Tasmanian ceramics display, from Padang to Surabaya

Tasmanian ceramics display, from Padang to Surabaya

By R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Australia is a unique continent. Its isolation symbolizes its uncertain relations between East and West. When throngs of immigrants arrived from Europe, it took them a long time to mold an identity, at least compared to their counterparts in America.

The proximity of America to Europe may have helped form a rather homogeneous culture, while immigrants to Australia may have missed their faraway lands much more. Matters became even more complex given their neighborly relations with the East.

Ambiguity is the result. Australians reflect an endless conflict between preserving European romanticism with the reality of their geographical proximity to the East. One sign is many Australians' apparent resentment towards Prime Minister Paul Keating who expresses a friendly attitude towards the East. His critics, however, are well aware of Australia's need to relate well with Asia.

This ambiguity is expressed in an interesting way in the arts, as reflected by the exhibition of ceramic art from Tasmania in Yogyakarta. The display, held from Jan. 26 to Jan. 31 at the Bentara Budaya, has been shown in Padang in West Sumatra and Bandung in West Java. It will continue in Surabaya in East Java on Feb. 6 to 11.

The 18 ceramic vases are largely void of any Asian influence. The artists' roots and modernism feature prominently and the works of two ceramic artists reflect a contemporary spirit.

In the display catalog, artist Vincent McGrath says Australian ceramic artists do not like Asian esthetics. Instead, their designs follow modern techniques.

The "Porcelain Bowls" by Les Blakebrough present the finery and elegance of European taste in porcelain. The 65-year-old artist explores the inner and outer surface of his work in elaborate techniques. He makes the inner surface fine and shiny white and covers the outside in light blue with regular and repetitive conventional decorations, which are assisted with the effect of light.

Les Blakebrough also uses nitrate and chloride as coloring, a method he has studied since 1991.

In a similar vein, Zsolt Faludi presents abstract forms of containers in porcelain, as if the trophy-like works are metaphors with minimum symbols.

There are traces of the traditional in the works of Robert Ikim, 55, which he calls "Boat Form" and "Box with spice". Ikim molds clay into boat shapes in a curve, and carves triangles, squares and circles on both sides.

A modern touch is eye-catching in the works of Chantale Delrue, Penny Smith and Derek Smith. Delrue, who is originally from Belgium, molds triangle-shaped vases which are treated as canvasses.

Objects like birds, leaves, women and churches appear in a realistic style in cheerful colors on all sides of the container.

Penny Smith fashions clay into functional items such as a triangle-shaped teapot with an expressive handle. She then glazes the texture with dots, similar to an animal hide.

Artists Lorraine Jenyns and Vincent McGrath go against the conventions of modern fine arts. Jenyns, who teaches at the Tasmania School of Art, forms associations of a clump of trees from cup shapes. Its greenery circles the cups as the branches follow the curves of the cups all the way down the trees.

McGrath treads even further into the free realm as he shapes the uneven surface of his containers. A dynamic force ending with a clash seems to result in these irregular forms colored in white, black and red.

The works of Jenyns, McGrath, Ikim and Delrue show an intimate relation between planet and earth. The works convey the smell of earth, flowers and animals, as if to remind that misuse of the land will bring a worthless inheritance to the next generation.

The arts may be an effective way to channel social, economic and political matters. Politics only reflect the winner and the loser, as economics pictures profit and loss. But arts always functions as a bridge between the differences in a community and paves the way for a more honest dialog. Here lies the importance of this exhibition in Indonesia and in other Asian countries. It may also be the mystery of the arts.