Rusli's essential elements are not for sale

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): A modest exhibition at Taman Ismail Marzuki's Cipta II Gallery presents 27 small and four medium-sized watercolors and two oil on canvas paintings by Rusli, an Indonesian painter who may not be very famous, yet whose works are worthy of a master.

The simplicity of the exhibition seems to be very much in the spirit of the artist's paintings. Rusli characteristically concentrates on presenting essential elements in his works. He paints with washes of color, maintaining the white surface of his media in his compositions.

This approach is very much in accord with the balance of the positive and negative elements (Yin and Yang) in Chinese art. In Rusli's paintings, the strokes of color on the media is the positive element, while the white of the paper or canvas is the negative element.

His small watercolors, approximately 12 x 18 cms, are representative of his work. In Beach II (1970) for example, he presents a Balinese open pavilion by the sea, shaded by a large tree. In this composition he uses thin brush strokes of brown, blue and green. Two yellow boats appear to the right of the structure, while three smaller blue boats are seen in the background. The serene landscape is presented with few brush strokes.

A festive celebration is presented with wild and expressive strokes of color in Dalam Pura (Temple of Death) (1966). The white paper is covered with simple shapes formed by colorful strokes of the brush to represent pavilions, temporary shrines, ceremonial umbrellas, figures and even coconut trees in the distant background. Even in this scene, the artist leaves much of the paper unpainted.

In this painting, he uses a basically symmetrical composition in which the most important element of the depiction is placed in the middle, flanked by supporting elements. He often uses a similar composition in his paintings of temples, particularly his Chinese temples, for which he is famous.

Harbor (1974) displays large ships near the heavy infrastructure of a European harbor. The hierarchy of green, yellow and purple lines and dots in this elegant composition suggest the painter's fascination with the scene.

While most of the works are miniature watercolors, painted in the 1960s and 1970s, there are also a couple of paintings from the 1980s and some which were painted last year.

Rusli was born in Medan in 1916. After the Indonesia's independence in 1945, he chaired the Yogyakarta chapter of the Young Artists Association (Seniman Indonesia Muda) and the Artists Society (Seniman Masyarakat), also in Yogyakarta.

He received a grant to study art at Santiniketan, India. In 1951, he became an instructor at Yogyakarta's Fine Arts Academy (ASRI Yogyakarta). Two years later, he participated in the 11th Sao Paolo Biennial exhibition and visited West Europe at the invitation of Sticusa, the Dutch Association of Cultural Exchange. He even exhibited at the Plaatz Gallery in The Hague in 1954, at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum in 1955 and at the Palazzo Bracaccio in Rome.

After returning to Indonesia in 1956, he exhibited at Jakarta's Balai Budaya center and then held a series of exhibitions in Medan, Kotaraja, Palembang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta over several years.

Rusli has been a prolific painter, frequently holding solo exhibitions. In 1986 he received the Adam Malik Award for Painting. He also participated in the Contemporary Islamic Fine Art Exhibition, held in conjunction with the Istiqlal Festival in 1991.

There is no doubt that Rusli is one of Indonesia's master painters. His paintings appear in Jakarta's Fine Art Museum at Taman Fatahillah, the Neka Museum in Ubud and in the collection at the Taman Ismail Marzuki.

His painting of a Chinese temple was sold for Rp 33 million at the Indonesian Fine Arts Foundation auction last August. Two of his other paintings are to be sold at a Sotheby's and a Christie's auction in early October. They are estimated to be worth between S$10,000 and S$12,000.

Even though his paintings are in demand, none of his paintings at the small exhibition at Taman Ismail Marzuki are for sale. It seems Rusli does not want his paintings to be seen as commodities, but rather as works of art which should be enjoyed without a price tag whatsoever.

The exhibition ends today.