Nunung's search for soul in silent colors

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): Avoidance of verbalism is a salient characteristic of modern painting. Abstract paintings are the final consequence, analogous to American writer Archibald Macleish's view of poetry as "a poem should be wordless, as the flight of bird".

Nunung WS, who is showing her paintings in the ongoing solo exhibition, Soul in Color, at Taman Ismail Marzuki, presents us with "silent" color areas.

She tries to clarify what is behind reality through allusion and color.

Her works Matahari (The Sun) and Pintu (Door) are examples, codifications rather than images of reality. They reflect abstract painters' inclination to capture the "soul" of things, in which color plays a very important role.

"Colors are indeed my basics," Nunung said. "For me, reality comes with colors. Even the (human) figure. Behind the figure is the soul, and I put colors to the soul. Each color becomes a soul, and each soul becomes a color."

But giving the works titles seemed to render verbalism inevitable, as they are helpful in guiding the viewer.

"I often have difficulties in coming up with titles. Because what we feel isn't easily expressed with just one or two sentences. Aren't there many things we can feel, but cannot easily express?"

Other works like Titik-titik putih (White Points), Garis merah (Red Line) or Hitam dan Biru (Black and Blue) are structured on the basis of colored masses. Here, color is no longer memory, but pure plastic invention.

The idea behind these paintings is the notion of emptiness with the dictum "one brush stroke is enough". It may sound like it is derived from western "action" painters, but it is an important element of meditative artists from the East.

"I am indeed attracted to study Zen and Sufism," Nunung said. "From both I learn simplicity. I like simplicity, but it must have depth."

Zen artists painted much emptiness, in their words, "to play the harp without strings", such as China's Ma Yuan of the 12th century. The strokes of the brush and color, or the scratch of simple lines were to balance the void space.

In Nunung's works, the form and color area float with wide and loose strokes, undefined edges that give a sense of movement and tangible depth.

In Garis Merah and Hitam dan Biru, the scratches are combined with dominant dark colors of varying densities.

Nunung, 49, has exhibited widely, including in the Netherlands, Belgium and Malaysia. She is a recipient of a number of awards, the most recent from the Ministry of Women's Roles in 1994.

Her latest works look simple and suggestive, like the haiku in Japanese poetry. Nunung emerges bearing a rare, mature meditative style.