Sjoerd Bakker pictures the mysteries of nature
Sjoerd Bakker pictures the mysteries of nature
By Parvathi Nayar Narayan
JAKARTA (JP): The limited number of aquatint prints on view
here show an artist whose primary concern is nature.
Sjoerd Bakker, the artist, uses landscape to express the
mysticism and magic of the natural world that surrounds us. There
is a strong thread of grimly reflective, even pessimistic thought
in his work, which is on display at the Erasmus Huis until Nov.
22.
Certainly, the artist's views on man's interaction with nature
are gloomy ones.
Bakker's medium of expression, aquatint (or sugar aquatint as
it is sometimes called), is a very demanding print technique. It
more or less seeks to imitate the effects of layered wash
drawings, by the process of etching a microscopic crackle on a
copper plate. This coated copper plate has to be heated to just
the right degree. Then it is masked with asphalt and etched in an
acid bath, layer by layer, to get a wide range of depths and
textures. The resultant stippling effect is very effective and
atmospheric. For every color there is a separate plate.
Wagiono Sunarto, Vice Rector of the Jakarta Art Institute, who
opened the show, is himself knowledgeable in the field of graphic
art. Speaking to The Jakarta Post he remarked on Bakker's evident
mastery of the technique of aquatint. There is considerable skill
involved in the creation of the clear, sharp aquatint prints. It
is interesting, too, that Bakker's pictures seem to draw
inspiration from the linear techniques of etching, Japanese
woodblock prints as well as the pointillist look of aquatint.
Sjoerd Bakker was born in Jakarta in 1943 and completed his
education at the Reitveld Academy in Amsterdam. In 1989 he lived
for a few months in Japan. Though currently a resident in the
Netherlands, he has traveled widely in Asia. In fact he has even
published a book of travel stories, A Hand Full of Water (1992).
In his earlier visual works the human figure was completely
absent, but it has made an appearance in the prints currently on
show. The presence of man is in the form of tiny featureless
figures, or even more interestingly in the form of props - a
walking stick, a footprint, a blown-off hat. These accouterments
would suggest a traveler rather than a tourist. Other props are
more ominous: a serrated knife, a gun. Even in the former case,
however, it rarely appears to be the traveler in harmony or in
complete sync with Nature. He is, at best, a seeker or wanderer.
The props and fragments of images create a surreal, dreamlike
quality, nowhere more obvious than in The Other Side. In the
extreme foreground is our traveler, though all that is seen of
him are his hat, a flash of orange shoulders, and a long dappled
stick. He is looking out at a remote and mysterious island. It
is right in the center of a high horizon line. The craggy isle is
reflected in the waters yet somehow curiously suspended in time
and place. The image is as from a dream; we sense the longing to
escape, to explore, to go over to the other side and discover
what mysteries lie there.
The same sort of sentiments appear in a more dynamic form in
The Traveling Monk. Against a backdrop of towering snow-clad
mountains is silhouetted the traveler. The sense of longing is
crystallized here into a more purposeful act. The traveler is not
stationary but is definitely moving forward. Also silhouetted is
a small pagoda-like edifice in front of the traveler. This could
be one of his many smaller goals or stops. It does not seem
likely, though, that this is his ultimate destination.
Hazy watercolor-like layers of indigo and charcoal are the
most dominant building blocks from which Bakker constructs his
pictures. In both Sato Island (Japan) and Time, for instance,
this stippled blue-gray haze forms the setting for a single
mysterious object. In the former the object is luminous and
shell-like, whereas in the latter it is a craggy piece of rock.
The faintest tinge of a yellow-orange sunrise touches the sky
behind the rock, which has a timeless quality to it.
Time is effective because of this sparing touch of color. In
other compositions where Bakker is more liberal in his use of
color there is a certain static quality. More is less. With the
different colors in abundance the composition loses its delicate
balance; color ceases to play the role it does in a painting such
as Time -- to accentuate, to emphasize.
The same is true for those of Bakker's images that are too
graphic and explicit. The illustration-like quality of the object
set against the watercolor-like background seems contrived rather
than contrapunctual. It is with the hazy, defined yet indistinct
image that Bakker speaks more powerfully and eloquently.
Autumn is an exception. Though the objects are drawn in a
clear and distinct fashion, the imagery itself is subtle and
suggestive. The intriguingly titled Autumn is a play on the other
word for autumn, "fall". The print shows a landscape in blues and
greens, hardly autumn colors. But somewhere outside the picture
plane lies a wounded or dead bird, fallen from the skies. We see
only a section of the hunter's bloodstained arrow. Feathers, some
bloody, flutter in a pathetic simulation of autumn leaves.
The message is a powerful one. It brings to mind man's wanton
cruelty, and suggests that man's exploitation of nature creates
an imbalance that might herald an early frost. Indeed this is an
idea that many of his images provoke. Nature with its beauty,
power and mystery is a force that gives enjoyment and also
inspires meditative and exploratory thought. At the same time it
is also a fragile force; its continuation is by no means assured
in the face of the encroachment of man.