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.