Order of violence vs Stone Order

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): In Indonesia, one is called a stone head if one is obstinate, hard, strong, selfish and an egoist. When there is somebody who opts to keep silent without action, and he is in a confused and stupefied situation, people will call him stoned.

In our daily language, the word stone is often used metaphorically. Hence stone does not always refer to the physical reality of the object. From our ancestors, we have inherited many metaphors using stone.

With this metaphor, Moelyono, a painter from Tulungagung, East Java, again presents Souvenir from the Stone Order in his solo exhibition at Milenium Gallery, Golden Plaza, South Jakarta, from March 23 to April 12. In Souvenir from the Stone Order, Moelyono presents about 15 drawings using the conte medium and three installations using several media other than stone.

Moelyono chose the theme Souvenir from the Stone Order to present the violence used by the New Order regime from 1965 until now.

"I send a 'violence package' to reflect on the violence- culture politics which have been done with a smile by the authorities of the New Order from 1965 to 1999," he writes.

To Moelyono, stone is a sign of social, political, economical and cultural realities. In this case, "stone has become a concept, analogy, value, idiom, symbol or metaphor about 'power', 'violence' and 'oppression' in a society," he said.

However, stone can also be used to explain the fate of the people who, in his view, are fed with stones instead of staple food. Look, for instance, at a group of mothers carrying their children queuing for stones and not for rice or other food, as presented in Do Not Give Our Children Stones.

Here stones could be interpreted literally: that what was given was actually just stones, not rice. But, it could also mean, analogically, "do not give or children stupidity" and could also symbolize "do not give us violence".

Such double meanings can also be seen in Harvesting Stones or in Simulation of Stones. In the case of this double meaning there happens a mixture of allegory and reality, between symbolic and objective reality. We are freed from catching one or both at once, the result being not far from the concept or "violence package" meant by Moelyono. And this is one of Moelyono's strengths in giving a message.

Truly, as a metaphor, stone could have a certain message. In his drawing Prying Stone in the Ear, there is a similarity with the old proverb "a hard-headed man". In this work, the meaning and message inserted is in the "deaf" man toward the people's aspiration, analogous with the ear hole containing a stone.

However, that all of Moelyono's drawings play with allegories or metaphors. In The Stone Factory Still Works, we are presented with a situation in which a government official is observing a stone factory, which as an analogy or metaphor, doesn't mean anything because the fact is that stone factories are everywhere. How absurd the situation and the reality are in the eyes of Moelyono. This drawing is merely a change of reality commonly found, whether in the New Order or now: isn't it a fact that until this moment, there are many groups in society waiting for an official's speech to authenticate something.

In a "theater state" like Indonesia, a ceremony has become a ritual and aesthetic of a political "stage". This is the reason why stones are only used as a commodity produced by a factory, a group of people, and the presence of an official. Moelyono only tries to record the ceremonial aspect of a generation considered very absurd and nothing more.

Other Moelyono works are installations, like In Our Coconut Shells Are Stones, consisting of 10 boxes stacked pyramidally and each box contains a coconut shell. Then in each coconut shell are glued two stones. In this installation, Moelyono tries to put in order space and form which are already stereotyped, as has been done by other installation artists.

However, the idiom coconut shell to suggest a skull is associative enough: in the head of a stone-headed and obstinate man, the symptoms that appear are violence and power. In the lower levels of society generally, instinct is stronger than common sense, so that what happens is looting, rape, murder and stone throwing.

The stone in the head becomes the destroyer. In fact, the stone, too, is not free of value. It could not merely be an object but a concept, too.

As a concept and value the stone that has, until now, been taken care of -- preserved and packaged -- becomes a "political package" in the name of development. That is what seems to be presented by Moelyono in his Package 1965-1999 installation, which consists of two boxes filled with stones.

The Who Throws The Stone is Hiding his Hand installation consists of four glass boxes filled with stones, a parable about realities nowadays. Isn't it true nowadays that we never know who is behind all this violence? Isn't it true that we only know "the traces of hands" as "traces of hands" are red-colored and glued to the glass of the four boxes of his installations?

Compared to his installations, the drawings are in media which were mastered first by Moelyono. Moelyono owes the conviction of the drawing esthetics as "testimony", "tool of criticism" and also dialog media. Since about 1980, Moelyono, who also participated in the Art of What Personality exhibition, has been involved with children seeking "garbage" (used things) in Kricak, Yogyakarta.

The conviction and strength of drawing has also brought Moelyono to the Brumbun and Nggerangan villages in Tulungagung to do what he calls "culture activities", drawing with the local community. No wonder Moelyono's aesthetical approach looks very close to the people, contextual and even conventional. Because esthetics to him are not something that precede praxis.