Painter Wagiono puts current affairs into art focus

Painter Wagiono puts current affairs into art focus

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): Artist Wagiono casts an incisive eye upon
contemporary social happenings in an exhibition at the Lontar
Gallery in Central Jakarta through Aug. 21.

Take the painting Mega. The work, draped in red and white, at
first glance resembles an Indonesian flag. But the red section
reveals a portrait of Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the daughter of
President Soeharto better known as Mbak Tutut, while the white
shows Megawati Soekarnoputri, a daughter of the nation's first
president Sukarno, who was ousted last year from her position as
chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Text, seemingly handwritten by Sukarno, reads "Bendera merah
putih saya kibarkan" (I hoist a red and white flag) in the
background. Above the two portraits are headlines lifted from
print media. These include Presiden: Selesaikan Masalah PDI
Secara Musyawarah (President: Solve the PDI Problem through
Deliberation); and PDI dan Kultur Politik (PDI and Political
Culture). The lines are arranged from top to bottom.

This is just one piece in Wagiono's solo exhibition of screen
printings, drawings and book arts.

Technique

"The technique of producing screen printings is very easy, and
for me the ideas or concepts of creating such works are more
important than the technique," Wagiono said at the opening of the
exhibition on Monday evening.

Wagiono's screen printings are influenced by diverse current
affairs, including manpower, small businesses, health, religion,
fluctuating cement prices and politics.

Each picture is adorned with text to provide its context.

"We should load the pictures with certain emotions ...
happiness, sadness or fear, for example," Wagiono said.

Wagiono, a graduate of the Bandung Institute of Technology and
teacher at the Jakarta Arts Institute, is not a newcomer to the
arts scene. He has exhibited in several countries, including Iran
and Norway.

His art does not belong to the class of emotional works, to
interpretations of realities or transferring realities into
pictures. Instead, his are the "realities" of the mass media.

Unjuk Rasa, Marsinah, Tenaga Kerja and Susila are portraits
based on reports of mass media publications.

Unjuk Rasa (Demonstration) features journalistic portraits of
a group of people demonstrating under several news headlines.

Colors

Colors are not prominent in this and other works, which are
often defined by shadings of pencil. They appear like clippings
wrapped or polished under new aesthetic principles.

Wagiono sometimes uses cryptic symbols or metaphors difficult
to interpret because they are merely from media reports, not
based on facts observed directly.

Although Wagiono's output is not artistically similar to Pop
Art and Conceptual Art in the United States and Europe, his
procedures resemble those of the two 1960s movements. Wagiono
lets the texts express themselves.

Unlike his screen printings, Wagiono's drawings with color
pencil verge on parody and caricature. Perundingan 3, Pidato,
Salaman and Pesta Tulang interpret reality naively through rich
fantasy images of human figures and creatures.

Perundingan 3 is populated by several strange and frightening
creatures, one of which resembles a human being dressed in a neat
jacket and tie. They sit around a table laden with pills, perhaps
Ecstasy "monsters" deciding how to divvy up their haul.

Pesta Tulang shows creatures resembling dogs, the biggest
among them gnawing the largest bone. A metaphor, perhaps, for the
wealthy who are not satisfied with their lot and continually
grasp for more.