Pintor Sirait displays his unconventional artworks

Pintor Sirait displays his unconventional artworks

By R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA (JP): For Pintor Sirait, an artist should explore
elements of art only. If an artist should nurture a desire to
express something outside the scope of art, the essence of art
will usually be clouded.

Living in Bandung, West Java at the moment, Sirait has spent
most of his life in Europe and in the USA. Sirait was born 34
years ago in Braunschweig, Germany. He is holding a degree in
Liberal Arts from the Nevada-Reno University in the USA. It is
not surprising that many of his art works absorb elements of the
western art world.

He said further that an artist should stay as far as possible
from the world of symbols. Too many symbols in a work of art may
lessen intensive exploring of an art.

"Symbolism provide little room for maximum exploration of the
art elements, because certain symbols only hinders the work," he
said.

Take, for instance, six of his sculptures, now on show at the
Cemeti Gallery, Yogyakarta, from Aug. 4 through Sept. 4, 1996. In
this exhibition, named Lotus Engagement, Pintor delves into the
shape of the lotus flower, taking it from all angles. To him, the
form of the lotus flower is like a symbol of birth. But, his
works appear as a form of exploration which eliminates certain
symbols.

"I avoid discussion of giant subjects, so that the importance
of aspects could be held in our visual attention," he said.

Most of his sculptures utilize iron material, although he once
experimented with stone material. He has been working with iron
for six years.

Pintor's interest in iron arose because of its harsh
impression and its transformation into flexible contours. His
choice of work material inclined more towards iron sheets, rather
than working with solid iron staves. Many of his sculptures
suggest flexibility, giving an impression of lightness in the
material he used.

The artist's attraction to the lotus flower is born out of its
simple shape. But, from such a simple form, the artist is trying
to develop various visual exploration. In the hand of Pintor, the
flower simple shapes get stronger with rusty shades covering most
of the works.

Pintor developed a sturdy, but, at the same time flexible
impression from a formation of lotus flower buds. At one time,
the iron material is showing its basic nature in the form of
steady lines, suggesting a full volume and strength. At another
moment, the shapely lotus flowers and other works of the artist
strongly suggest flexibility. The impression is quite discernible
in his work Lotus Resurgence, each measuring 1 x 2,5 meters, in
the form of two half squares and crowned with half circles. Each
of the flower forms is filled with a solid square resembling a
short wooden block attached to the inner wall and the crown of
the lotus flower. The whole surface is covered with a rusty,
chocolate shade as found in most of his pieces. Although rusty
shades casting a tiresome pallor over the whole, appears to be
dominating the work, on closer look, a play of rusty nuances
caused by uneven brush strokes can be observed.

At times a translucent effect is created reminiscent of water
color strokes on paper. The rusty shades are deliberately caused
by an oxidation process of colors. Rust colors are, to Pintor, an
expression of reality, which, in itself is of aesthetic value.
In the rust colors he discovered the depth of the shades.

In Lotus Engagement, Pintor experimented with smaller scale
sculpture. This work, measuring 15 x 25 centimeters, appears to
be a miniature version of Lotus Resurgence. Both works are hinged
into one that may be opened and closed with one movement.
However, the diminutive size of the second work led the artist to
the use of simple details.

Simplicity of ideas and forms are dominant in all his art
works. " Small things often touch my feelings," he said. Tiny
objects can be given vitality with only little movement, which
adds a rich meaning to the work of art. Beauty is not measured in
size, upon close attention, beauty is often found in small
things.

Pintor Sirait's works are inconventional. If conventional
sculpture works are viewed from a horizontal slant, Pintor's
works have to be looked at from a vertical field. Space
explorations are not restricted to horizontal fields, they have
expanded to a vertical scope. As a result, Pintor's iron
sculptures appears like a floating object like a lotus flower
floats on the water's surface.

This floating effect is also found in his work entitled Lilu,
depicting a blooming lotus flower, The form depicts a blooming
process from a flattened shape into full blossom. The open forms
of the lotus flowers are, to Pintor, symbols of hope for openes
in human relationship which he rarely finds in Indonesia.

But, in his work Untitled, the body of the blooming lotus
flower does imprint a heavy impression. In this work the
proportions between the flower and the three square boxes below
is not so harmonious.

If Pintor succeeded in bringing an illusion of lightness and
drifting with his three dimensional experiments, in his other
works using the two dimensional medium, this floating effect
is not apparent. Take his work, Half life of a mythical fruit,
for instance, and Permanent Trace, formed and curved from flat
iron sheets. On the upper parts, a picture of a lotus flower is
carved. Here too, as in his other works, a good part of the
surface is colored in rust shades. In the work Half life of a
mythical fruit especially, the lower part has been covered with
real rust, formed by having water trickle over the iron
sculpture.

In these last works, the inscribed lotus flowers give the
illusion of contrived artistry. While Pintor's strength, notable
in this exhibition, is found in his ability to exploit hard and
full elements and transform these into light contours.