Offering kaleidoscope of paintings
Karen Stingemore and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
In spite of improving professionalism among artists, which should mean better control over their working schedules, the holding of a theme-based exhibition of a single painter has proved to be an uphill struggle for an art gallery.
Such a situation, as a result, has prompted art galleries to resort to joint exhibitions involving artists from different styles and origins and brings them together in a loosely-themed program.
That was the step taken by Vanessa Art House in South Jakarta. Dealing with a limited supply of art works that have a unified theme, it decided to hold an exhibition with the participation of 17 artists from four countries.
In an exhibition themed Milestone, art lovers were taken on a journey into the wilderness, from grotesque images from the mythical world, an otherworldly cycle of life and impressionistic images of familiar objects.
Among the impressionist works, a piece that captures the viewer's imagination beautifully was a painting titled White Lotus by Vietnamese impressionist, Do Duy Thuan.
The focal point of the picture is a white lotus but the background features ghostly images of a woman's body. Renowned for depicting pictures of Vietnam's landscape and people, his images in White Lotus seem to blend into one, with browns, greens, whites and yellows effortlessly representing the colors of Vietnamese landscape.
The abstract charcoal drawings of Indonesian artist Tisna Sanjaya are full of all the depth and detail that makes this medium stand out from other media; their sheer depth seems to compliment the religious ideologies depicted in the drawings.
His picture Perjalanan (journey) is mystical and is littered with faces, religious symbols, animals (such as the spiritual dragonfly) and ladders, and seems to be divided into different stages.
The viewer's eyes are drawn to the top of the image where two divine-looking women reside; this may be where the artist wanted the drawing's destination to be.
The image may remind viewers of 14-century Italian writer Dante's The Divine Comedy, with its stages of the afterlife that include the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise.
Maybe the artist, like Dante, intended his picture Perjalanan to be about the journey of the soul to redemption.
Chinese artist Cao Jing Ping's oil painting, Blue Dragonfly, is sparse, with only the larger-than-life image of an insect and a droplet of water on the canvas, which gives the picture a more believable effect.
The dragonfly is often used to represent summer in China but Ping often uses insects as a metaphor for human fragility. Ping mixes photography and oil on canvas to create realistic and poignant images.
Chinese artist Zhou Chun Ya's oil painting of a dog is extremely realistic and brimming with detail but its color is what captivates -- green.
This picture is one of the more unique and challenging contributions to the exhibition.
Swedish artist Paul Husner has a picture hanging in the exhibition titled Farmers Activities in Bali, one of the more colorful oil paintings in the exhibition, which shows locals selling produce.
There is not a single, unused piece of canvas on this picture, which helps to represent the vibrant life of a Balinese market.
For private viewing and further information contact Vanessa Art House, Jl. Tentara Pelajar Ruko Permata Senayan Blok A31, tel. 57941208/09, fax. 57941210