and visiting
temples and mosques she feels that there is much more to life
than efficiency and material success alone.

What that is, she hopes, will be revealed when she follows in
the footsteps of Miguel Covarrubias to Bali. Covarrubias was a
Mexican painter and anthropologist who lived in Bali for three
years in the 1930s and has left his impressions and sketches in a
fascinating book called Island of Bali.

Marisa is now in the middle of reading that book and is also
looking forward to finding out for herself what the magic of Bali
is all about.

It was two years ago that Marisa came on a seven-day flying
visit to Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta.

"It was not a planned trip. I had read nothing before coming.
I just followed my husband who came here for work," Marisa
smiles.

She recalls that even during that short stay she could sense
the thrill of being in the midst of so much diversity, as
compared to most western societies, which are very orderly and
uniform.

She is unable to get over the fact that two magnificent
monuments pay homage to two different religions at Borobudur and
at Prambanan temple complex. The first one is a Buddhist temple
and the other devoted to the Hindu deities, Brahma, Shiva and
Vishnu. Both have stood beside each other almost on the same
premises for centuries. She finds this entire reality quite
amazing and very inspiring.

Marisa likes to think that this is due to the extremely
tolerant temperament of people here. She is amazed at the number
of ethnic groups living in this country and practicing their own
languages and cultures. When societies become too homogenized
they rob themselves of the spice of life, she feels, adding that
monotony is uninspiring.

As a Mexican, she regrets that Spanish conquerors had to
destroy an entire civilization of native Indians before they
could make South America their new home. She prefers to build
upon the past, instead of trying to wipe away memories, which she
believes is not possible anyway.

While it is possible to physically destroy people and places,
something more intangible, like memories and influences, continue
to live with us and haunt us.

She tingled with so many sensations after her Indonesian visit
that she titled her series of paintings Senses. For two years,
she has painted nothing but senses in all its various nuance and
meanings.

Now she is so satiated from exploring the word that the series
will finally be laid to rest with The Last Sense, the title of
the exhibition she has brought with her to Jakarta, comprising 54
works of acrylic on paper.

The extreme excitement and exhaustion of the last two years
has perhaps inspired her to give the traditionally vertical
figures a break and to work with horizontal lines.

In her work, some faces are in a deep, almost Buddha-like
repose. Asked if she was trying to capture the different moods of
the Buddha from Borobudur temple, Marisa said she does not recall
making a conscious attempt to do so.

She gets the feeling that people here are still in touch with
nature and the earth. Even before she came here her work was full
of color and the desire to figure out the relationship between
heaven and earth, which was probably inspired by the fertility
folk tales of the native Indian community of Mexico.

She is interested in knowing what her roots are and who her
ancestors were, perhaps because she is continuously on the move.

Born and brought up in Mexico she is married to a Dutchman and
they live in The Hague. She now plans to spend a few weeks in
Bali.

During her talk with the Post, Marisa spoke to her five-year-
old son Gabriel in three different languages (Spanish, Dutch and
English) answering all his queries patiently but also requesting
him not to interrupt her.

Wherever she is, she tries to make herself at home. She feels
the best way to continue being close to the place where you grew
up is to be far away from it.

The eastern way of life has also taught her the virtue of
patience and that the "time is money" motto does not always work.
While here, she feels that it is OK to wait. She has observed how
each task seems to have its own momentum.

Above all, that death is not the end of life. Thinking
philosophically helped her to overcome the death of her father
and the birth of Gabriel made her accept that death and birth are
all part of life.

The physical and psychological effect of migration is another
topic that she likes to play with. Her conclusion is that each
one of us is a traveler and in a permanent state of nostalgia.
Those like her, move from one place to another but others travel
in time.

Marisa has a very graphic way of putting this thought on paper
by superimposing drawings one upon the other sometimes creating a
sense of depth and at other times creating a very flat effect,
just like the tug and pull of time on life.

Colors are what stand out in her work and after her visit to
Central Java, there are glimpses now of typical dyes used in the
batik of Yogyakarta. Her painting, Me, is also enlarged to
include many more dimensions and a variety of moods. It is a
matter of great curiosity now to find out what Marisa will put on
paper after her month long sojourn in Bali?

The Last Sense will be open to the public at La Casa de Mexico,
Jl. Panglima Polim III No. 1-3, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
until May 12 daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.