Murni explores eroticism of modern Balinese art

Murni explores eroticism of modern Balinese art

By Aendra H. Medita

JAKARTA (JP): Wild dreams, obsessions and eroticism are
expressively revealed in woman painter I Gusti Kadek Murniasih's
works currently being displayed at Galeri Nadi here.

The exhibition titled Fantasi Tubuh, Fantasy of the Body,
which will run through to Oct. 29, obviously reflects a dreamer's
restlessness exposed through her absorbing canvasses.

Generally, Balinese traditional paintings have many different
styles and approaches such as paintings from Pengosekan, Ubud,
Batuan, exploring themes and subject matter of nature, religious
rites, and animals.

But, I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih or Murni, a self-made
painter, takes a very different approach. Her paintings strongly
speak about her dream world and her restlessness over her
obsessions.

There are only a few women painters in Bali and Murni, who was
born in Tabanan on May 21 in l966, is an exception.

Painting has been considered a "dirty" profession and even a
taboo as compared to dancing, an artistic expression categorized
as being "very clean" and respected. To her, taboo represents her
failure to understand, so she feels the need to be free and
express herself to survive painting.

Murni has a very strong and uncontrollable wish to explore her
world as a painter. At one time, her family moved to a
resettlement site in Sulawesi, Murni was then working as
housemaid for a family in Ujungpandang (now Makassar) in South
Sulawesi, where she enjoyed some schooling. Although she had
completed only elementary school, she became increasingly
interested in painting. When the family for whom she worked as a
housemaid moved to Jakarta, she joined them. In Jakarta she
worked at a garment factory owned by this family.

Then in 1987 she returned to Bali and stayed in Celuk, a
center for silver and gold handicrafts, some 10 kilometers from
Denpasar. There, she learned painting skills from painter I Dewa
Putu Mokoh for a year and a half. Afterwards, she exhibited her
paintings along with the works of a number of women painters at
Seniwati Gallery in Ubud.

Later on she joined a number of solo and joint painting
exhibitions. Since 1995 her works have been exhibited in several
countries from Australia to Italy, Hong Kong, Germany and the
Netherlands.

Despite the strong influence of her painting mentor, I Dewa
Putu Mokoh, Murni's works are the embodiment of actual themes,
not merely reflecting the Balinese tradition. The success in her
paintings stems from her inner world, one of tumultuous dreams
and restlessness. It is this element that makes Murni, a woman
painter with Balinese blood and intense contact with the Balinese
atmosphere, differ from other Balinese painters.

To Murni, Bali is only part of the space she is in, serving as
a guide for her to explore the painting world. "My paintings are
not related to either tradition or mythology. My paintings are my
own private life," Murni said.

Her struggle in the painting world is remote from the world of
tradition because it is her own world that comes out in her
works. She has her own dream world of eroticism, restlessness,
imagination and the musings of her soul, all of which conspire
into strength.

"My paintings have been very much inspired by all that you can
find in my dreams," said Murni, a painter with a mysterious aura
in her works.

"Fantasi Tubuh reflects Murni's journey inside herself. Her
paintings expressively appear in all sorts of human figures.
Murni, who has gone through ups and downs in her career as a
painter, displays 111 paintings in this exhibition. Some of the
works, made between 1993 - 2000, speak of the grand theme of
eroticism.

Murni emphasizes on the visual aspect of individual objects
which are rich in symbolism.

Take one painting titled Mimpi Sepatuku Dikeremi Ular and
Lahirlah sebuah Pura, Dreaming of My Shoes being Hatched by a
Snake and so a Temple is Born (1997), for example. This painting
portrays shoes as the central object with a snake winding itself
around them and inside the snake there appears a temple. Murni
also enjoys exposing symbolic objects which depict male and
female genitals in a radical approach.

In her works titled "Hati Yang Sepi 1 & 2, Lonely Heart 1 and
2 (1994), Trauma 2 (1998), Mencoba Bikin Kesenangan, Trying to
Create Fun (1994), Enjoy di Angkasa, Enjoyment in the Air, 1993
and Antara Benci dan Rindu, Between Hate and Longing, 1994; these
works strongly depict the pure wild images in her dreams so that
genital exploration has lost its sacred quality.

Meanwhile in Jangan Lupa Bunga dalam Kulkas Hari ini, Don't
Forget the Flower in the Fridge Today, Dasi Purnama, Tie of a
Full Moon, Menyepi, Retiring into Seclusion, Kembaran (Twins),
Bermain, Playing, and others offer greater profundity of Murni's
powerful images, which are laden with symbolic forms.

Murni is strongly aware of the objects used in her works
because the atmosphere that she captures from her dreams and then
transfers onto the canvas comes out with the right measure of
outburst.

Essentially, the piercing quality of her works is the
reflection of contemplation on her dreams. Hendro Wiyanto, the
curator of this exhibition, said that Murni's paintings portray
human bodies in graphic images underlined by honesty and
originality and that these paintings tended to offer 'pure'
bodies, not 'exhibited' ones.

This reflects what she has developed out of all the dreams in
her images and a pattern she has adopted which has kept her away
from the existing and general realism of Balinese painters. This
is Murni's pure eroticism in all her honesty.