Offering kaleidoscope of paintings

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