Roving art exhibition a window to Indonesia
Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Melbourne, Australia
Indonesia is becoming better-known in Australia, thanks to the endeavors of various educational and cultural institutions. On the streets, however, if you stop people and ask them what the term "Indonesia" conjures up in their minds, two place names are very likely to be mentioned: Bali and East Timor.
The Asia Society Australia Center no doubt pondered this issue before naming its current exhibition Crossing Boundaries; Bali: A Window to Twentieth Century Indonesian Art.
In Melbourne, housed in Storey Hall, RMIT University, until the end of September, before moving to other cities in Victoria as well as Canberra until January 2003, this exhibition has attracted local interest for its content, as well as its very well-structured layout.
Balinese artist I Made Djirna's painting, Inspirasi dari Seni Aborijin (Inspiration from Aboriginal Art), appearing on the brochure, figuratively takes you across to Bali, the window into further landscapes of Indonesia.
What unravels on the other side of the window needs to be savored slowly, as the artistic richness and depth are simply overwhelming.
Balinese artists are the most represented in this exhibition -- 32 of 49 paintings. However, the 32 are varied in terms of style, message and medium. I Nyoman Erawan's oil on canvas, for instance, curiously titled Untitled, stops you in your tracks. The contrast of grandeur and decomposition evokes despair and nostalgia at the same time.
There are also images where the explicit messages slap you in the face. Examples of these are Kadek Janggo Paramartha's ink and watercolor on paper, Indonesian Restaurant, portraying a big fat foreigner reading a menu of Koramil Bakar, Swalayan Bakar, Kapolsek Bakar and Ninja Bakar, while the waiter with a head of cattle waits humbly and patiently. Also, Ida Bagus Surya Darma's ink and watercolor on paper, Bali Burger, depicting bits of Bali's culture and society as well as its people, all compressed between two slices of burger bun.
Even I Made Budi's acrylic and Chinese ink on paper, President Soeharto (sic) and His Wife Visit Bali, traditional at first glance though it is, contains an emotional violence of imposition, where Soeharto, wearing clothes totally different from those worn by locals, has his guards in military fatigues standing around looking sternly vigilant.
It is heartening to see that some women artists have claimed their place in this high-profile collection. The work of Jero Wayan Amer Ambarie, Cokorda Istri Mas Astiti, Gusti Agung Galuh and I Gusti Kadek Muniarsih convey messages as diverse as those of their male counterparts, and as refreshingly different from each other in style.
The other artists represented are from West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Sumatra and North Sumatra. Those from Java generally have two common points with the Balinese artists and each other: they have moved between Bali, especially Ubud, and Yogyakarta.
Explicitly political art is well represented; an example is Raden Suhardi's reproduction on paper, Rendra Defying Solder, where Rendra stands taller and straighter facing the viewer, while the soldier, looking defeated, walks away, hunching his shoulders.
Apart from Affandi and his daughter, Kartika Affandi, whose work present powerful movements in color, Sindudarsono Sudjojono's chalk, pen and ink, watercolor on paper, Sodom and Gomorah blends Christian and Hindu myths seamlessly, as in the forefront of the decadence and destruction is Batara Bayu, the Hindu god of gales and wind.
The exhibition stretches your senses through strong and powerful emotion and messages, couched in visual beauty, as well as various contrasts. The most obvious contrast, however, is the brown and orangey landscape of Australia as painted by Pande Gede Supada, with most of the lush green landscapes of Bali.
The artwork, on loan from various galleries and private owners, so carefully put together by the Asia Society Australia Center, teases you to learn more about contemporary Indonesian art, and hopefully, the people whom the art represents.