Photo expo -- a must-see for collectors, hobbyists

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): The one-month-old Cahya photo gallery at its new site in Kemang, South Jakarta, is currently packed with fallen trees, blossoming sakura (cherry flowers), tranquil jungles, bushes, windows, buildings, local artists and smiling children.

But there is no noise in the 200-square-meter room, except the soothing tunes of a classical orchestra coming from the gallery's stereo system.

The objects are some of the scenes pictured in 101 photographs on display from May 5 to May 31 in a joint exhibition of 14 photographers, including five expatriates, being held at the gallery.

Titled Private Expression 2000, the 27-day exhibition is the second event at the gallery, which has been at the site since April 12, when it moved from its former location in Menteng Plaza in Central Jakarta.

The Indonesian photographers in the expo are James Yip Hong Seng, J. Januar, Kumara Prasetya, Marsio Juwono, Roy Genggam, Suherry Arno, Syaiful Boen, Windiarto, and Yusuf Budi. Most of them are well-known in the Indonesian photography world.

The foreigners are German national Karin Sukarya, South Korean Kim Yoon Ho, Dutch national Paul Beiboer, Tshuji Tsuji of Japan and Vivek S. Bammi from India.

The "colorful" backgrounds of the participants is reflected in the works exhibited at the show. Each of the photographers express in their work their own style, tastes and moods.

One of the works by Kumara, a photography teacher, portrays the fuzzy configuration of poorly constructed wooden houses along with a dark tree, green bushes, a bamboo fence, a red perahu (boat) and blue sky in the background.

Ratih Widya Hadiastuti, the manager of the gallery, quoted Kumara as saying the picture was a reflection of houses located along a riverbank in Semarang, Central Java.

The "fuzzy" effect, strict composition and the careful choice of objects reminds visitors about the basic theories taught in a photography class.

The question is why is the untitled photo displayed in inverse, as if it was not of a reflection?

While photographer Roy Genggam displays black-and-white prints of local female models in elegant poses, Tshuji Tsuji shows his talent in snapping the first blooms of sakura in his hometown of Kyoto, Japan.

The most gorgeous of his pictures is the one titled Sakura- Sakura, which depicts a large branch crossing from the lower left to upper right of the well-composed picture, with bunches of pink cherry flowers on it.

Unfortunately, the flowers dominate all of his photos on display in the exhibition, giving visitors not a single opportunity to see his photographs of different objects.

Karin, the only woman in the exhibition, presents her talent in the so-called up-to-date skill: digitalization. Glimpsing at her works, viewers might only see outrageous colors, the result of a personal computer.

But there is no doubt that Karin, a professional graphic designer, has her own style which is clearly different from that of her husband, photographer Deniek G. Sukarya, who is also president director of the gallery.

The natural color of a fallen tree, the beach, the water and the sky in Karin's works have been refurbished into an extreme, but artistic, touch and tone, without washing over the importance of composition, lighting and balance.

Windiarto Tjandra exhibits a series of his shots of different objects, mostly people, in Vietnam, which he took while working at a mining company in the country. Among his stunning works in the exhibition are the photos of a Cathedral church in Hanoi and a Vietnamese man with his bicycle.

The view of the church, shot at an angle in the frame, provides an unusual perspective without disturbing the eye.

The picture of the back of a Vietnamese man sitting on a bench with his bike close to him would not be eye-catching without the tiny tree branches that frame the upper part of the portrait.

The works of South Korean Kim Yoon Ho, who is also the head of a toy manufacturer here, deserve to praise, particularly Peace, which he snapped in China.

It is a shot of two birds -- both looking to the left -- standing on wooden poles located in the middle of the frame. The empty sky of China in the background is beautifully fitted in the lower part of the photo, with bird-shaped lampposts.

In the first week of the exhibition, three of Kim's works have been sold, the highest number among the participants.

But the most sizzling photos on display might be the brilliant works of Syaiful Boen, who learned photography at the University of Alaska.

At a glance, his photos look like the experimental works of an energetic and creative newcomer.

Most of the "photos" on display are produced with mixed materials: a torn portrait (as the main object), color threads and scratches of green and orange markers.

While other photographers in the exhibition priced their works between Rp 1 million and Rp 3 million each, Syaiful daringly set the price of his works from Rp 5 million to Rp 12 million.

So far, the most expensive portrait ever sold in the country was photographer Eky Tandyo's black-and-white The Seven Steps to Heaven, bought last year by a foreign businesswoman for Rp 5 million.

The exhibition at Wisma Surya Kemang on Jl. Kemang Raya 33 is a must-see event for photo collectors and hobbyists, with the works on display coming from different minds, talents and tastes.

Unfortunately, visitors have to repeatedly ask gallery staff for information on many of the pieces because the photographers did not provide notes about them and, more importantly, the gallery did not produce a catalog for the event.