Riduan Tomkins Art in a quest for a sense of clarity

Jock Paul, Contributor, Jakarta

The upbeat paintings of artist Riduan Tomkins, currently on display at the Duta Fine Arts Gallery in Jakarta, combine rich colors, sharp bold lines and small clever figures to engage and attract the viewer.

The work of Tomkins, a figurative artist primarily concerned with space and clarity, is more abstract than realistic.

Many of Tomkins' paintings in the exhibition "Formal Meetings, Informal Meanings" feature a pair of small-shaped figures on a canvas of rich, strong colors larger than themselves. A few lines and shapes sometimes intersect the space, seemingly drawing energy from the figures.

The figures are ambiguous and may evoke some human qualities, but they also act as entrance points that lead the viewer into and about the interior of the paintings.

Tomkins, 61, is a mature painter whose work is considered among the most distinctive produced this century, according to New Zealand art critic Ted Bracey.

He has shown at the prestigious Whitechaple Gallery in London, and three times with Betty Parsons in New York. In 1984, the Museum of Modern Art in New York chose his work to represent Canadian painting at the exhibition entitled "An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture".

Some would say Tomkins' work is based on the European painting movement of the 1960s, and he admits that his work has changed little since he earned a master's in fine art during that decade.

"(My work) still deals with the same concerns to do with space, and trying to find the appropriate level of complexity," said Tomkins.

"I cannot see the reason for changing just for the sake of changing. One tries to develop what is intuitively right in the work.

"What I respond to most in work is a sense of tranquility and excitement. So what I am looking for in my paintings is clarity."

One significant feature that has been introduced to Tomkins' work is the pair of figures that now play a central role in many of his paintings. They were first painted when someone requested a painting of two twins.

These figures anchor the lines and shapes that intersect his paintings, and oppose the color and space within his work. But Tomkins says that often it is the lines, not the figures that come first.

"The nature of figurative painting is ambiguous, it operates on two levels," said Tomkins. "The paintings are about paradoxes and contradictions, (they are) seemingly color-filled painting with figures in them."

"But if you look at the paintings, it is always the figures that come first and it is the color which articulates the space."

This is not the case for some viewers, thus highlighting the ambiguity of Tomkins' work.

The owner of the Duta Fine Arts Foundation, Didier Hamel, said, "for me the first thing you see in the paintings are the colors, which are very pleasing, the second step is visualizing the shapes".

Others will find themselves drawn from the rich, bold lines quickly to the figures. Although painted with minimal detail and color, the flare within the figures captured my attention. Their puffy jackets and rounded legs evoke confidence, peacefulness.

Tomkins work has evolved over more than 40 years. He completed art school in his native England at 26, and then taught art or painted as a visiting artist for at least a decade each in England, Canada and New Zealand.

He first came to Jakarta in 1968, and he said he subsequently visited the country countless times, especially while living in New Zealand.

He enjoyed Indonesia, but could not pin down why he moved here three years ago. "It was simply intuition," he said.

Tomkins said it had been a good move for him, as he enjoyed painting now as much as he ever had.

"Painting is traditionally an old man's pastime, and also something that people tend to get better at when they get older," he said.

Aside from painting, Tomkins is now hoping to finish a project he is working on in Kalimantan using art to address tension and foster healing within the Dayak community.

The exhibition is at the Duta Fine Arts Gallery, Jl. Kemang Utara 55A, South Jakarta, until July 19.