Rudolf G. Usman frees himself from bond of watercolor

Rudolf G. Usman frees himself from bond of watercolor

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

For a dozen years (1985 - 1997), Rudolf G. Usman devoted himself
to watercolor painting and built a reputation as a watercolorist
not only among observers and collectors at home but also in other
ASEAN nations.

Usman, born in Padang, West Sumatra, is one of the founders of
the Indonesia Watercolor Society. His paintings are widely
recognized as being possessed of a unique character.

The universe appears in his paintings as gentle, pristine,
transparent and mysterious objects. His most memorable strokes
refer to the portrayal of the rays of the morning sun making
their way through gaps between trees, a fog-enveloped landscape
and the Borobodur Temple welcoming the arrival of the dawn.

However, after his return from an exhibition in Japan in 1997,
he changed his mind and tried to set himself free from the
"shackles" of watercolor, and started to explore other media,
ranging from acrylic to mixed media. The outcome of this mental
struggle can now be observed in his solo exhibition titled The
Soul of Golden Age, an event being concurrently held to celebrate
his 50th birthday.

"In this mixed media period, I have being placing greater
stress on inner beauty. During the watercolor period, it was the
outer beauty that was emphasized," said Usman, who graduated from
the Jakarta Arts Institute and began to exhibit his works in
1987.

To generate this inner beauty, Usman has made Mother Nature
his teacher. He has kept on searching behind what is visible to
arrive, eventually and often, at the philosophical realm. Of
course, what he has philosophically understood about nature may
appear verbalized on canvas. Take for example how he paints a
tree. He needs more than one core line for a tree. He needs real
twigs that he later sticks on the canvas. Then, he puts a real
butterfly on his canvas plus a coin and Kashmir rag cloth to
portray a memory.

What about the Borobodur Temple? Of course, he can't take a
small stone from the temple for legal reasons. So, he has painted
the temple in 12 frames, portraying this holy structure from
various angles albeit through long shots. So you can enjoy The
Power of Borobudur, which depicts the temple, radiating power in
its golden red color, Keagungan (Supremeness), in which you can
see the white Borobodur, and the Soul of Borobudur, which shows
the black temple against the blue nocturnal sky with a round
shining moon as the backdrop.

Nevertheless, what Usman has depicted in his series of
paintings about the temple has yet to reveal the essence of the
mystery that enshrouds Borobudur, originally called Bumisam-
Bharabudhara (Hill to Improve Virtues). The monumental legacy of
King Samarattungga of the Syailendra royal clan in the 9th
century in Borobudur village, Magelang, Central Java, the temple
was rediscovered in 1814 by Sir Stamford Raffles, the British
governor general of Java, in 1814.

Borobudur aside, Usman also talks about nature, tradition and
existential reflections based on Christianity. Look at his work
Keabadian (Eternity), in which he places the statue of the
crucified Jesus against a barren golden background. In Misteri
(Mystery), he places a cross made of twigs that are painted red,
green and yellow against a pitch dark backdrop.

Usman's self-expression using this mixed media language may
come as quite a surprise to his fans, who are so far only well
acquainted with his watercolor works. Some have praised Usman's
courage in setting himself free from the strictures of watercolor
or, in other words, from his own self-imposed restrictions.

In the exhibition catalog, fine art critic Ipong Purnama Sidhi
writes that the spirit Usman reveals in this exhibition is in
line with that of Widayat and even with Picasso -- the expression
of a restless spirit eternally searching for something new.

--The exhibition will run through to Sept. 12, 2003 at Galeri
678, Jl. Kemang Raya 32, Jakarta, tel. (021) 71792164.