Nuraeni's art reflects mentor's influence

Nuraeni's art reflects mentor's influence

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

Is Nuraeni still under the shadow of her late husband, noted
painter Hendra Gunawan, or has she managed to set herself free?

This question hopefully can be answered by the painter through
an exhibition of 45 of her works done between 1968 and 2001. The
exhibition was initiated by d gallerie manager Ulfa H. Waworuntu,
with one intention, to let Nuraeni step out of her husband's
shadow.

Fans of Hendra's works would be delighted seeing Nuraeni's
paintings, as most of them are imbued with his strong influence.
The influence lies not only in the objects, which mostly depict
the activities of ordinary people -- such as in Wanita dan Ikan
(Woman and Fish), Cari Kutu I and Cari Kutu II (Searching for
Fleas I and II) and Dagang Sayur (Vegetable Traders) -- but also
in the choice of colors. Maybe, this influence helped the brisk
sale of the paintings as most of the paintings were sold during
the opening of the exhibition on Oct. 19.

The absence of an individual style in the 46-year-old woman's
paintings, however, also disappointed many who expected to see
her stamp in her paintings.

It seems that not only Hendra's ideas were absorbed by
Nuraeni, but also his techniques, details in composition, space
blocking, harmony and colors.

Nuraeni admitted that, like Hendra, her source of inspiration
for color themes was based on colorful Sundanese cloth. However,
this contradicted the widely held belief that Hendra's colors
were inspired by the rich hues of fish in the ocean.

Leaving aside the debate on source of color, upon careful
inspection, one can detect a hint of her struggle to discard
Hendra's influence. However, the effort is not entirely
successful. On the contrary her efforts disturbed the aesthetic
aspect of her work, as can be seen in the paintings done after
her husband's death in 1983.

The paintings produced since 1989 like Gadis Model Kuning (The
Yellow Model, 2000) and Tiga Wanita Selendang Biru (Three Women
with Blue Shawls, 1999) give the impression of being stronger and
freer.

When asked why she returned to Hendra's style in her latest
works, she said: "The more I wanted to distance myself from
Hendra, the more I felt disturbed. Then I told Pak Jim Supangkat
(art critic) about this and he advised me: 'that's okay, no need
to distance yourself'."

The influence is understandable because Nuraeni, who has no
formal art training, had been tutored by Hendra and was imbued
with his influence for years.

According to Jim Supangkat, who was present on the opening
night, Nuraeni is not alone. Many artists are unable to free
themselves from the influence of renowned artists. In Nuraeni's
case, she could not free herself from Hendra's influence while
the works of Kartika, for instance, were also influenced by her
father, the late maestro Affandi.

In his opinion, the influence should be turned into a
strength, instead of wasting time and energy attempting to get
rid of it.

Nuraeni herself is not a prolific painter. So far, she has had
five solo exhibitions and taken part in 10 joint exhibitions in
Jakarta and Bandung.